The Starflower made good time to the asteroid where the Talons were to rendezvous with the Nightshrike.

The asteroid, known only as AT65734, was only inhabited by a dozen or so miners and engineers who occupied a small base camp from which they ran their drilling operations.  Following the rendezvous co-ordinates, the Starflower came down on the far side of the asteroid, where the Nightshrike sat quietly in a large crater, the two Headunters either side of her.

The temperature outside was below freezing and there was no atmosphere.  A cofferdam was quickly set up between the two vessels and soon Mark was introduced to the Starflower crew.  Mark, Raiwaw and Rhu'tah quickly disappeared to discuss business, leaving the Talons to show Iden and Aryan around the Nightshrike.  While in no way customised, the sheer potential was enough to have Iden excited.

Several hours passed before the Talons were called on by Mark to meet in the crew lounge which doubled as a conference hall.  Saying goodbye to Iden and the crew of the Starflower who returned to their ship, the Talons all gathered.  A surprise addition to the group was Aryan who apparently had been asked to attend by Mark.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:05, Tue 01 June 2010.

Mark quickly took up the podium.  "Welcome back.  I hear you had an interesting time on the station and gathered some valuable data.  I have used the information you supplied to help plan our next strike."

"But first some housekeeping.  As you know, you've met a few people along the way who've shown an interest in our team.  Firstly Jace Torlo here.  Despite our. . .less then ideal first meeting, he has shown an interest in working with us.  Given his skills in infiltration I've tasked him with hunting for Zyra Jax.  Zyra is a survivor and I'm not ready to abandon her.  I've supplied Jace with various ways to potentially contact her and being human, he can move more openly around an Imperial world then Zyra could."

"Our second addition is Aryan here.  Apparently he was impressed with some of the stories you told on the Starflower and hates the Empire as much as any of us.  He's a bounty hunter by trade and assures me he has some pilotting experience.  Webb, be sure to put him through the simulator when time allows.  I also want you and Nallis to look at our duty roster and reassign callnumbers.  Leave Torlo off as he'll be incommunicado for some time."

"Now on to the mission.  After Jamie sent me the details on the petrochem companies, I made contact with Phindar Petrochem.  Using a few references from the PHA I was able to learn they are indeed hiring mercenaries to assist them but they have trouble keeping them as the prices they can afford to offer are fairly low.  Given our resources, limited as they are, they could never afford to fund us."

"To that end, I brokered a deal which is both risky and potentially lucrative for us.  Using what credits I could borrow, we have the option of buying a five percent share in Phindar.  As such instead of recieving payment for work our reward will come from improved share prices.  They'll also sweeten the deal by supplying one tanker load of military-grade fuel to us per month."

"This deal, if we take it could make or break us.  If we succeed in helping Phindar become a successful operation we will have a strong cash flow and access to more than enough fuel to manage our current ships.  If we fail, we're bankrupt.  Since we are now an organisation rather than military I wanted your opinion before proceeding.  Please speak freely."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:13, Tue 01 June 2010.

Exilim considered what Mark had said. There were pros and cons for all of it. The reality of the situation was that they needed fuel and potentially lots of it. Aryan would be a good addition to the team and could teach them all something.

"I think we should seriously consider the option to buy part of Phindar. The fact that we will get fuel on a regular basis is not something that we can pass up. Added to that, if we do our job - whatever it is well - we get profits and that means up grades for all our gear and ships." He turned, faced Aryan and continued "By the little I saw of you practicing on the Starflower, we could all learn something from you. I welcome you to the team."

Aryan nods at Exilim with a straight face.  "Isa be proud to serve with you, and will teach any of you what i know of fighting"

Jace shrugs.  "That sounds awfully risky.  Putting all your nerfs in one pen.  Have you forgotten that Typhon Energy is being crewed by Imperials in this sector.  They might intervene if Phindar starts getting overtly competitive.  A tank of fuel a month wont let you fight a full scale war.  Still it's your money."

"Never said it would be easy.  The risk is high but so is the payoff.  This is why I'm looking for opinions here.  If the majority votes against the plan we wont proceed."

"We don't tend to do easy." Xil said with a chuckle. "Seriously though, we need options if this plan is a no go. We could hijack freighters for fuel, but that is going to get tough, especially after a couple of times. Fuel depots are another option, but once again after a couple of times it will get much harder. Phindar would be an easier target than Typhon, but then we aren't really attacking the target we want to." he shrugged his shoulders "Any one have other ideas?"

Devon frowned and thought for a few moments, then shook his head.  He couldn't think of anything better.  He did have one idea though:

'One thing we will need to watch out for with this deal though is that we, an anti-Imperial group, will be creating a very real and traceable link between ourselves and Phindar.  Dont get me wrong, the mil-spec fuel will be damn useful and the shares could make us... but when the Imperials start sniffing around - and they will - then all its going to take is one tracking bug on our monthly fuel shipment and we're in a lot of trouble.  We're going to need to put some serious thought into security for the shipments...'

"True, but we probably would have needed to do that at any rate." Exilim replied to Devon. He looked around at the gathered Talons "Thoughts anyone?"

Flash just sat back, listening.  He'd let the others sort it out, he wasn't one for much talking.

Devons brow furrowed.
'I figured we could arrange a collection point, transfer the fuel to our ships and then take it on to base ourselves.  only problem with that is is just means rather than being able to hit our base... anyone who traces the fuel shipment hits the meeting point instead.  Bright side to that is the base stays secure, I guess.'

He gave a slightly sheepish grin.  'Downside to that plan is that last time I checked, we didnt have a fuel transport.'

Sheila listened.  The only way she could come  up with is borrowing a transport, and since it was an obvious suggestion and she didn't have any suggestions as to how to do it, she kept quiet.

"Or we could make use of our cruiser.  You're already converting one pod into a hangar bay.  Why don't we get another pod and convert it into some sort of fuel storage tank?  Then you can set the meet wherever we want and we have the Nightshrike's heavy guns for defense?"

"Of course, we're getting ahead of ourselves.  If Phindar goes under we'll have no fuel shipments and no money.  We need to worry if the risk is worth the reward before we worry too much about transport issues."

Noticing that several of the newer members were not contributing, Mark specifically looked to each of them.

"Remember in the Black Talons, your pay is based on percentage of profit earned.  So if we make money, you make money.  If we lose it all, there's no pay.  So these decisions effect everyone equally.  Please feel free to speak up with your concerns."

Mark then turns to the display screen.  "Anyway, it seems for now we're at least partially committed.  Let me outline the first sortie.  Our first task is to help Phindar get it's convoys through.  So we're going to take over escort duties for the next couple of convoys.  Pirate raids have cost Phindar several tankers and their relying on green pilots with no combat experience as escort.  These guys apparently run as often as they fight."

He points to Jamie.  "Webb, I'm putting both of our Z-95's at your disposal, please bring them back in better condition then you did your last starfighter.  Phindar has agreed to give us full autonomy over the next few shipments.  We can use their crew or ours, as well as their equipmetn.  We lose any equipment it's going to cost us.  We get the tankers through and they'll give us a tanker load of fuel and the right to buy the shares at a discouted rate, allowing us to take a five percent ownership."

"I'll remain here with Nightshrike.  I think it's too early to fully tip our hand and reports to date have only had the tankers attacked by small groups of starfighters.  Besides, there's not enough fuel on board for extensive operations.  We need that fuel payment.  I've spoken to Captain Raiwaw and he's agreed to drop you off at the refinery on Phindar 4 for a modest fee."

"Nallis, make sure sufficient armaments are distributed.  You wont be checked by customs on this one so take whatever armaments you think you need."

"Questions?  You depart as soon as possible. I've serviced both Headhunters and they're at optimal efficiency.  Torlo, the Starflower will drop you off on Phindar Prime after the rest of the team had disembarked."
This message was last edited by the player at 05:56, Sun 06 June 2010.

"Understood One" Xil replied to Marks orders. He looked around at the gathered group trying to remember what each normally carried and then decided that it would just be easier to ask.

"Everyone check your gear and let me know what you have in terms of weapons, if you need/ want any extra let me know. As a minimum you should all have a blaster pistol and rifle. If you want to know what extras are available, ask. We do have a small cache that can be accessed if necessary. And Two, lets not get too fancy, I doubt we'll need the E-web cannon on this one." the last was said with a grin in Flash's direction.

Aryan listened to the conversation with a stony face.  When the group was finished, he looked up, at the commander, then the group.  "Isa not know most of you, but i cansa say that this will be hard.  Along with the escourts, i suggest we have a few members on the transports."

He looked at Exilim.  "The use of gear will be helpful, but remember that unless they wants the fuel, they may just blows the ships up."

Aryan sighs, then continues.

"Ons the otehr hands, if theys want the fuel, they will try take the ships.  in this case, the people who can handle close combat..either blasters or hand to hand, would benifit being on the transpot."  He looks at Mark.  "..and if we do that, somes people should liook atsa the ship..gets to know points we can hold and use defensivly"

“A good way to make it harder for the Imperials to track us would be to set up a dummy corporation to handle all our dealings with Phindar.  That gives us a cover to hide behind and hopefully wont link the anti-Imperial raids to Phindar.”

Flash was palpably disappointed at being denied usage of the E-web.  Cap'n better let him bring the grenades, though.  Not being fully up-to-date on the current armament available to them, he headed off to check up on that, and prepare a report for Four.

He prepared a brief summary in his mind.  Seems we have a wide range of blasters, everything from pistols up to an E-web, a few sets of battle armor, and some riot gear.  Stun grenades, but no frag.  Best bring some anyway.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:15, Tue 08 June 2010.

Xil nodded to both Aryan and Rann acknowledging their contributions "Valid points and something that I'm sure we'll consider in due course. Firstly however, lets get some house keeping done." he paused slightly to remind himself to update Flash who had just left the meeting "We use number call signs within this group when we are on mission. There are currently some with temporary status or none at all. Sheila, you'll now be Three. We don't have ten people here so no point you having it as your call sign. Rann, your designation is Six and Aryan as you are now part of the group you'll be Eight. Make sure you learn who everyone else is plus their role if they have one. I'm Four when on mission and am the ground Force Commander plus sniper."

After ensuring that they all understood he continued. "Assignments including any extra gear you will be required to take will be given out shortly. He looked around at the group and then said "I want a report on what your current gear is ASAP so I know what extra I can give you. We prepare for any eventuality." With that he got up and left the meeting. He would quickly prep his gear and then see if he could get any more information from Mark before deciding on what assignments to give people.

Mark listened to the conversations with the team for a short while.

"Pertwee, I'll get you to look over what I have before you go.  I was planning to use one of the dummy accounts Zyra had set up but I'll get you to look at them.  I'm a pilot, not an accountant."

"Get this done people.  I want you spacebound in two hours."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:26, Tue 08 June 2010.

Mark quickly leaves the room with Rann and the others begin wandering off to their seperate jobs.

OOC: To do list

All:  Check gear and equipment (do you need something from the armoury?)
Devon:  Flight check the Z-95's (Mark did it but what does he know?)  ;)
Jamie:  Test Aryan on the simulator
Aryan: Be tested
Rann:  Go over the accounts
Exilim/Jamie:  Assign crew roster and pilots for the Z-95's.  Also how do you distribute the missiles?
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:20, Tue 08 June 2010.

Xil quickly made it back to this quarters. Going over and checking his gear he notes that he has only two concussion grenades left mmm better get more of these he thinks to himself.

Having ensured that all his gear was good to go he heads off to find Mark and hopefully get a bit more detail on what they can expect.

OCC: Xil will be taking his usual gear; blaster pistol and rifle, vibroblade, knife, 2 concussion grenades, all Temperature Cloak,Credit Chip, Macrobinoculars, Padded Flight Suit, Comlink, Secure Comlink, 3 Power Packs, 2 Energy packs

OOC: Flash will be taking his Blaster rifle and pistol, [4 extra power packs, 5 concussion grenades from group supply(you can never have too many grenades), held in a bandolier(I'm assuming that would be easy enough to get ahold of from somewhere)], his vibrodagger, padded flight suit, all-temp cloak, grappling spike launcher(on pistol), tool kit, credit chips(8000c, spread among several chips of varying totals stowed in varying locations), and datapad.

A lot of stuff, and if he's gonna be leaving from here in a fighter and coming straight back here, he might take less, but as it's likely with their past record that there will be ground time, he'll likely bring it all.

Pausing from working on the fighters, Devon tried to wipe the sweat from his brow but instead punched himself in the visor of his spacesuit.
'Damn pressure suits.' he grumbled, then switched his suits comms to Exilim's commlink frequency.

'Any idea how hard it is to do decent work in one of these suits?  Plus I think one of my hydro-spanners floated off about half an hour back.  Hey Xil, I'm gonna be out here another hour at least - got to load the missiles yet and you don't want me rushing that.  Do me a favour, would ya?  My personal kit is in my bunk, you mind checking it over for me?  It should be fine, but hook me up with a rifle, some mini-grenades and a launcher would you?'

blaster pistol
medipac,
security kit
datapad
power packs for blaster 4
tool kit
flight suit
energy cells 5
comlink
+ 2nd blaster pistol
+ stun baton

Sheila will ask Exilim if she needs the flight suit, other than that, everything will come with her, plus as many medipac and kits as she can carry.  She will also take any grenades others don't take, up to 5 of each concussion, smoke, and gas.

Xil pauses as he hears Devon come over his comm. "No problems, glad it's you doing it and not me. Probably best if you load two missiles on each of the Z-95's. I'll get you that stuff you wanted as well. Keep me informed of how you are going."

Xil takes a detour from his planned route and goes to collect the equipment that Devon had requested as well as some extra grenades for himself. Once done he will check Devon's gear to make sure that it good to go and then continue on his way to speak to Mark.

OCC: Xil has added x2 each of concussion/ stun/ smoke grenades plus an extra blaster pistol to his equipment.

He has added a blaster rifle, grenade launcher and x3 each of concussion/ stun/ smoke grenades to Devon's gear.

Xil found Mark in the computer room where he was watching Rann do something on one of the computers.  Noticing Xil come in, Mark left the terminal and moved towards the door.

"Yes Nallis.  All ready to ship out I hope?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:04, Sat 12 June 2010.

Turning to face Mark,Rann said.  “Ok, I'd get Sheila to check my work and make sure I havent missed anything, but I've made a company called Tatooine Mineral Investments that should do what we need.”

Less than two hours later, the Starflower and two Headhunters took off from the asteroid and headed in-system, leaving Mark alone with the Nightshrike.  The trip in was largely uneventful.  The Starflower passengers enjoyed a sumptuous repast prepared by the crew, games of holochess, sabaac and Dejarik as well as watching Iden and Aryan practice their unarmed skills.  The Talons could eat, play, shower and rest.

The two Headhunter pilots had less of a good time.  Twelve hours trapped in a cramped starfighter, drinking liquid nourishment and using a tube and bag for a 'fresher' was an experience no pilot enjoyed.

Finally the three craft landed at a private spaceport on Phindar V belonging to Phindar Petroleum.  The two fighters were directed into a private hangar while the Starflower merely unloaded its crew and gear.  After several handshakes and promises to stay in touch, the Barloz freighter took off and headed towards Phindar Prime to drop off Jace.

The Talons regrouped in the hangar.  It was voluminous enough to hold many more ships then the two starfighters.  It contained full mechanical and refuelling facilities.  It also boasted a small office, a refresher, eating area and a bunk room with four beds.



OOC:  Wanted to move things along so welcome to your new base.  Thought I'd give you a quick chance to 'settle in' before we move on.  Since nobody assigned pilots to the Z-95's I'll leave it to individuals to decide wether they were passengers on the Starflower or a Z-95.  Obviously if you were on the Starflower you will be well rested, fed and enjoyed good company.  If you were in a fighter you'll be dirty, smelly, cranky and in desperate need of a shower, meal and rest!

Climbing from the cockpit of one of the fighters, Rann circled his right shoulder joint, then stretched.  “Well, the Z-95 is very different from the Z-90s, I can tell you” he said to no on in particular.  “Refresher's mine...” he said as he hurried towards the refresher station.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:38, Tue 15 June 2010.

An hour passed, allowing the Talons time to inventory their equipment, Devon to check over the Headhunters and the pilots to freshen up.  All were gathered in the main area when an incoming comm call registered on the screen.  Upon answering, a human female appears.  She is dressed in a business suit and has a look that screams corporate.

"You must be the mercenaries the board has decided to employ.  I'm Sally Tocknell and I'll be serving as your liaison during your time on planet."

"I'm sure you're not interested in a lot of banter so I'll get right to the point.  We've been losing over forty percent of our convoys to pirate activities.  Our own defenses have proven insufficient and the mercenaries we have hired to date have been ineffective.  We need this to stop."

"Our next convoy is due to leave the base you are located at in four hours.  I have created a corporate access to our server for you.  All relevant information will be in there.  Access codes are in the top drawer by the computer."

"Now I've been told to give you full authority over this convoy.  This means you have the authority to take command of any equipment you choose, and perform any role in the convoy you see fit.  I should point out our security manager is less than happy with this arrangement and is currently appealing to the board."

"Captain Tobias is senior captain of the convoy.  He's been told to give you his full co-operation and he'll be expecting you.  I'll speak to you on your return.  Good luck."

The screen goes blank.

Sheila moves over to the computer, grabs the codes and accesses the server.  A file has been prepared describing the convoy's route.  Three CEC Action IV bulk freighters (fuel tanker conversion) are due to leave Phindar IV and transport their cargo to one of the moons near Phindar VIII.  This route has been attacked more than once and the buyer has been threatening to change suppliers if they can't deliver on time.  The convoy has two Cloakshape fighters for escort, complete with company pilots.  The file does clearly state that the Talons have authority to redistribute staff as they wish with the exception of Captain Tobias who is to remain with the convoy flagship.  The three tankers and two fighters are being prepped at present and will be ready to leave on time.


OOC:  Well it's time to make plans.  The file is just the info that Phindar think you want to know but they're a corporation, not military.  You've got a few hours before the convoy leaves so you can spend it doing whatever you need to.

You have full authority to perform any role on any ship you choose.

Enjoy!
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:31, Wed 16 June 2010.

Xil looks over Sheila's shoulder as she accesses the computer. "mmm two cloakshapes as escorts and three tankers" he mutters out aloud. "See if you can get any info/ specs on those freighters including crew." he says to Sheila, "I'm hoping with all the trouble they've had that they have at least put some decent weapons on them."

As he waits for Sheila to get the information he has requested, Exilim starts to go over how to best allocate the resources that they have.

Iden casually follows Exilim. "Also, ida like a list of crew on the freighters, their history and battles experince"  He looks at exilim with a straight face.  "Isa wants to know who can fight and who can not..whosa can shoot and whosa can use their hands"

Sheila quickly pulls up the specs as requested.  The ships are standard models with no upgrades.  The transports have neither weapons or shields.   The cloakshapes are also lacking in shields and also lack missiles!  In a sector that is patrolled by Imperials it was seen as unnecessary to have a heavier weapons complement.  Extra weaponry equal extra cost and more Imperial scrutiny.

The crew manifest shows that each transport runs with a crew of ten.  Eight crew to operate the ship and a two-man security team.  The security officers have had in-house training to do their jobs.

The Cloakshape pilots are not much better.  Both have pilot licences in civilian craft but neither has a record of military service.  The only man who has any real training is Captain Tobias who served on a military tranport during the Clone Wars.  He was discharged with the formation of the Empire as many such jobs were given to clones.



OOC:  For anyone who has Starships of the Galaxy use the base stats for the Action IV Transport and Cloakshape Fighters.  The Fighters lack missiles.  Imperials tend to frown on overarmed security forces (even ones being raided) and missiles are expensive and tend to cause incidents, especially in the hands of nervous civilian pilots.

In reply to Master Servious (msg #34):


"Wow."  That was all she could say.  " Just like old times, no shields." her voice dropped. " But no anything else either. We get attacked, we're going to have to wait to get boarded to fight them off."

Sheila adds to Exilim.  "Any chance we could give the security guys some extra training, in case of boarding, just some practice, I really can't tell from this how likely they are to fight well, they;ve only ever fired their guns on a range and their hand to hand is unknown?"


She looked at Aryan, "I think your best chance of figuring out how well these guys fight is to have sparring matches with them, but I'll see what comes up".
This message was last edited by the player at 22:11, Thu 17 June 2010.

Exilim lets out a groan when the specs of the freighters, escorts and crew come up. "Well" he says to no one in particular "This should be fun."

He considers options momentarily. He knows that civilian pilots are a liability in combat and that two rent a cops per freighter aren't really enough to repel boarders if it comes to down to it.

He rubs his hands through his hair as a way to clear his thought and then starts giving out assignments.

"Five and Two, you have the cloakshapes. Their pilots can join the rent a cops on the second and third freighters. Six & Seven, you have the Z-95's. I'll be on the lead freighter with Captain Tobias, Three you take the second freighter, Eight you have the last." he looks around quickly to make sure that they had all heard him.

"Three, make contact with our liaison and see if on the off chance we can get more security personnel for the freighters." the last was said with out much real hope.

Xil will wait briefly to see what answer Sheila gets before continuing with his plans.

Devon breathed a mental sigh of relief as he was assigned to one of the Z-95s instead of the unshielded, missile-deficient flying coffin of a Cloakshape...

'Just a thought...' he said 'I bet those two pilots you pulled out the cloakshapes are going to be annoyed.  I dealt with people like them in my old line of work and they all think they're hotshots - they'll probably see being replaced as a personal insult.  They might cause trouble.'

'Also, I'd recommend pulling the maintenance logs and performance specs for the freighters and Cloakshapes... if any of them are running below spec or are prone to breakdown... we need to know before someone starts shooting at us.'

Devon held up his datapad.

'Ten, if you can patch this into their network with our server access, I'll get out your way and start going over those logs.'

Sheila pulls up the maintenance logs for all the ships. 

ANd she tries to get hold of the liaison.

Aryan Nods at Exilim.  "isa suggest we also gets the security in one group before we leave and then we can gague their skill level."

Aryan looks at his assigned task and sighs.  "..butsa i don'ts thinking we will be having much luck other than us.    He looks at shelia with a half smile.  "maybe we should look at defensable places on teh ships and set up an arms stock for us..just in case."

Sheila can find little information on each security man's actual skill, only the course they've attended.  She quickly concludes that Aryan's solution, being to actually assess them in person would be the only way to ascertain their actual skill.

The maintenance logs show Devon that each Cloakshape has recieved a regular service history.  However it's what it doesn't show that bothers him.  It seems from the weapons maintenance that the Cloakshapes have rarely if ever used their weapons.  The ships have not required degaussing of the targeting lenses or a dozen other jobs associated with regular weapons usage.  The actual fighters are located in Hangar 4 and the freighters are being loaded nearby.  Personnel logs show that some of the freighter crew are already on board doing pre-flight checks, including the three captains.  Neither of the Cloakshape pilots has arrived on-base yet.  There is a standard pre-flight briefing booked in two hours time.

In reply to Master Servious (msg #41):

"Three, you and Eight get those security guards together and run them through their paces. Lets see if we can do something in the very short time we have to make them better." He turns to Devon "Looks like you may have your work cut out for you with the cloakshapes. Take whoever you need to help but make sure those two ships are battle ready."

Xil will start to  look at alternate or round about routes to their destination. After all, if you are not where they expect you to be they can't attack you.

In reply to Exilim Nallis (msg #42):


"Yes sir,"  then to Aryan, "I will warn you, I'm not an unarmed hand to hand fighter." Sheila will run off and corrall the security guards.

Aryan looks at Exilim and nods.  He look at shelia with a wry smile. "yousa don't have to be..thats why i'm here"  He follows Shelia in looking for the guards

Alert:  Aryan & Sheila

It doesn't take long for Sheila to arrange for the six security staff to report to the briefing room on base.  Whilst surprised at being called in early, none of the staff seem to concerned.  All six are sitting in a group, talking and drinking caf when Sheila and Aryan arrive from their hangar.


Alert: Xil
You'll need an astrogation check by someone to try and plot an alternate route that takes similar time.


Alert: Everyonee else!
What is everyone else up to?  I know Devon had some plans he hasn't brought to fruition yet.

Devon spends several minutes going over the maintenance logs.
'oooh boy.' he muttered and looked up 'You know these maintenace logs literally cant remember the last time they even test fired the Cloakshapes weapons?'

Devon groaned and hauled himself to his feet. 'We better make sure their guns WILL actually fire.. and in the direction we want them to... and not, you know sideways or the always popular pilot-killing-fireball...'

Grabbing his toolkit, he looked round at the other Talons thinking over what he knew about their skills at engineering.
'Flash, Jamie - you guys don't seem to be doing anything... wanna come help me eliminate a potential disaster?'

Hopefully his two helpers will actually follow him, Devon trots off towards hanger 4, where he expected to end up in a shouting match with whoever was in charge of fighter maintenance...

"Have fun you three" Xil says to Devon, Jamie & Flash. He then turns to the task of coming up with an alternate route.

'Let see how I go at this he thinks to himself I can always get one of the others to help out if I stuff it up'
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:11, Sat 26 June 2010.

<Three hours later>

The conference room is bustle with talk as the tanker crews assemble for the mission briefing.  While a briefing was standard, this one was far from standard.  A group of merecenaries had been given command of the convoy and the news was taken in different ways by the various staff.

The security team stood off to one side together.  The six men had been dubious when the strange alien had questioned their abilities.  However, none now questioned Aryan's ability as they nursed the bruises to prove it.  Whilst they weren't all happy with an alien in charge, none would question him to his face.

Sitting near the front sat the two Cloakshape pilots talking quietly but clearly unimpressed.  When they'd arrived they'd found several of the mercenaries 'servicing' the Cloakshapes.  Half the access panels had been open, wires and tools were everywhere.  The pilots had been used to holding some authority over the mechanics but the mercenaries had been less than agreeable.  There were even rumours they were to be 'replaced.'

The largest group however consisted of the three freighter captains and their navigators.  So far the mercenaries had made no demands on them so they had little to say on the matter.

As the Talons piled in, all heads turned to face them.  Wether the looks were hostile, confused or disinterested, they were all aimed at these newcomers.



OOC:  Time to rally the troops.  While ideally Jamie should be giving the briefing I know he's been busy as of late, as has Xil.  Perhaps some of the other Talons can talk about their areas of expetise while we wait.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:57, Thu 16 Dec 2010.

Flash was impressed with the immaculate condition of the cloakshapes, but less than impressed with the armaments.  Just like old times, all right.  Nearly getting your but shot out from under you, and for what?  Minimum wage?  As if!  And so he sat, in a more out-of-the-way seat at the briefing, glumly silent.

Sheila sat next to Flash.  She was a little concerned about getting boarded, there just wasn't really enough to fight off determined pirates, Although she had some sympathy for the beaten up security guys.

Aryan leaning against the wall behind shelia, looked at the room as they all looked towards the group.  Then men have some skills with firearms, but i doubt that will be enoufgh to keep them alive he thought to himself. Aryan looked around at the talon group, then stood up and walked around to stand just in front of them.

"Isa had a chance to look over the security group today." he started, looking at the small (And bruised) men. "..and though they show some skills, they lack some others.  Of the group, only one has seen battle, and though i don't question their heart, isa knowing that in the heat of battle, things happen"

The gungan paused, looked behind him to shelia, then turned and continued.  "i'm not saying they won't do their job..theysa done well so far.  but if pirates take the ships, they will kill other members or die themselves."

Aryan looked at The talons as much as the others now.  "To ensure the saftey of the ships, i want one of our team, someone skilled ijn battle and fighting, with one of them.  This will balance the odds out until we can train the team more..or get more men."

The gungan  walked to the side and leaned against the wall, waiting a reply

Aryan's speech caused numerous rumblings in the audience.  Surprisingly, none of the security guards said anything about the Gungan's appraisal of their abilities.  Then again, having just been subjected to his 'testing' they probably knew he was right.

Knowing things were only going to get more heated, Jamie quickly took to the stage.

"Welcome everyone.  As you all know by now, Phindar Petrochem has hired my team to ensure that convoys make it safely to their destination.  They've given us authority to make any changes to personnel and equipment we see fit.  Whilst we don't want to cause too many disruptions, there will be changes."

Jamie points to Xil.  "This is my co-commander.  He'll be serving as liaison aboard the lead tanker.  He'll be helping our team work more effectively with yours.  We will have a team member on each of the other tankers to assist in whatever roles they deem appropriate.  Their jobs is not to take over, the captains still command their ships.  However, in an emergency, they may need to supply orders to help get us out of trouble alive."

He then gestures to Flash.  "My colleague and I will be leading the escort force.  We will fly the Cloakshape fighters.  The normal pilots are assigned to the tankers.  I'm sure you can find use for them."

A roar of protest goes up from one of the pilots, the younger of the two, but Captain Tobias silences him with a glare.

Jamie nods to the Captain.  "Finally, we are plotting a route, it may differ from the pre-planned route.  Each freighter will recieve it after we take off, which will be at the scheduled time."

Jamie turns to the Talons.  "Anything to add?"



OOC:  Since I'm NPC'ing Jamie in his absence I'm only supplying the information you guys had already worked out.  Other things to consider are:

1.  I didn't mention the Z-95's as I don't know if they're going to be part of the escort force or you somehow plan to hold them in reserve somehow.

2.  I haven't listed what the role of Xil, Aryan and Sheila will be on the freighters as it hasn't been specified.

3.  Haven't really addressed the route issue yet as Xil is still on it.

4.  I haven't used your names yet.  Since this is a legitimate jobs you could either use first names at least or your numbers.

Remember Jamie and Xil are having RL issues at the moment so other people need to help keep the posting up.

At present I have people in the following roles:

Jamie: Cloakshape pilot and starfighter group commander
Flash: Cloakshape pilot
Rann & Devon: Headhunter Pilots
Xil: Onboard Freighter 1 & Freighter group commander
Sheila: Onboard Freighter 2
Aryan: Onboard Freighter 3

Apart from security, the guys on the freighters could obviously help with operation of the ships if they want.  Also two of the freighters will each have an extra crewman (the cloakshape pilots)

"Thanks Five" Xil said as he got up and stood next to Jamie. "My name is Exilim, you can call me Four. You have already met Five and Eight" he said as he pointed to to Jamie and Aryan respectively. He then quickly introduces the rest of the group using their call signs.

"I understand that some of you are not happy with some of the decisions that have already been made, however understand that this is not a democracy. Our job is to get the convoy through and that is what we intend to do." He looks around and focuses his attention the the cloakshape pilots for a moment before continuing. "The cloakshapes will be joined by two Z-95's as part of the escort. They will be piloted by Six and Seven. As Five mentioned one of us will be on each tanker, Three  on the second tanker and Eight on the third. They will fulfill whatever role is required and if they issue an instruction are to be obeyed"

"We know that this is a change from what you are use to and for that we do apologise. Any questions."

Devon waited a few moments to see if anyone else spoke up in response to Xil, then cleared his throat.

'Well, the good news from my side of things is that all our fighters are in excellent shape - I had this nightmare of having to do a complete breakdown and rebuild, but most of what we did was tweaking.'

Devon grinned, slightly nervously and spread his hands.
'We dont have the ships or munitions for a long fight... but you all know that already.  Apart from that, I'd like a few minutes with the Cloakshape pilots before set out - I want to go over whats been done to the fighters and I've got a few more tweaks in mind that I want opinions on.'

The briefing only lasts a few minutes longer, mostly dealing with normal formalities.  The crews quickly move off to their respective duties.  Some seemingly quite annoyed at the Talons' takeover, others seem indifferent, a few seem hopeful.  Either way, nobody directly challenges the Talons which makes life easier.

A few hours later the convoys lift off on schedule, the four starfighters in escort formation.  The Talons on board the freighters have little to do and so quietly remain out of the way.  On board the lead freighter Captain Tobias, who has been most congenial to the Talons' presence invites Xil to ride on the bridge with him, offering him the unoccupied second pilot station.

Two hours into the flight, the navigator on the lead ship called Xil and Captain Tobias over to his station.

"You asked me to report anything unusual and I think this qualifies.  We've just had some ships hyperspace in about three thousand kilometres from us and they're not transmitting identity codes.  While that in itself is not unusual, not only is this not a usual hyperspace point, but its almost the exact position where the convoy would have been had you not adjusted the route."


OOC:  Anyone in a starfighter can make an Astrogation Check (DC15) to notice the same anomoly.  Neither of the other two navigators picked this up so Aryan and Sheila are definitely in the dark until enlightended.  Still it could be nothing right?
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:49, Sat 31 July 2010.

Well that's certainly unusual enough for me and my guess is probably more than just coincidence. Good work." he says to the navigator. "Keep and eye on them and let me know what they do. Also find out what type of ships we are dealing with. Hopefully they haven't noticed us out here just yet so try not to alert them" He hoped the navigator had the skill to do what he had asked.

He turns to Captain Tobias "Alert the other tankers and make sure they have their eyes open so to speak. We really want to know if they or anyone else starts to move towards us. I'll let the escort know."

He heads to the comms station and using the general Talons frequency sends out a sitrep "Talons, Four here. Heads up, ships have hyperspaced in to where the convoy would have been. May be nothing but it is just a touch to coincidental. Report in to acknowledge."

As he waits for the team to report in he checks on the navigator.

'Seven acknowledges' answered Devon.  'Four, How about we go dark - passive sensors only and maybe we wont attract attention...'

Xil felt like slapping his own head after Devon reported in, he really should have done the passive sensor thing himself. "Good idea Seven, here's hoping"

He says to the navigator "Slight change of plan, passive sensors only" Turning to Captain Tobias "Please pass that onto the others, lets hope it works."

Xil gets on the comm station and contacts the rest of the escort group "Four here, passive scanning only, lets try to remain hidden."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:39, Tue 13 July 2010.

At Xil's command, the Talons immediately went to passive sensors.  Onboard the forward and aft freighter, the navigators did so a little more slowly but not too much.  The middle freighter proved a problem.  The navigator fumbled with screens, trying to override failsafes whilst getting flustered.  After about fifteen seconds of watching the man, Sheila finally pushed him aside and got the sensors into passive mode.  However, she was pretty sure the damage was done.  The other ships had been actively scanning the whole time and it was very possible they'd picked up the freighter.  It was impossible to tell now they were on passive.  They'd have to wait and see if the newcomers scanned them.




OOC:  You're not 100% sure if they picked you up on scanners but it is very possible.  If so, they'd need to get closer to pick the ships up again.

After switching to passive sensors, Rann noticed the delay before the middle freighter switched to passive.  Using his encrypted comlink, he sent a message direct to Sheila.

In reply to Rann Pertwee (msg #60):

"Don't know, but I'm doing navigation at the moment.  Will get back to you."

She's going to stay at the navigation spot for the time being.

Flash responded to the comm.  "Two, acknowledged.  Passive sensors only."  He shifted his sensors to passive, and while he wasn't happy about the reduced awareness levels, he trusted the others to alert him if they were found out.  Funny thing, that, he actually trusted them.  He hadn't trusted anyone like that in...  oh, a long time.

Aryan, listening to the comms, simply nods as the captain orders passive sensors only.  he looks at the stations, judging who will need help at a moments notice.  Looking at the captain, he speaks so only he will hear him. "Holds the position until we haves conformation of whats happening."

The gungan, at teh captain's side, looks on with a stony face to the direction of the ships.

"Makes your move.." he says more to himself than anyone else.  "..you may be getting a suprise this times."

Time seemed to slow down to nothingess as they convoy silently continued on its way.  With passive sensors only, they wouldn't see approaching ships until they were close, very close.  In the starfighters, the four Talons methodically prepared their ships for combats.  While in passive mose, it was more likely the freighters with their larger sensors would pick up threats before they did.

At her station, Sheila watched her sensors closely.  Every now and then they registered a quick contact before fading again.  Clearly whoever was out there was not so eager to stay invisible as they were.  Whomever the contact was, was using active sensors to search the area.  Wether they new the approximate location of the convoy or were just scanning blindly was anybody's guess.  So far a few scans had come close but she didn't think they'd been picked up. . .yet.



OOC:  Oooh the game of cat and mouse.  As before, you can choose to alter your strategy or continue as you are.  The 'contact' (whatever it is) is actively searching space, assumedly for the convoy.  Passive sensors make you harder to spot, but far from impossible.

Xil frowned at the situation, it was not ideal but a gamble that might pay off. He turned to the navigator "Any way we can link in with the other freighters to get a better idea of what is going on out there?"

He didn't really have much hope that in passive mode it would help but it was worth a try before considering going active with the sensors to get an idea of what was out there.

Sheila uses her encrypted commlink.  "Four, I'm getting intermittant pings on us. "
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:05, Thu 22 July 2010.

"Understood Three, keep me informed." Xil replied to Sheila over the Talons secure comm.

He stood silently for a moment running options through his head. He didn't really like the idea of of staying on passive sensors indefinitely. The flip side was that going active would more than likely pinpoint their location to whoever was out there. He was guessing that they would move a lot quicker than what the freighters would be able to.

I'm a sniper damn it, what do I know of fighting in space other than how to pilot a fighter he muttered to himself under his breath

Aryan waited patiently, his eyes, not moving from the void of space in teh distance.  His comm at hand, he listened intently for any news.

The uncertain situation was starting to really annoy Exilim. He took a few deep breaths to settle himself.

Using the Talons secure comm he said "All Talons, Four here. I want suggestions ASAP." He hoped that one of them would come up with something other than revealing their position.

He turned to Captain Tobias, "Keep our course for the moment. Be prepared to act quickly if the need arises."

Using his Talons comm unit, Rann replied “We need to close up the freighter formation, and have the Headhunters move round to the far side of the formation – away from those ships.  Any sensor echoes they do get should trick them into seeing a far smaller convoy than we really are.”

At Rann's suggestion, the convoy moved more closely together.  Given the cumbersome nature of the freighters and the limited skill of the pilots, this formation was not as tight as the team may have liked, but it should help blur their sensor image.

The Talons had no such trouble, effortlessly weaving their fighters in close to the freighters.  They made sure to stay out of the freighters line of sight in order to not sook them and had to suddenly make course corrections to account for some erratic flying from the freighters.

Onboard the lead freighter, Captain Tobias had relieved his pilot who was not handling the stress of formation flying well.  The captain however, flew as calmly as if he was alone in deep space.  Upon Xil's suggestion they fly straight he shrugged.

"This may fool them but might I suggest we consider course changes.  Back in the Clone Wars, if you were being tracked by a Sep we'd institute random course changes to throw off their tracking.  Only problem with our current plan is they only need to spot us once or twice, even sproadically.  Then they draw a line between their sensor readings and they have our course.  Changing course prevents this, but the down side is we tend to be in their sensor envelope longer."

On board the second freighter Sheila was watching the sensors like a hawk-bat.  She was so focused on finding any trace of the enemies she barely registered the conversation between the pilot and captain until the voices became raised.

". . .need to back off.  It's too tight." said the pilot.

"Calm down son.  Just focus on your procedures." the captain said.

"Proximity alarm, need to turn."

"Stay on target."

"I can't sir!"

The captain spun to his navigator.  "Get one of those cloakshape pilots up here.  One of them can. . ."

". . .arrrgh!" shouted the pilot.

The captain and navigator were thrown to the floor and Sheila barely kept in her seat when the pilot, in a moment of panic threw the freighter into a sharp right turn, engaging the emergency thrusters with so much force the inertial compensators momentarily failed.

Onboard the third freighter, the pilot suddenly gasped as the second freighter turned right in front of him.  Firing the inferior thrusters at full burn he managed to get the nose of the ship up enough to prevent plowing into the second freighter, missing the middle ship by mere metres.

Onboard the lead freighter, Xil watched in shock as the two freighters behind him nearly collided.  Neither freighter seemed to have been damaged but the convoy was in momentary disarray.

The navigator frowned.  "Both ships fired their emergency thrusters sir.  They're going to have been lit up like Life Day trees.  You'd have to have been blind and deaf to miss that.  What's worse I've lost sensor contact with the freighters."



OOC:  Middle pilot botched his check!  Can't find good help these days!  So all freighters are undamaged (thanks to a great roll by the 3rd pilot) but the incident made a very pretty light show (like firing full afterburner at night).  The 2nd freighter is now stopped and the 3rd one is flying up and away from the middle one.  Will take a round or two to get back on course.  The three freighters are now outside passive sensor range of each other and the Talon comms wont work either as they're short range.

People in the fighters had no problem avoiding the trouble.  So each fighter will likely still be in formation with whichever freighter you were shadowing for cover.  I leave it to the pilots to determine their position (especially as Jamie is still AWOL)

Exilim started to regain his composure until he got the news off the navigator, he then started to swear. After a few moments he took some deep breaths and began to settle down.

"Go active with our sensors." Xil said to the navigator "We need to know what is going on out there and as you pointed out you'd have to of been comatose to miss it. Whoever is out there knows where we are now more than likely."

He turned to Captain Tobias "Course changes would have been our next move, but it seems flying straight is hard enough. Better pilots should be on our shopping list. At any rate alter our course for all the good it will do now, I'll get everyone to follow."

Xil got onto the ships comm to contact the other freighters and the escort "All ships in the convoy, Four here. Use your sensors to lock onto the lead ship and follow it. Report in to acknowledge."

Finally he turned back to the navigator "Might as well have a look and see what we are dealing with."

At Xil's order, the lead freighter engaged active sensors, the other freighters quickly followed suit.  Flaring to life, the convoy was quickly able to locate each other.  Unfortunately that was not all they spotted.

"Sir, we have inbound." called the navigator to Xil.  "I make six fighter class contacts two thousand kilometres and closing.  I'm making out a slightly larger vessel same distance away.  It's also closing with us."
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:38, Sat 31 July 2010.

Of course we have contacts inbound Xil muttered to himself Our luck doesn't extend much beyond the tip of our noses. No way we were going to avoid them really... he continued as he turned to face the crew he let his voice trail off.

"Captain, get this thing moving as fast as she can, every second helps." to the navigator he says "I want constant updates as to the position of those six inbound, especially as they approach firing range."

Getting onto the ships comm "All ships, Four here. Keep pace with the lead freighter. Three see if you can determine what the larger contact out there is."

Hoping that the fighters are back in comm range Xil uses the teams secure comm "Escort group, Four. Cloakshapes keep escort formation as would be expected, Z-95's try to hide in the shadow of a freighter, maybe we can still surprise them. Acknowledge."

He took a step back as he tried to visualise the upcoming encounter in his mind and how to best deal with it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:22, Sat 31 July 2010.

The gungan watched as the scene unfolded, almost like in slow motion, not moving a muscle.  He saw teh second freighter swing in front of his ship, and watched as the pilot of his ship, swerved to miss them.

As the seconds unfurled, and he heard the voice of Exillim came over the com, he walked forward to the pilot.  He placed his hand on teh pilot's shoulder.  "Good work there." he said softly, looking out to where the other ships were.

"..But were not clear yet...follow them."

"Yes sir."  SHe's glued to the sensors, she can't pilot this thing anyhow.  She'd rather be out in one of the fighters.  But she has to figure out what the blips are.

'Seven acknowledges.' answered Devon. 'We'll slot in behind freighter 1 - its closest.' There was a pause when all that reached Xil was the faint crackle of static.
'Hey Four, I just had a thought.  Even if you assume all those guys out there are packing top of the range mil-spec engines - and I bet they're not - it's going to take them nearly two hours to reach us... and that's assuming we don't try to run.  I wonder - can we prolong the chase enough to reach a viable jump point?  ANY jump point?  I'm going to run some numbers - hows about getting your navigator to do the same?'

As the group falls into formation and Devon works on a course, Sheila uses her skills to try and identify the incoming ships.  At such long range it is challenging but Sheila is up to the task and brings up enhanced pictures of the craft.  The computer is unable to make a match at long range but Sheila recognises the farthest vessel as a Lambda shuttle.  The starfighters are a design she's not sure she's seen.  She quickly transmits the data to all vessels in the hope of getting an ID.

Devon meanwhile does what he can with his ship.  Their destination is approximately eight hours away at the freighters' maximum sub-light speed.  He also determines they could get to a hyperspace capable point in four but that would take them away from their destination rather than to it.  They'd have to backtrack at some point to make the delivery.



OOC: Anyone who wants to identify the ships can make either a Knowledge (Starfighter) roll DC15.  The higher your roll, the more you know.

As Devon has pointed out, the fighters are more than two hours away so it's not exactly battle stations yet!

Xil considered what Devon had said for a moment before replying on his frequency "Seven, Four. The only problem I can see with a jump point is that three of our fighters don't have hyperdrive capability. Would hate to leave anyone behind."

While he waited for others to report in he went to an available station and began trying to identify the incoming fighters.

Devons mouth hung open for a moment then he ground his teeth and banged his head against the inside of his fighters canopy in frustration at his own forgetfulness.
'I'm an idiot...' he told himself.
Just to add insult to injury, he realized he'd forgotten to switch his comlink off before hand and that Xil would have heard everything.

Trying to distract himself (and prove he was actually useful) he turned his attention to the sensor data he was being sent and tried to identify the enemy fighters.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:56, Fri 06 Aug 2010.

After half a minute of staring at the sensor images and wracking his brains, Devon switched his Talons comm on again.

'Four, Seven.  Those enemy fighters?  They're Starchasers.  R-41 Starchaser.  I stole one once.  They're shielded, but not as tough as our Headhunters... or as agile; they are more heavily armed though - dual laser cannons, dual missile launchers... two shots per launcher if I remember correctly.  Worst bit?  Dual ion cannon - those scum suckers can disable us.'

There he told himself.  I am still useful

The freighters slowly fall back into convoy formation after their 'mishap' and continue on course.  Remaining in tight formation, the starfighters are most likely invisible to the other ship's sensors.  At such range Sheila was only able to differentiate the different craft with great skill.

Time passes and the range between the convoy and the R-41 Starchasers begins to slowly drop.  Behind them the Lambda Shuttle also closed in, but due to its slower speeds, began to fall behind the R-41's.

On the bridge of the lead freighter, Captain Tobias stood behind his navigator.

"Time until the fighters are in weapons range?" asked the Captain.

"At current speeds sir, approximately five hours and fifteen minutes." replied the navigator.

"Time to destination?"

"Six hours, thirty one minutes at present speed."

The captain turned to Xil.  "Looks like you bought us quite a lot of time.  Sadly, it's not quite enough."

In reply to Master Servious (msg #82):

"Understood Seven, thanks for the update." Xil replied over the Talons comm.

He turned to the captain with a grim look "Sadly you are right."  Xil said "And it also appears that when they catch up with us that those fighters will be able to disable us with ion cannons. Time to come up with another strategy it appears."

After a few minutes intense thought, Devon got on the comm to Xil again.

'I'm just trying to think of anything we could do to tip the odds in our favour... anything at all; and I'm wondering what we've got in the way of explosives.  I know both the Z-95s are packing missiles.. but what else we got?  can you find out whats onboard the freighters?'

In his own defence, Devon wasnt about to claim the idea he had was a good one... but it was an idea none the less.

Hearing the message over the comm, Xil looks at Captain Tobias who shakes his head.

"Well technically each of these ships is a giant bomb waiting to go off.  We are carrying nearly seventy-thousand tonnes of fuel per ship after all.  Apart from that, any kind of incindery is a big no-no.  When you carry that much volatile liquid, you tend to not push your luck.  Hell, even the diehard smokers on my crew tend to go without.  The fuel is sealed but the thought of a two kilometre fireball in space tends to make you edgy!"

Hearing Devon's plan Rann starts to think of his own. “Do we have any empty containers which could hold fuel?” he asked  “If so, we could make anti-ship flash bangs.

Jamie activated the Talons secure comm and spoke slowly.
"We could do that, but then it wouldn't be hard for our opponents to avoid them.  We might gain a little time by making them dodge around, but it wouldn't be enough to get us to our destination.
"Has anyone tried talking to these punks?  Four, get someone over there to attempt communication with these guys.  If we don't need to fight them, we shouldn't.  Keep me posted on that.
"Three, are you in a good position to monitor communications?  I want you to monitor every channel you can and see if anyone in our convoy is passing information to these guys.  Let me know right away if you find anything.
"All Talons, until further notice, use extreme discretion in communicating tactical plans and ideas."

In reply to Jamie Webb (msg #87):

"Understood and will do Five." Xil replied to Jamie over the Talons comm.

Exilim goes over to Captain Tobias and says "I want you to make contact with that incoming fighter group. If we can somehow avoid a fight we should. As the leader of this freighter group I'm hoping that you'll have the best chance.  Avoid giving out too much detail if you can and don't mention the extras we have along."

Sheila will do whatever scans are neceeary to catch outgoing transmissions.

Tobias nods and moves over to the comm.

"This is Captain Tobias of the Phindar Petroleum Convoy Three-Six-One to approaching unidentified vessels on vector one-six-five mark 10.  Please identify yourselves and state your intentions over."

The comm is silent for about twenty senconds.

"I would think our intentions are perfectly obvious Captain.  We intend to comandeer your craft and cargo.  Now your little 'detour' has annoyed me so I will speak plainly.  You will power down your shields and you'll tell your pitiful escort to power down all combat systems.  You will immediately turn on an intercept course with us where we will relieve you over your ships.  Your crew will be free to take the escape pods and you can keep your fighter escort."

"Since you have inconvenienced me my patience is thin.  You have exactly fifteen minutes to plot your rendezvous with us and change direction.  After that I will kill one of your crew for every fifteen minutes you delay.  When we catch up, and by now you know we will catch up I will make you watch as we slowly kill every person under your command."

The conncection when dead.



OOC:  The call came in over a generic frequency so all ships (including the fighters) heard it.  Means you don't have to repeat it but it also means some of the civilian crew are gonna start getting nervous.

"Well" said Xil to no one in particular "That clears that up"

He turns to Captain Tobias "Keep our current course and make sure the other freighter captains keep following." He moves a short distance away from the rest of the crew and then speaks quietly into the Talons comm "Three, Eight keep your crews calm and focused on their stations. Comments anyone?"

While waiting, he does as he suggested to the others, and makes sure his crew are focued and doing their jobs.

Tobias shrugged.  "I spent the better part of my life dodging droids and Seps, can't say a bunch of pirates worry me.  Can't speak for the rest of the ships.  They're solid workers, but they're civvies.  They didn't sign up to get shot at."

Despite the Captain's words, Xil could see the crew on his ship were staying focused on their work.  The captain was clearly a calming influence on them as he moved around, checking stations, calling for reports and maintaining a 'business-as-usual' attitude.

On the second ship, things weren't so calm.  The freighter pilot had been replaced at the helm by one of the civilian fighter pilots.  Not being fully familiar in the ship's controls, the pilot was completely absorbed in his work and didn't hear the pirate message.  The replaced pilot however had and was more than willing to speak his mind.

He ran over to the new pilot.  "This is crazy.  We should do as they say before we get killed.  I don't want to die.  Turn this ship around now before they start shooting us."

The Cloakshape pilot looked to the captain who shook his head.  "Hold your course.  Captain Tobias will tell us if he wants us to turn."

"Are you crazy?" yelled the freighter pilot.  "Give me the controls.  They're going to kill us all if we don't turn."

He then lunged at the controls, trying to push the Cloakshape pilot out of the way.  The Cloakshape pilot yelled in surprise.  "Are you crazy, get off of me!"

"Give me the controls, I don't want to die."

The pair tusseled, sending the freighter veering off course once more.  The captain yelled at the freighter pilot but the man wasn't listening.


OOC:  Well freighter 2 is having fun once more.  The pilot is panicking again and trying to pull the Cloakshape pilot out of the seat.  The freighter is now travelling at a 45 degree course to the other ships.  It's not at risk of colliding with anything but you're clearly off course.

seeing freighter 2 making erratic moves Rann swore before he switched  on the talon comms “3 whats going on, is everything okay?”

Hitting the internal comm, "We need security on the bridge, NOW."

Jamie groaned as he saw on his scanner a freighter breaking away from the formation.  "Talons, this is Five.  Get that freighter back into formation!  Maintain your previous course and plan a jump to lightspeed at the closest safe point; IF you maintain yourselves, you will reach that point before these pirates reach you.
"The four escort fighters will turn around and intercept the pirates under my command.  If we should lose this battle, you will know and have time to spare to make the jump to lightspeed.  Otherwise we will meet up again after we win this skirmish.
"Any questions or comments?"

Hanging his head for a moment as he noted the second freighter break formation he wished that they had had the time to invest in at least one better pilot. On hearing Jamie's orders come through he stood tall and got to work.

He first turned to the navigator and was thankful that they had proved reliable. "I need you to find us the closest jump point and plot us a course as close to our destination as you can."

"Captain Tobias, please make sure that the other captains continue to follow your lead. At this stage we will only give them course details as they need to know. I do not want any excess chatter over the comms."

He took a deep breath as he moved away from the crew on the lead freighter and then contacted the Talons over their secure comm "Orders understood Five. Freighter group get your ships under control and follow my lead. Course data will be forthcoming. Good luck fighter group."

'Four, I already have a jump solution plotted from earlier - remember?  you want me to send you the details?'  asked Devon via his Talons comm as he ran check on
his fighters systems.

In reply to Devon Kismet (msg #97):

On hearing Devons comment Xil cursed  at himself while at the same time being grateful to Devon.

"Thank you Seven, I had forgotten  that. Please send the jump data." he replied to Devon over the Talons comm.

Exilim then moved back towards the crew and advised the navigator of the incoming data.

It's taking too long for security to get there, at least it seems to Sheila.  Sheila glances at the captain and navigator, should the three of them try to interfere with the panicking pilot?

With the help of security, Sheila and the bridge crew quickly subdue the panicking pilot.  The captain orders the pilot lock in his quarters and the two security officers quickly march the young man away.

With order restored to the bridge, the new pilot quickly swings the freighter onto the new course supplied by the lead freighter.  Soon the convoy is pushing hard for the nearest jump site available.

Jamie's team meanwhile slip into formation and begin flying towards the enemy formation at the Cloakshape's maximum velocity.

On the bridge, Tobias rechecks the numbers.

"Navigation, how long until we reach the jump point?"

"Just under four hours sir."

"Time until our fighters meet theres?"

"Just over two hours sir."

"Time for the enemy fighters to overtake us?"

"A little over five hours."

Tobias turned to Xil.  "Well this plan will certainly save the convoy but I don't like the risk we're putting your pilots at.  Added to which, this jump point takes us away from our delivery point which means they know we're going to have to try again and soon."


OOC:  Well we have a plan for the most part.  Just waiting on a few PMs I sent people and for anyone else to adjust anything they see fit.  Else I'll be fast forwarding a little.

Jamie turned his Cloakshape about to face the enemy fighters.  "Talons, fall in; Two on my starboard side, Six on his starboard, Seven on my port side.  Spread out a few ship-widths apart and switch to active sensors.  I want them to see all four of us."
Jamie switched over to the channel on which the pirates had broadcast and announced, "Dear pilots of all ships in pursuit of Phindar, please take note that this convoy is under the protection of the Black Talons.  If you continue your hostile course of action, you will be decimated.  Thank you, and have a nice day."
Jamie switched his comm back to the Talons private channel and chuckled.
"I don't actually expect them to turn around, but who knows...they might be smart.  Either way, they know they are in for a fight; if they continue, we know it will be a tough one.  Bear that in mind."
Jamie tapped the scanners for a moment and looked around at his wingmen.
"Two, Six, Seven; here's my preliminary plan.  All four of us will engage the enemy when they are within range.  We're outnumbered here; we need every advantage we can get.  Two and I will begin with fully defensive combat maneuvers, with the intent to distract at least a few of the pirates.  At this time Six and Seven will use their missiles for maximum effect; hopefully this can remove a few of the enemy fighters from the skirmish and quickly tip the odds in our favor.  Once the missiles are all used, all four of us will dogfight together to wipe out the enemy.  Unless I say otherwise, our first priority is the fighters, and the shuttle can wait.  We want to at least disable these fighters to remove them from the fight; they don't have to be destroyed.  Any questions?"

Sheila is watching the fighters, her fingers twitching.  SHe knows where she'd rather be.  She going to have to talk to them about that.

But in the meantime, they've got to get this convoy through.

The fighters quickly fell into formation as Jamie instructed and pushed on.  His declaration over the comm didn't seem to phase the pirates.

"Black Talons huh?  Never heard of you.  Guess nobody will once we scatter you all over space."

On board the middle ship, Sheila watched as the six R-41's continued on undaunted.  Clearly they felt the had strength in numbers.  The Lambda shuttle remained in a holding pattern, not pursuing the convoy.  It seemed they were happy to remain well out of the fight like the freighters.

<1 hour later>

The two fighter groups continued to close the distance rapidly while the convoy pushed for the jump point.  The shuttle continued to hang back near where the pirate group had flown in.  They clearly did not want to be caught in the dogfight.

Then to Sheila's surprise, the shuttle suddenly powered up and quickly vanished into hyperspace.  The R-41's continued to close, seemingly oblivious to the departure of their support ship.




OOC: Thought I'd pause momentarily since something interesting is happening.  For some reason the shuttle has just vanished into hyperspace.  Now a R-41 is equipped with a hyperdrive so unlike the Talons, they don't need support to escape but what prompted the change?  Dissention in the ranks?  A realisation they probably couldn't reach the convoy in time?  Something else?

Going to allow a few days for people to do anything they wish to do.  Then I'll fast-forward once more.

On a side note, the fighters can communicate with their encrypted commlinks if they pull close enough together.  To communicate with the convoy they must use regular comms (which can be intercepted if you know how to).




At current (i.e. maximum) speed:
Time until freighters reach safe jump point: 3 hours
Time until fighter groups meet each other: 1 hour 5 minutes

Staying in formation, Rann kept his fighter on passive sensors “ How about we keep half of us on passive sensors till we are closer to the enemy fighters, give them a scare when more fighters appear.”

Sheila had at one point been scanning, looking for outgoing messages, but since the bad guys obviously knew their route, maybe they knew where they were going too.  Which meant the shuttle could very well be heading for the other end of the convoys' hyperspace jump.  "captain, their shuttle just went to hyperspace."

She contacts the other freighters.

"4, 8 and five, their shuttle just went to hyperspace."

"I wonder why it did that" Xil said out aloud "Understood Three, keep me informed of any other developments." he repied over the Talons comm.

"New developments Captain, it appears that shuttle out there has just jumped into hyperspace. AS for our fighter pilots, they'll do what is required. They know the score when we go on mission."

Xil turned to the navigator who was on the scanners "Keep you eyes open for that shuttle, I'm sure it will be back."

<1 hour later>

The mystery of the disappearing shuttle remained exactly that with no sign of it since it vanished into hyperspace.  The R-41's conitnued to close however and the combatants could do nothing but check and recheck their systems before continuing to watch the ranges count down.

On board the convoys, the crews watched with apprehension as the fighters closed with each other.  While the computer now showed that the fighters could not catch them before hyperspace, none of the crew breathed easily.  There were still many things that could go wrong.  The other problem was to decide what to do if the Talons had anyone go Extravehicular.  Their flight suits would only sustain them in the cold of space for so long.  Could the convoy get to the pilot in time?  Could they risk it?  The shuttle could have gone for reinforcements after all.

All to quickly the time for dreaming was over.  On board the lead ship, the navigator called out, "Fighters will be in weapons range of each other in two minutes."



OOC:  Well it's time for combat.  Just a minute or two for last minute plans and tactics before you enter combat.  Jamie's base plan was posted on August 31.

At current (i.e. maximum) speed:
Time until freighters reach safe jump point: 2 hours
Time until fighter groups meet each other: 2 minutes



<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 30/30 SP, 120/120 HP (Missiles: 2)
Rann: 30/30 SP, 120/120 HP (Missiles: 2)

R-41s (1): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (2): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (3): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (5): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (6): Full Shields, No Damage

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:14, Tue 07 Sept 2010.

"Fighters, stay with me.  Hold formation until we are within range, then break off and stick to the plan.  Any questions?"
Jame checked over his sensors, data readouts, and every status update he could get for his ship to prepare for the coming fight.

Knowing that the crew on the freighters would be preoccupied with the coming battle Xil moved to the communications station.

"All convoy crew,  Four here. It is imperitive that you all  focus on your stations and your duties. The fighters will keep the pirates busy, they will give us the time we need. We will make our delivery, that is our goal. Four out."

He turned to the crew on the lead freighter "You have all been great so far today. Lets continue to show the others the way."

'No questions here.' Devon answered, running one final check on his systems and taking a deep breath to calm his nerves. 'I just hope we're not biting off more than we can chew here...'

'Six, set your missiles to single shot.  I'll take the first Cloakshape in, you take his wingman.  Their shields aint so tough, so one missile into each of them, then finish with cannons.'

In the privacy of his own head, Devon added And it also gives us another shot each when our first ones miss...
This message was last edited by the player at 22:05, Mon 13 Sept 2010.

One minute turns into two as the R-41's slow down, clearly attempting to prolong their engagement with the Talons.  Whatever their motivation for the move is quickly lost as the ten fighters come into maximum weapons range.  Immediately Rann and Devon fire off a missile each at a pair of the R-41's.  Then all ships open up with lasers as they go head to head at maximum velocity.  Hot streaks of light fill space for several seconds, the lasers from the Talons, mixing with the ion cannon fire from the Starchasers, before the two groups shoot past each other.

As the fighters cross paths, the Talons note that while neither missile has hit a ship, both are still in pursuit.  Jamie meanwhile had scored a hit with his lasers on the way past, stripping the shields from a Headhunter and blackening the hull slightly.  None of the Talons had been hit.

Already the Cloaskshapes were breaking into three groups of two and turning, two groups to port, the other to starboard.


OOC:
Update.  (I will try to get a map up asap).

The ships have just shot past each other.  You are 4 squares away from each other and pointing in opposite directions.  The cloakshapes are breaking into two groups and turning (obviously trying to get behind you guys!)

Jamie gets the first hit (shows that the shields on the R-41's are nothing spectacular!) but all of them are stll in the fight.

As per combat post rules I will post every 48 hours (or once all combatants have posted).  Failure to post gets you NPC'd (which is never as good as doing it yourself and costs you the associated XP!)


<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 30/30 SP, 120/120 HP (Missiles: 1)
Rann: 30/30 SP, 120/120 HP (Missiles: 1)

Missile 1: Pursuing R-41(1) - 4 rounds left
Missile 2: Pursuing R-41(2) - 4 rounds left

R-41s (1): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (2): Shields 0%, Light Hull Damage
R-41s (3): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (5): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (6): Full Shields, No Damage
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:49, Thu 16 Sept 2010.

The two Z-95's peel off to follow one wingpair while the Cloakshapes break starboard to follow another.  With superior flying skills, both Talon wingpairs slip in behind their targets.

Jamie and Flash, in the less nimble Cloakshapes struggle to hit the R-41's.  Assistance comes in the form of one of the concussion missiles that slams into the second R-41, stripping its shields and sending it into a spin.  The confusion provided by the blast allows Flash to score a direct hit on the lead ships shields, stripping them completely and causing some minor hull damage, while Jamie easily dispatches the second fighter which had yet to recover from the missile hit.  The lead fighter, while damaged, continues to evade the final missile.  Jamie and Flash continue to hound the lone fighter, trying for a shot.  However the R-41 throws discretionary power to engines and begins to jink heavily, attempting to evade it's pursuers.

Rann and Devon meanwhile concentrate their fire on the wingpair before them.  Some combined fire strikes the lead ship of the pair, overloading its shields and allowing several shots to strike the hull causing significant damage.

Distracted by their target, Rann and Devon react too slowly to the final wingpair who had fallen in behind them and struck both the Talons with a volley of fire.  Both ships reported shield loss and some hull damage.  Devon's ship was hit more severely but his hull integrity remained about seventy-five percent and all systems reported operable.


OOC:

The groups are moving away from each other.  The cloakshapes and headhunters are now 30 squares apart and opening.

Cloakshapes, you have one enemy before you (R-41(1)).  He's damaged and now trying to run while going fully defensive.  The R-41 is 2 squares/turn faster than you so he will get away quickly (currently he's 4 squares ahead).

Headhunters, you're in a pickle.  You're in point blank range with R-41's 3&4 and you've damaged 3.  However 5&6 are on your tail (1 square behind) and they've hit you both.  Now a Z-95 is 1 square/round faster than an R-41 but if you put on the speed you'll overshoot the two you're chasing!

Currently I'm NPC'ing all the fighters which isn't helpful to your cause (I'll perform basic strats until you guys take over).  If you have questions please ask ASAP!


A reminder on damage.

No damage = 100%
Light damage = 99%-75%
Moderate damage = 74%-50%
Severe damage = 49%-25%
Extreme Damage = 24%-1%
Destroyed = 0%

Shields at 0% are shows as red if they are still operable (i.e. will recharge given time or a computer use check).  If shields are struck through it means the generators are destroyed.


<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 0/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 1)
Rann: 0/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 1)

Missile 1: Pursuing R-41(1) - 1 rounds left


R-41s (1): Shields: 0%, Light Hull Damage
R-41s (2): Destroyed%
R-41s (3): Shields: 0%, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (5): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (6): Full Shields, No Damage</i>

Swearing while switching off all the alarms, Rann sees the two on his tail and decides to go on the offensive, throwing his fighter into a tight loop to get behind his pursuers so he could fire a missile .
(ooc: he will do a loop the loop stunt and fire his last missile at r-41:6, rann rolled a 23 on pilot check to do a loop the loop stunt)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:18, Thu 16 Sept 2010.

Cursing, Devon followed his wingman lead and threw his fighter into an identical turn.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:12, Sun 19 Sept 2010.

In the lead freighter Exilim was watching the sensors closely, keeping an eye on his friends. He noted with some satisfaction that one of the R41's had been destroyed Keep it up guys he murmured to himself.

Jamie and Flash continue to try and pepper the R-41 before them with blaster fire, but the ship proves too nimble.  However, the attacks do distract the pilot enough that he fails to see the missile that is still chasing him until moments before it plows into his cockpit.  The resulting explosion vapourises the ship completely.

Not waiting to savour the victory, the pair of Cloakshapes pull a fast turn and begin to chase the Headhunters.  With their inferior speed, there was no chance at present of Jamie and Flash catching the group to help; help they sorely needed.

Determining the group behind them were the greater threat, Rann through his ship into a tight loop in an effort to get behind his pursuers.  His move was successful and he quickly targeted the trailing fighter and loosed a missile.  The fighter managed to jink and the missile shot past but continued to track.

Devon also through his fighter into a turn to follow Rann but one of his maneuvering fins jammed momentarily and his turn was not as tight.  The R-41's were not thrown by this move and stuck tight to Devon's tail.  The shipjacker managed to evade the oncoming fire. . .for now.

Bolstered by the help of their colleagues, the pair of ships Rann and Devon had been chasing, pulled into a tight port turn in an attempt to get behind Rann.


OOC:
Only one round posted this time as things have changed for Devon, Jamie and Flash.  Gotta love how the missile scored a critical hit in the last round before it ran out of fuel!  Now if only those good rolls would come Devon's way!

I waited 4 days before posting instead of 2 to see if Flash or Jamie would/could post.

Jamie and Flash have dealt with the starfighters 1 & 2 and have now spun to pursue.  They are 36 squares from the R-41's chasing Devon (and since the R-41's are faster then the Cloakshapes you'll have trouble catching them).

Devon is now flying away from Jamie and Flash.  He is being pursued by R-41 5&6 (1 square behind) and they are being pursued by Rann (also 1 square behind).  R-41 3&4 are 3 squares to the left or the other R-41's and flying in the opposite direction.  Next round they'll be able to move in behind Rann (which is what they're most likely trying to do).

Rann's missile is active and tracking.  Devon still has one missile but nobody to shoot!


<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 0/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 1)
Rann: 0/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 0)

Missile 1: Pursuing R-41(6) - 5 rounds left

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (3): Shields: 0%, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (5): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (6): Full Shields, No Damage

Flash breaks his usual radio silence, while gunning his engines full thrust to catch up.  "Hey guys, bring them back this way!  You're leaving us behind."

'I'm working on it, damnit!' snapped Devon, 'In between getting shot at and trying not to spin out of control...'

He wrenched the fighter round in another tight turn, straight towards Flash and Jamie.  If the R-41s wanted to chase him, they'd have to go head to head with the two Cloakshapes.  Keeping one hand on the flight stick, Devon worked hurridly at his controls, shifting power around.

'Ok.  Two, Five - I'm going to lead them into a head to head with you.  When you guys get to cannon range, gimmie a signal and I'll break left - your right - out of your line of fire.  Then you hit em with everything you got.'

"Sounds good, Seven.  Bring it on.  Just make sure you get here alive.  Six, bring your guests to the party, please."
Jamie gave the engines everything he could to get to his men faster.  In the meantime, he ran another checkup of his systems.
"Two, Five here.  I'm undamaged.  You?"

“ I would love to, but right now all I can do is keep these two from getting behind me.” said Rann as he tried to keep the two chasing him from getting behind him.

Needing to evade the Starchasers turning towards him, Rann did the only thing that guaranteed his safety; he put all energy to engines.  The sudden surge of speed had him flying out of the R-41's weapon range by the time they had turned to chase him.  The only problem was he was now even further from his fellow Talons.  Tiring of chasing the Z-95 they couldn't catch, the R-41s turned to catch their wingmen.

Jamie and Flash surge ahead as they put all power to engines.  With Devon flying towards them as fast as he could while jinking and shoring up his shields, it takes less than ten seconds to close the distance, an eternity for the young shipjacker.  However, his maneuvers prove sufficient to prevent any fire from the Starchasers hitting him.  Wether this is due to Devon's skill, a lack of skill on the pirates' part or one of the pirates being distracted by Rann's missile pursuing him is anyone's guess.

THe Cloakshapes came on hard and Devon, rather than go around the pair, flipped on his side and slid between his fellow Talons, a move they'd practiced before.  The moment Devon was safely passed, the Cloakshapes opened fire, directly in the route of the oncoming fighters.  Under the concentrated fire, the lead R-41 exploded in a fiery flash of light.  His wingman quickly veered off under such severe fire, leaving Devon's aft clear.



OOC:
Thank you to all pilots for their rapid responses.  Allows me to move things on quickly.

Devon is safe.  He is parallel with Jamie and Flash (but moving in the opposite direction).  Three squares ahead of Jamie and Flash in R-41(6) who is veering off to port (which means it shouldn't be hard for the Cloakshapes to fall in behind him with a good pilot roll next round).  Just be careful as Rann's missile is still behind R-41(6) and it could just slam into a Cloakshape if you were unlucky.

R-41 (3)&(4) are 35 squares from the Cloakshapes (and closing).

Rann is 12 squares from R-41 3 & 4 (so 47 squares from the Cloakshapes) heading in the opposite direction (moving further away).


<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 8/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 1)
Rann: 0/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 0)

Missile 1: Pursuing R-41(6) - 3 rounds left

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (3): Shields: 0%, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (5): Destroyed
R-41s (6): Full Shields, No Damage
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:32, Wed 29 Sept 2010.

"Two, cover me; I'm going in," Jamie said, dramatically emphasizing the classic pilot cliche.  "Seven, take a moment to check your systems and catch your breath.  The other two will be on us before you know it."
With that, Jamie smoothly entered a turn to establish pursuit of the enemy, being careful to avoid the already-pursuing missile.
"We warned you," Jamie said under his breath to the enemy pilot.  "It's Talon Time."

OOC: 29 on Pilot check.

"Roger that," Flash replied simply, letting Five take the lead as he fell in behind, keeping an eye on his sensors so as not to let anyone get behind him.  The rate things were going, they'd be done here in no time, but the computer was showing the Headhinters' shield down, so they'd better get wrap it up quick before someone dodged the wrong way into a stray shot.

OOC: Falling in one square behind Jamie.

Oh yeah Xil muttered Show them what the Talons can do thankful that as he watched the sensors, those in the fighters had managed to even the odds.

He turned to the navigator "Any sign of that shuttle?"

Wanting to get back in the fight again Rann turns a tight loop to join the fight.

Sheila is back on the sensors.  Any sign of that shuttle?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:38, Fri 24 Sept 2010.

As he shot between Jamie and Flash, Devon laughed with relief and couldnt resist making a rude gesture over his shoulder at the expanding fireball behind him; then he turned his attenion back to more serious matters.

Slowing down to a less insane velocity, he spent a moment redistributing power and checking his sensors then hauled his trusty fighter into a long turn that would take him back towards the Cloakshape Jamie and Flash were persuing.

'Five, thanks for the save.  I'm turning back toward him - if you guys cant bring him down, see if you can drive him across in front of me.'

As the Cloakshapes fall in behind the lone Starchaser near them, the R-41 throws all power to engines and performs a hard turn, chasing its colleagues.  Jamie and Flash aim is thrown off by the move and the R-41 quickly pulls away from them, slippint out of weapons range.

Moments after Rann makes his sharp turn, the other pair of R-41's do likewise and close in on him again.  It would be moments before they entered weapons range again.




OOC: Combat is almost in one straight line now!

Rann is once again face-to-face with a pair of R-41s.  They will be in weapons range of each other next round (12 squares apart).  Given the two-to-one odds and Rann's lack of shields, the odds didn't look fantastic.

R-41(6) is fleeing after his comrades.  He is 20 squares behind them.  A further 12 squares behind him are the two cloakshapes.  Devon is 3 squares behind them.

So in short, everyone is travelling in the same direction, except Rann who is flying in the opposite direction (towards everyone else).

Distance from Rann:
Rann - 0 Squares (duh!)
R-41 (3)&(4) - 12 squares
R-41 (6) - 32 squares (with missile chasing)
Jamie & Flash - 44 squares
Devon - 47 squares

<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 10/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 1)
Rann: 0/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 0)

Missile 1: Pursuing R-41(6) - 1 round left

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (3): Shields: 0%, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (5): Destroyed
R-41s (6): Full Shields, No Damage

'Better get there fast' muttered Devon to no one in particular, as he diverted everything he could to engines.

On the lead freighter Exilim was breathing a little easier as he noted that it was now 4 v's 3 in their favour. He didn't relax completely however as the mysterious shuttle had not re-appeared.

He continued to check back with the navigator to make sure that it had not turned up.

As he turned once again to ask the navigator about it another thought popped into his head ..... Once the fighters are gone we could just resume our previous course rather than jumping

The Talons seemed to be doing ok, but she kept an eye out for the shuttle or anything else, for that matter,  It could have gone for reinforcements.

Realizing that a head to head with two undamaged enemies would be suicide, Rann decided that putting as much space between him and the enemy was his smartest move and sent his fighter hurtling off at 90 degrees to his original course.

"No you didn't...Blast!"
Jamie threw any reserve power he had into his engines in an attempt to catch the fighter ahead of him...at least within weapons range.
"This is Five," he announced over the Talon comms.  "We need faster fighters.  When we get some time, we have too look into trading up."

Rann, not wanting to engage in head-to-head combat, veers off sharply to starboard and diverts all power to engines.  The move is pulled out just in time as the R-41's open fire. Watching his rangefinder, Rann slowly sees the number increase as his fighter shows its superior speed.  Behind him, he notes the two R-41's have now been joined by the third R-41 meaning all three were now chasing him, firing madly.

Devon turns his starfighter and quickly regroups with the two Cloakshapes.  While Rann was enjoying the speed of his starfighter, Jamie and Flash were cursing theirs.  Even with all power to engines, the R-41's and Rann were pulling further away.

---

OOC: Well Devon has regouped with Jamie & Flash.  The third R-41 is now in formation with it's two companions.

Rann is moving away at maximum speed (double moves) which is letting him increase the distance on the pursuing fighters by 2 rounds/turn.  He is 15 squares ahead (max weapon range is 20) so he'll be out of range in 3 rounds if he continues to double-move.

Problem is the R-41's may be slower then a Z-95 but they're faster then a Cloakshape.  This means the pirates can't catch Rann, but it also means Jamie and Flash can't catch the pirates.  Devon could of course catch them up (though it will take several minutes) but he'll be in the same issue as Rann (i.e. one fighter versus three).

Hmmm, what to do?




<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 11/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 1)
Rann: 1/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 0)


R-41s (3): Shields: 3%, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (6): Full Shields, No Damage

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (5): Destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:23, Wed 13 Oct 2010.

And the freighters are waiting, and hoping, and watching for the shuttle.  And of course, the question of what they would do when the fight was over.

While keeping an eye on his friends in the fighter, Exilim was also considering his next move. The shuttle had disappeared, and one had to presume it had seen the direction that they had taken off in.

I wonder if it will appear as we get to the jump point he thought to himself.

Getting onto the Talons secure comm he posed a question "Three, Eight it's Four. No sign of that shuttle so far. It is possible that they have worked out where we are headed. What do you think of us resuming our original course and possibly confusing whoever else is out here with us?"

Rann continued to gun his engine as he tried to open the gap.  The R-41's slowly gave ground as the Headhunter's superior speed showed.  After about twenty agonising seconds that felt more like hours, Rann passed the theoretical maximum range for the fighter's weapons.

Behind him, all the Talons continued to put full power to engines.  Devon was slowly catching the R-41's but the Cloakshapes were falling further behind.  Even with his superior speed, Devon still realised it would take several minutes to get in weapons range.  He had a single missile left and he was anxious to use it.

So far away now, they could barely track the combat on sensors, the convoy plowed on towards its destination.  The numbers were quickly deterorating and they would reach the jump point in under ninety minutes.  Whilst Xil and Aryan's navigators continued to strain their long-distance scanners to watch the action, Sheila, still suspicious of the missing shuttle, kept her scanners more even.

The slicer's suspicions paid off as she spotted a ship coming out of hyperspace directly in front of them.  It was the shuttle.  Clearly it had tracked their course and then hyperspaced around the edge of the gravity shadow to cut off the convoy.  It charged towads the convoy at full speed.

---

OOC:  Well Rann is now 21 squares ahead of the Starchasers putting him out of range of their guns (just).  Devon is slowly catching the R-41's and should be in weapon's range in about 2 minutes.

Off way way way in the distance, the shuttle has re-emerged in front of the convoy and is heading straight for them.



<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 11/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 1)
Rann: 1/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Tanker 1-3: No Damage


R-41s (3): Shields: 3%, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (6): Full Shields, No Damage
Lambda Shuttle: Full Shields, No Damage

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (5): Destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:41, Thu 21 Oct 2010.

Keying his comms to send to Rann and the slower Cloakshapes, Devon said:
'I have to admit guys, I'm sort of stuck for ideas at the moment...'
Then he busied himself with shoring up his fighters faltering shields, which he figured was a good default activity.

Sheila mutters under her breath, but if the freighters are close enough together, the other talons can hear her.  "kriffing. . . . sithspawn. . "  Then clear over the channel, "There it is, right on schedule, shuttle at due (whatever whatever) directly in front of us."

OOC remind what the offensive and defensive capabilities of the tankers are please?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:29, Thu 21 Oct 2010.

Rann replies to Devons request for ideas. “Ok, I'm going to make a long turn to port – when they follow me you can cut across and get into firing range.”

"Damn, should have acted earlier" said out aloud. Turning to Captain Tobias he said"Turn us back towards the fighters and our original course, we can't face that shuttle, I'll let the others know."

Xil got onto the Talons comm "Three, Five, get you freighters to follow our lead. We need to put distance between it and us. The fighters will hopefully finish up soon and can then make their way towards us."

OOC: if memory serves, the freighters have no defensive capabilities  other than running away.

Sheila passes on the orders as Exilim gives them.  "Turn back to the original course and the fighters and follow the lead freighter.'

"All reserve power to the engines Captain, we need to keep distance on that shuttle."

Xil will get onto the sensors and keep and eye on the shuttle behind them.

Rann began a slow turn to port, designed to bring him back towards the Cloakshapes while keeping out of range of the Starchasers.  It was a slow process, especially as the R-41's moved to intercept the move but slowly Jamie and Flash began to gain ground, Devon more rapidly.  It would still take another minute or so for Devon to get into weapons range, the Cloakshapes would need several more minutes.

On board the lead tanker, Xil slipped into the sensor operator's seat as the trio of ships began their slow turn.  As he calculated the numbers he came to the conclusion that Sheila had already reached.  Even if they travelled at full speed towards the Cloakshapes and the Cloakshapes did likewise, it was unlikely they could reach each other in time; they had moved too far apart.

As he accelerated ahead of his slower teammates, Devon armed his last remaining missile.
'Two, Five - I'm going to try and distract them from Six.' he said over the squadron frequency.  'Give them more to think about.  They we'll try and lead them back towards you.  Any objections?'

Sheila will quietly comment over the talons' comm to Exilim amd aryan.  "We may need to prepare for boarding."

<Starfighters>
The minutes passed by slowly for the fighters.  Rann's broad turn was slowly bringing the Cloakshapes into range, but he was having to balance this was staying outside the R-41s' weapons range.  A few near misses had taught him to be careful.  Already they were trying to cut him off, but Rann was slowly getting closer.

Devon's Z-95 slowly pulled ahead of the cloakshapes, his superior speed allowing him to gain faster on his wingman and his pursuers.  After two minutes he was just outside missile range.  He'd been careful not to go for missile lock while out of range; no point spooking his prey before he was ready.  But now was the time, he took aim on the rear R-41, waited until his targetting computer had a lock and fired.

The process took less than three seconds and the effect was immediate.  The two undamaged R-41's immediately jerked hard to port in sequence, the damaged one following a few moments after, all three coming around to target Devon.

---

<Tankers>
Sheila recalculated the numbers and didn't like what they were telling her.  Even if the freighters and Headhunters flew at maximum speed towards each other they would need a little over 100 minutes to regroup.  The shuttle, if it travelled at maximum rated velocity for a Lambda Shuttle, could reach them in about 85.  Even a shuttle could do a LOT of damage in fifteen minutes.  They'd need a plan; outrunning the shuttle was not an option, short of massive engine failure and Sheila didn't think they'd be that lucky,

---

OOC:  Devon has now just moved within weapons range of the R-41's and fired a missile.  I'm calling it a surprise round as the R-41's had clearly gotten a little too focused on Rann.

Now Devon (if he wins intitiative) could go full power to engines and (probably) escape maximum weapons range before they can counter attack.  Or, if he's feeling lucky/brave/suicidal/whatever, he could risk a head to head run with the R-41's which will let him pass them and hook up with Rann again.  It would also allow the CLoakshapes to catch up a little bit (time spent jinking is not time spent outrunning Cloakshapes)  Downside to that is that he's got to risk his ship in a run that could get him killed and then he and Rann would have to outfly the R-41's as one hit on either Z-95 could be very costly!

Rann could return to the fight in two rounds.  On the first round though he could shore up his shields a little and the second he could shoot.

What to do?

For the tankers, you have you're own dilemna.  Earliest you could expect help is 100 minutes from now (which would assume the Z-95's broke off this second and rushed to regroup; unlikely given they have their own trouble and have no idea about yours).  The Cloakshapes would take even longer to get back.  Unless you dream up some new from of super ion engine in the next hour, it looks like the tankers are on their own.





<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 14/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Rann: 4/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Tanker 1-3: No Damage

Missile: Targetting R-41 (6) Five rounds remaining

R-41s (3): Shields: 12%, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (6): Full Shields, No Damage
Lambda Shuttle: Full Shields, No Damage

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (5): Destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:07, Wed 03 Nov 2010.

Flash rapped his fingers impatiently on the control yoke.  While he was stuck back here trying to catch up, the battle was going on ahead of him!  "Bring them back this way somehow if you can.  Four to three odds are much better than two to three."

"I hear you Three, brief your security teams, put up whatever defenses you can." Xil said to freighter Talons over their secure comm.

Turning to the navigator near him "Lets see if we can find another jump point that we can make a run for."

He will also call the security team and brief them.

The navigator turned and shook his head.  "He's jumped in on the nearest edge of the gravity shadow sir.  There's no jump points we can get to that he couldn't beat us to."

Devon's missile flew unerringly towards the Starchasers while the shipjacker, in a fit of suicidal ideation or incredible confidence, followed it in.  Laserfire lit space as the three R-41's and Devon exchanged laserfire in a head-to-head confrontation while the Cloakshapes watched on helplessly.

After what seemed an eternity, but couldn't have been more then a few seconds, the ships had passed each other.  Despite all the lasers and missiles firing, nobody had scored a hit.

---

OOC: Come on guys, it's been a week!  I know people are busy but this is 3 times the normal combat posting rate.  My thanks to those who posted.

Devon is now 2 squares past the R-41's and flying in the opposite direction (towards Rann).  At full speed (no shooting), the pair could link up in one round (though they would be in weapons range of the R-41's).

On the bright side, the 'confrontation' has allowed the Cloakshapes to catch up a little though they're still WAAAAAAY out of weapons range.



<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 14/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Rann: 4/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Tanker 1-3: No Damage

Missile: Targetting R-41 (6) Five rounds remaining

R-41s (3): Shields: 12%, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (6): Full Shields, No Damage
Lambda Shuttle: Full Shields, No Damage

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (5): Destroyed

“Seven” said Rann on the talon comm system “Lets meet up and give these pirates a run for there money ”

Sheila looked at the captain, "We may want to prepare for boarding, sir."

'Right' stuttered Devon, a little dazed that he had made it through his head to head run with the enemy - what had he been thinking??

'Lets see  them back onto the Cloakshapes guns.'  Devon pulled a tight turn to link up with his wingman. 'We're going to have to get past them again though, so watch yourself - all its going to take for either of us is one good hit... lets try to stay out of range.'
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:48, Wed 17 Nov 2010.

Rann and Devon group up again quickly.  After a quick discussion they make the decision they need to regroup with the Cloakshapes as quickly as possible, even if that means risking enemy fire.  Putting what remained of their shields to double front and diverting all other power to engines, the pair made a sharp turn and hurtled at the Starchasers at maximum speed.

A flurry of laserfire shot out at them but none of it came close to hitting.  The trio of R-41's turned to continue shooting at the Z-95's but they quickly moved out of weapons range.  A few shots caught Rann's shields, which were now set to double rear, but failed to do more then make them glow slightly.

The Z-95's however truly had the last laugh as Devon's missile locked on to one of the distracted R-41's and smashed into the rear, collapsing its shields and weakening the hull.  The ship held together but the trio broke off in shock, giving Rann and Devon time to regroup with the Cloakshapes.  The R-41's were continuing to pursue at slower speeds while they recharged their shields.


OOC:  The four ships have now regrouped.  The R-41's are now 50 squares away and closing.  They are using the time to regenerate their shields.

<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 16/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Rann: 6/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Tanker 1-3: No Damage

R-41s (3): Moderate Shield Damage, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): Full Shields, No Damage
R-41s (6): Severe Shield Damage, Moderate Hull Damage
Lambda Shuttle: Full Shields, No Damage

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (5): Destroyed

“ Ok, guys” said Rann over the Talons comm channel “ If me and seven keep pace with you, we can take them on together”
Also gives me chance to recharge my shields he thought.

'Right.' agreed Devon  'And me and Six should try for missile lock again - we're out of ammo but they don't know that - lets see if we can panic them into doing something stupid.'

Jamie stopped tapping his foot and perked up, seeing that the enemy ships had turned around.  He hated being the slow fighter.
"Throw whatever we have at them.  If we have any missiles left, use 'em.  Otherwise just light 'em up.  Two and I will go right in just ahead of you Z-95's; you two will be just behind.  Fly cover for us; if they get behind us, be behind them.  We're almost done here, people.  Don't get reckless and we can all go home later."

Jamie and Flash feel a surge of anticipation as the battle finally comes to them.  Rann and Devon are only too happy to drop in behind the pair while their shields recharge.  As the R-41's close they take on a similar tact, taking on a classic delta formation, with the undamaged ship taking point.  As the groups close, they all opened fire.

Jamie and Flash didn't waste their first taste of combat in several minutes, pouring fire into the lead fighter and overloading his shields.  The Z-95's were unable to fire as the Cloakshapes agrresively maneuvered to take their shots, blocking them.

Moments later the ships passed each other with none of the Talons having been hit.

---

OOC:  Just passed head to head.  I need to know your plans.  Working as a 4-flight element?  Wingpairs?  Solos?  Any specific targets.  At present the R-41's are working as a 3-flight element.


<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 24/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Rann: 14/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Tanker 1-3: No Damage

R-41s (3): Moderate Shield Damage, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): No Shields, Mild Hull Damage
R-41s (6): Severe Shield Damage, Moderate Hull Damage
Lambda Shuttle: Full Shields, No Damage

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (5): Destroyed

The Talons executed a formation turn to port, but the R-41's were faster, cutting a sharper turn and falling in behind them.  The Starchasers opened fire, but the Z-95's in the rear managed to evade the shots.



OOC:  No response in 3 days so I've continued with the assumption you remain a 4-ship element.

The fighters have managed to outmaneuver you and have fallen in behind you.  They are 3 squares behind (short range) and closing

<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 24/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Rann: 14/30 SP, 88/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Tanker 1-3: No Damage

R-41s (3): Moderate Shield Damage, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): No Shields, Mild Hull Damage
R-41s (6): Severe Shield Damage, Moderate Hull Damage
Lambda Shuttle: Full Shields, No Damage

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (5): Destroyed

Arrgh!  we all sorta dropped the ball there :(

Cursing at getting out manouvered, Devon snapped into his comm.
'Starburst! Break formation and take individual headings.  They can only chase three of us - the fourth guy can get behind them and light them up.

Whilst he waited for the others to confirm or disagree, Devon concentrated on dodging incoming fire...

"Excellent idea.  Let's do that.  I'm taking high port..."  Jamie quickly assigned breaking directions to each pilot.
"On my mark...three, two, one, mark!"
Jamie whipped his craft in the direction he'd chosen.  A moment later he glanced at the scanners to see if any of the enemy fighters were pursuing him.

The Talons peel off on four seperate vectors.  The Starchasers stay together and continue to pursue Rann who finds himself jinking madly to avoid laserfire from three ships.

"Roger," Flash replies, upholding his reputation of being tight-lipped, especially in combat.  Following the directions of Jamie, he breaks high starboard, pulling in a lazy loop back to face the other direction, bringing him far enough out to break away from the others.

That achieved, he confirms that none of them are on his tail, and pulls into a tighter loop to come back around behind them, pushing power to his engines to make sure he doesn't get left behind.

'Right - lets chew them up before they can do the same to Six.' said Devon to no-one in particular as he chased after the enemy ships, already lining his shot up.

Swearing profoundly, Rann checked his rear sensors“Sithspit, they're on to me!” Forcing himself to take a deep breath “Ok, lets see if they can keep up with me.”

"Hang tight, Six.  You just fly evasively; we'll take care of the rest.  All hands chase down those fighters.  Fire at will...keep an eye on Six and each other."
Jamie brought his ship about to pursue the enemies once more.  He would take any decent shot he could get lined up, even at range.

"Roger," Flash replied.  As soon as he got back in range and lined up, he would take the first decent shot that presented itself.

Rann went fully evasive, but it wasn't enough as the trio of Starchasers opened up with their ion cannons and pelted Rann's ship with fire.  The shield generators shorted, quickly followed by all other ship systems, including life support.  Rann was monetarily stunned as all the energy surged through his systems.  When he checked his boards, everything was dark.  He was now a powerless lump of durasteel hurtling through space.

The Talons came on hard, firing as fast as their lasers would cycle in indignation at the damage to their colleague.  Devon managed to score a hit on one craft while Flash hit another.  Both lost shields and took some moderate hull damage but all were still flying.  Almost on cue, the trio split into a starburst pattern and flew in seperate directions.


OOC:  Just so you know, if you guys don't designate a target, I choose one at random for you using the dice roller.

Rann, you've suffered major ionisation and are out of combat until you can repair the damage. 



<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 24/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Rann:  88/120 HP - All systems offline
Tanker 1-3: No Damage

R-41s (3): Moderate Shield Damage, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (4): No Shields, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (6): No Shields, Severe Hull Damage
Lambda Shuttle: Full Shields, No Damage

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (5): Destroyed

"Die, you son of a marakka!" Flash yelled at the blasted(at least, soon to be blasted) fighters.  With an wordless cry of triumph, he pulls his sluggish cloakshape off to follow the fighter he had managed to hit, trying his darnedest to finish it off.

'Sithspit!  Someone make a note of Six's heading!' snarled Devon and did it himself, just to be sure.

Hauling his fighter through a tight turn, Devon closed in on his chosen target and opend fire again.

“Frakking hell!” swore Rann, as he tried to restore power to his stricken fighter. <orange>Rann rolled a 22 (D20+7) on a repair check to get systems back up.

The Talons peel off in three seperate directions, chasing the three Starchasers.  Flash quickly drops in behind his chosen target.  Having already struck the ship once, the Duros now had the feel of his prey.  A few moments later his target lined up in the centre of his crosshairs.  Flash pulled his trigger and watched as his lasers intersected with the ship's hull, blowing it apart.

Devon also managed to slide in behind his target and began firing at the pirate.  However, the R-41 pilot was proving quite nimble in his evasions.

Jamie was having a harder time.  Less comfortable in a Cloakshape then the more nimble Headhunters he was used to, he turned to slowly, overcompensated and allowed the R-41 to slip in behind him.  The pirate immediately began firing but failed to hit.


OOC:  And Flash adds another notch to. . .well whatever he adds notches too!  Two enemies left.  One is being pursued by Devon and the other is on Jamie's tail.  Both are heading in opposite directions and moving away.  It will take at least one round for Flash to catch either person up at present.

Everyone regains 1 shield point.  Wow, has this fight been going for 6 minutes?  Feels like months!


<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 25/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Rann:  88/120 HP - All systems offline
Tanker 1-3: No Damage

R-41s (3): Moderate Shield Damage, Severe Hull Damage
R-41s (6): Severe Shield Damage, Severe Hull Damage
Lambda Shuttle: Full Shields, No Damage

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (4): Destroyed
R-41s (5): Destroyed

"What the...oh no you did not."  Jamie looked at his scanners.  Sure enough, the blasts had come from directly behind him.  "You don't mess with me, son."
A jink to the left, jink to the right, and Jamie whipped the controls around in a practiced maneuver from home that a few pilots would recognize, hoping the pilot behind him would not recognize the Corellian Slip until it was too late.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:45, Thu 23 Dec 2010.

'Two, go back Five up - I can take this guy!'. Called Devon into his comms as he contined his pursuit of the Cloakshape.

“Yes!” shouted Rann as all his instrument lights suddenly came back on. “ Yes, You beauty!” And banged his fist on the console in triumph.  All the lights went out again. “No!” he screamed “Come on baby, work with me here...” he  muttered as he tried to get the systems back up again.
Rann rolled a “21 (D20+7) on a repair check to get the systems back up.

"On it," was Flash's brief response, as he pulled tight and turned around before reaching the cloud of debris from the R-41.  He put engines to the max in a brief burst of speed, trying to catch up and tail the fighter that was tailing Five.

Jamie pulls his fighter into a sharp reverse, trying to outmaneuver his attacker.  However, despite the success of the move, the R-41 held tight to his tail, matching him move for move, though he was unable to score a hit.

Flash, throwing all discretionary power to engines, had finally moved into weapons range of Jamie's attacker and was ready to show his fellow Talon how to fly a Cloakshape properly.

Devon meanwhile, grew overconfident and fell for a scissors maneuver that saw the shipjacker overshooting his opponent who immediately opened fire.  Jinking sharply, Devon engaged his own scissors maneuver, managing to slip behind his opponent once more.



OOC:  Flash is in weapons range next round.  Jamie's reversal failed and is still being pursued.  Devon's opponent outmanuevered him for a round but Devon managed to regain the advantage.

Watching the console light up and turn off again, Rann began to panic “oh now baby, dont do this to me pleaseplease_pleaseplease”.

Muttering at himself for nearly giving his opponent an easy kill shot, Devon resolved to be more careful as he continued his pursuit.  Alert for further tricks from his target; Devon closed in again, hunting for a kill shot of his own.

Rann, having finally regained power to his systems, streaked back towards the fight, all discretionary power to engines.

Jaime continued to bank and weave heavily, but the skilled pilot of the Starchaser hung to him like glue.  Flash, having caught up, dropped in neatly behind the pirate, send a blast of laser energy into the aft of the craft.  The shot wasn't enough to destroy the vessel, but it severely damaged it with one engine sheering off, the other glowing hotly.  The ship waggled it's wings slightly, slowed significantly and ceased pursuing Jaime.

"Attention pursuers, we surrender, Mynock 4 stand down."

The other ship also stopped maneuvering.



OOC:  The remaining R-41's have surrendered and stopped maneuvering.  Both have powered down their weapon systems.  Their shields systems are still powered but neither has any real shield power at the moment.

With their lack of maneuvering, anyone could easily drop in behind them and essentially get a free hit (any attack would get a +10 bonus due to changes in speed, distance, maneuvering etc).

Rann is under power and is regrouping.

Now you're all hundreds of thousands of km from the convoy and they're waaaay out of scanner range.  It will take you several hours to regroup with them.  You should be able to get them on long range comms.




<Ships>
Jamie: 140/140 HP
Flash: 140/140 HP
Devon: 25/30 SP, 116/120 HP (Missiles: 0)
Rann:  88/120 HP - All systems offline
Tanker 1-3: No Damage

R-41s (3): No shields, Critical Hull Damage
R-41s (6): Critical Shield Damage, Severe Hull Damage
Lambda Shuttle: Full Shields, No Damage

R-41s (1): Destroyed
R-41s (2): Destroyed
R-41s (4): Destroyed
R-41s (5): Destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:15, Thu 20 Jan 2011.

"Excellent.  Talon fighters, regroup in very loose formation."  To the surrendering craft, Jamie said, "You have made a wise decision.  Leave your weapon systems powered down and standby for further instructions.  If you cooperate, your lives will be spared."

The Starchasers both powered down and hung motionless in space.  The ship Flash had hit continued to spark occasionally from it's remaining engine.  It was clear that even if the pirate had wanted to continue the fight his speed and maneuverability would be almost zero.

“Talon 6 here to Talon fighters, I managed to get my ship back online.   Everything okay at your end?” asked Rann on long range comms, as he headed back to regroup with the others “ Okay guys, what's the situation?”

Devon manouvered his fighter in behind the two enemy ships and lined up a kill shot, but didnt fire.  Like Jamie said - co-operate and they would live and if they didnt... well, Devon was ready to blast them.

'Seven here.  Five, what now?  we need to get back to the convoy, decide what to do with these jokers and go find Six...'

Flash slid his ship in beside Devon, keeping his sights lined up on the R-41.  His twitchy finger was on the trigger, and the pilot was lucky this ship wasn't rigged with a hair-trigger.  For that matter, Flash was lucky to still be in one piece, but perhaps skill had more to do with it than luck.

While they tried to formulate a plan, the Talon starfighters flew on an intercept course with the freighters, the Starchasers in their sights before them.  Going was slow as one of the Starchasers could only manage about half of maximum thrust.  It would take hours to regroup at this rate.

Long range sensors also painted a strange picture.  Two of the freighters were on an intercept course at full thrust.  The third was hanging in space, not moving.

“Okay, that doesn't look good. Two, Five:  why don't you stay here with the prisoners?  Me and Seven will check it out” said Rann as he got in position to fly top speed back to the freighters.

"Sure, leave me behind to do the dull work..." Flash muttered to himself, but not over the comm.  He keyed it after a moment.  "You're pretty beat up right now.  You sure?"

“Not really” said Rann “But me and Seven are in the fastest fighters we have. What choose do we have?  we need to know what's going on over there”

'He's got a point...' said Devon. 'But Six, whatever we do, I recommend you at least get your shields back online, ok?'

"They'll have plenty of time for that Seven.  Go.  Keep trying to make contact."

It was true, for even at full thrust it would take more then ninety minutes for the Headhunters to regroup with the two freighters.  The third freighter which was stationary would take even longer to reach.  But the time would be reduced without the slower Cloakshapes holding them back.  The Starchasers were hampering them further with Jamie's Cloakshape only needing 30% power to keep up with the damaged fighter.


**NPC'd by GM**

Jamie and Flash continued to crawl along while Devon and Rann diverted all power to engines as they rushed to regroup.  Even at top speed the two Headhunters were still more than ninety minutes away.  As they flew, they continued to try and make contact with the freighters.  Finally one answered.

"Uhhh roger that Talon Six and Seven, this is. . .Talon One.  We're taking two of the freighters and leaving the last one and the crews for the pirates.  Come protect us in case they get greedy, over."

All four starfighter pilots were too surprised to speak.  Clearly the speaker wasn't Mark as it sounded nothing like him and Mark was not even in the sector as he was holed up on Nightshrike waiting until he was needed.  Added to which the transmitter was suggesting that Xil's team had abandoned the civilian crew to the pirates in order to save themselves, something they knew he would never do.



OOC:  Sorry it's been so long.  As you can see, the other thread is taking some time.  But I need to get you back in the game.  All four of you can hear the radio transmission (which means the damaged pirate ships can likely hear it too as they have comms still.

On a side note, your encrypted commlinks have enough range for each pair to talk to each other (i.e. Jamie and Flash can talk and Devon and Rann can talk) but not enough so the seperate groups can talk to each other (i.e. so the Headhunters can't talk to the Cloakshapes)
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:28, Sun 13 Mar 2011.

Devons lips moved silently as he repeated the message to himself in puzzlement.
'Say again freighter, your signal is weak - is your comms array damaged?' said Devon, stalling for time.  Whilst the person on the freighter repeated themself loudly and slowly, Devon switched to encrypted comms and signalled Rann.

'What in the name of the force is going on?' he snarled.  'If that's One, I'll buy all your beer next time we get shore leave.'  Devon paused for a moment, in thought.  'I'm going to keep this guy talking, listen in and keep an open mind, OK?  Until we know otherwise, assume they're a potential hostile - shields up and watch yourself - but dont shoot first.'  He thought for a moment more 'And see if you can get a scan of the third freighter - or even someone over there on a Talons comm.'

Hailing the freighter and 'One' again, Devon decided to sow some more confusion to buy time.  Speaking loudly and slowly himself, he said:
'Received that partially: Last freighter had pirate crew?  Your signal is very weak - Do you have an alternate comm you can switch to?'
Devon hoped like hell someone on one of those freighters had an 'alternate' comm - a Talons comm - and was listening in...
This message was last edited by the player at 22:33, Sun 13 Mar 2011.

"Negative starfighters." came 'Ones' reply.  "We are too far out for any other frequencies to work, it's probably why you're having trouble recieving.  I repeat, we have taken these two freighters for ourselves and abandoned the crew on the final freighter, the one that the pirates have boarded.  We get away and we get paid for our trouble.  The pirates busy themselves with the last freighter and we don't have to worry about the freighter crews telling the authorities.  We need you to escort us out."

“Let's play along for now, until we know what's going on” Rann told Six, via the talon comm. Then he set changed over to the frequency the freighter was using.  “ understood One, will be with you soon.  Also if Two is on the other freighter, tell her she owes me a beer.” he said, hoping the misdirection would reveal who was sending the message.

There is a long pause after this.  After about thirty seconds 'One' comes on again.

"Uh, isn't Two with you.  HE's meant to be in one of the fighters.  Have you been drinking?"

Devon grinned at Rann's ruse - if he was honest with himself, he'd been rapidly running out of ideas.

Using his Talons comm, he told Rann.  'This is your play for now - I'll follow your lead.  What do you make of that delay before he responded?  Puzzled pause or interrogating crew?'

In the distance, a large flash could be seen from one side of the furthest tanker, the one apparently with the pirates and civilian crew aboard.  To be seen at this distance the explosion had to of been large.  Sensors confirmed a large energy spike from the freighter consistant with an explosion.  There was little else the fighters could determine at this range.

'what the - ?' yelled Devon in suprise, then hurridly go to work with his sensors.
 'I doubt either freighter or the shuttle were armed with anything capable of doing that... It must have come from inside.' he said over open comms so that both Rann and 'One' could hear him. 'and if it came from inside one of the ships, then it's got to have breached the hull - which means it was probably even bigger than we think.

He paused for a few moments, thinking. 'We've got to go check it out.'
'So One,' he said cuttingly, 'before I go over there, is there anything you think you should tell me?'
This message was last edited by the player at 23:49, Wed 06 Apr 2011.

Whilst listening to Devon talking Rann was trying to remember where he had heard the voice of 'One' before when he suddenly remembered it was one of the navigators from the freighters. Using his Talons comm he signalled Devon, “I just worked out who 'One' is, its one of the freighter crew,  that makes things easier – we can probably trust them... ”

'Right, right; good to know.'  muttered Devon in response to Ranns comment as he waited for One to answer his question.  Then the nagging what have I missed? feeling he'd been getting for the last few minutes finally crystalized and he grinned a grin loaded with avarice.

'Hey Six, theres an opportunity here for the Talons to make out like bandits and get some new hardware on top of being paid for our work.  I'm gonna keep talking to One - if he ever answers - Get on the comms and see how those Starchaser pilots feel about surrendering their ships to us as opposed to, say, the Imperials.  I'm willing to bet we can offer better terms.'

After a long pause the voice of 'One' comes back.  "Negative starfighter, you have your orders."

Rann takes over the comm and begins to negotiate with the Starchaser pilots over an open channel, offering them their freedom in exchange for their fighters.  The debate continues for some time and becomes quite heated in places.  Finally the pirates offer a deal: forty thousand credits each and safe passage to a neutral spaceport in exchange for their surrender and ships.



OOC:  This is going out over an unsecured net so any of the starfighters or freighters can hear this.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:01, Mon 11 Apr 2011.

Devon nearly swallowed his tongue when he heard what the two Starchaser pilots wanted for their ships and safe passage... but he knew it could have been a lot worse.

Over his Talons comm, Devon told Rann.  'Right - keep them talking, dont agree to anything yet.  That eighty thousand bite they want would pretty much clean us out... and I'm counting the pay we get from this mission in that too!  Better hope Phindar decide we've earned a bonus...'
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:13, Wed 13 Apr 2011.

"Perhaps we should include a luxury cruiser with some Twi'lek dancing girls on board."  Jamie growled over the comm.  "We don't have those kinds of credits and even if I did that's rich for a bunch of pirates facing Imperial prison."

He paused a moment.  "Hey Seven, maybe two and I should just blow them away, like you did with that YT-2000 remember?"


*NPC'd by GM*

OOC:  Nearly 2 weeks with no posting.  Need to pick it up guys.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:53, Mon 25 Apr 2011.

"Guess we'll take our chances with the Imps then." the pilot responds to Jamie's threats.

Flash grins to himself, though more in frustration than humour.

"Ahhh, see, no.  You're not getting it," he snaps over the comms.  "This isn't a negotiation, pirate.  It's not a shipyard sale, it's not a peace treaty.  You're surrendering your ships and you're doing what we tell you or the only thing the Imperials will find when they finally get here is space dust.  No credits, no side-order of Arkanian space cookies, just you giving up in fear of your life.  Got that?  We don't need to leave you alive."  He grits his teeth.  "We're trying to be nice."

Flashs stared at the Starchaser in his targetting reticle.  With now shields he could destroy the ship in one volley, maybe two.  His finger nuzzled the trigger.


*NPC'd*
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:52, Thu 28 Apr 2011.

“What my trigger happy friend is trying to say is this:  when we took this job it was to stop pirates preying on freighters – not to be nice to people.  Now we've already stopped you, but my  friend seems to want to pick up the 'we killed them all' bonus.  Something for you to think about.” said Rann, after flash's outburst.

Devon smiles to himself as his volatile Duros squad mate metaphorically twists the pirates arms a little.  Then he got back to the numbers he was working on, plotting hyperjumps, thinking about relative velocities and elapsed times.

Finally he convinced himself his plan could work (although a small and paranoid part of him argued that could work didnt mean would work).  Keying his comms, he waited for Flash, Rann and Jamie to all settle down, then waited a few moments longer for the pirates to digest what his wingmen had all said; THEN spoke up himself.

He kept his voice level and business like
'Listen up, pirates: I just got passed some fresh instructions from Talon Lead:  He rejects your demand for 40,000 credits each.  We tried to be nice and you got greedy.  Now we're back to square one:  your unconditional surrender.  You will immediately turn to heading 279 or be destroyed.  Talons Two and Five, if they disobey, vape them.'

Devon waited, slightly nervously to see if the R-41 pilots would obey...

Flash remains silent through the 'conversation', keeping the more injured of the two well within his sights.  When the final ultimatum is laid down the Duros makes sure his ship's weapons are locked on and powered up.

"You've been given the order, scum.  Now...  Do me a favour," he says, a snarl in his voice as his fingers settle.  "Refuse.  Please."

*NPC'd*
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:20, Thu 28 Apr 2011.

"Well I never would have believed you if you'd offered us the credits anyway, I aint that stupid.  So, my wingman and I can either risk Imperial justice, which I know exactly what will happen or I can go with you, which is an unknown.  Why should I turn down a few years jail, maybe an escape for you?"

Without comment or hesitation, the Duros flicked the safety off his weapons, ensured the target was still central in his crosshairs and opened fire on the starfighter in fornt of him.

*NPC'd*

With shields down and not maneuvering, the already crippled fighter was caught completely off guard.  The R-41 blew apart in a shower of exploding fragments.

"Get it now?" Flash says before the flare of the explosion has even died away. "It's not a choice between us and the Imperials, brainwipe. It's a choice between us and death."

A series of curses came across the comm, several in Huttese and Rodian.  Finally they died away and the pilot said simply.

"Coming to course two-seven-niner as instructed."  The Starchaser smoothly turned and adopted the new course, Jamie and Flash close behind.

Devon winced and cursed to himself as the crippled R-41 was destroyed.  He had hoped to avoid this.  It was him who had given the order that resulted in that pilots death.  Could he have done something different?  Perhaps if he had -

'No time for that now - still got stuff to do.' he muttered to himself and activated his comms, dialing down the transmission strength as much as possible.  Ideally he only wanted 'One' and his crew on the freighter to hear.

'One, Seven here.  I need to send a hypercomm message, but this dinky little Z-95 cant do it.  Your freighters fuly equipped though - how about a helping hand?'
Once the freighter crew had acknowledged and were ready to relay his message, Devon gave them the frequency details.
'Message begins:  Bravo Tango Seven, ident: Delta Kilo to Bravo Tango Lead - immediate rendezvous required.  Co-ordinates are...' Devon spoke carefully as he gave the co-ordinates; if he screwed this up, it would be more than just his ass on the firing line.
'...Message ends.  I doubt we'll get a response, but listen all the same.'

Now all I can do is sit back and wait. he thought to himself.  Say, thirty minutes to an hour for arrival, another hour at worst for rendevous...  then just run for the jump point.

Fretting, Devon tapped a couple of keys on his control console and set a timer running.

Activating his talon comm, Rann talks to Devon: “ okay, so I take it Talon leader is coming to join the party? ” he laughed to himself   “ This is going to get interesting.”

Responding on his Talon comm, Devon said: 'Yeah, I'm hoping he doesnt take too long to get here.  I'd like to get that R-41 picked up and out of here before Imperials arrive...' he paused for a moment.  'Think of it - the navcom on that fighter probably has details of the location of the pirate base in it - if the pilot hasnt wiped it - we could strike at the base itself and knock the whole group out...'

Around ten minutes later, Devon and Rann suddenly noticed their closure rate with the rear freighter had increased.  Checking their consoles they noted that the freighter that the pirates had apparently hijacked had stopped moving and had apparently powered down it's engines..

Rann calls Devon on his comm “Seven something is not right here, we need  to check out that freighter” he said as he continued towards the freighter.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:46, Fri 20 May 2011.

'yeah.  No reason pirates would power down of their own accord - they WANT to run for a jump point.  So either that blast we saw did more damage than I thought and they had no choice... or we still got friendlies on board and that power down was sabotage to stop the pirates escaping.'
Devon mulled things over for a few moments. 'Cant see any option but to take a closer look.'

Switching over to the frequency the escorted freighters were using: 'One, this is Seven - your sensors seeing the same as ours?  freighter 3 is dead in space.  No reason the pirates would do that if they could avoid it.  I'm wondering if the situation over there is... more fluid than you said?'

Whilst he waited for 'One' to answer him, Devon busied himself with the most detailed sensor scan of the third freither he could manage.

<Ten minutes later>

Ten long minutes had passed since the freighter had powered down.  In that time a few systems had come back online but the ship still did not moved.  Rann and Devon had got little information out of 'One' who seemed flustered and unsure what to say.  However, this was no longer necessary as the pair were closing to under one hundred kilometres of the lead freighter, the one 'One' was supposedly aboard.  Their encrypted comms had a range of 50-100km so soon they'd be able to raise any Talon on board.

In the distance travelling the other way, the Cloakshapes and R-41 moved silently towards the edge of the gravity well.  It had been twenty minutes since Devon had called the Nightshrike so it was too early to expect her.


OOC:  Moved you forward to keep you in synce with the freighters.

Rann & Devon ae closing fast on the two freighters fleeing towards you (the ones the Talons supposedly 'liberated'.  You'll catch them in under three minutes.  The other freighter (the one supposedly the pirates took) is still stationary about 400km away.  You'll catch it in about 25 minutes (if it doesn't move).
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:41, Sat 21 May 2011.

<Another five minutes>

There had been no communication on the secure Talon comms as the Headhunters approached the two freighters suggesting the person claiming to be 'One' was a phony.  This was no surprise to the pilots but it had borne some checking.

The Z-95's now swooped past the freighters and had to make a choice.  They could choose to board one of the two freighters, maybe get some answers or they could chase after the still dormant third freighter which was still a good 20 minutes away.

---

OOC:  Well the Z-95's are now passing the two freighters.  Nobody is responding on the encrypted comms so either there are no Talons on these freighters or they're in no condition to answer.  You could board these vessels through the force cylinder airlock but this would take time.

The other freighter hasn't moved and is floating in space ~350km away

Devon spent several more minutes watching his sensors with great interest, then reached a decision.  He switched his comms on:

'R-41 pilot, you will come to a full stop BEFORE you leave the planetary gravity well.  Two, Five - please make sure he does.'

Then he switched across to his encrypted comm.  'Six, how about you go check out that stationary freighter?  See if you can raise any one on encrypted comms.  I'll stay here and fly escort just incase.  Don't report anything over an unencryped channel, OK?'

Swinging into close formation with the two freighters, Devon settled into wait some more.

“Seven, I'm going to check out the third freighter, can you cover me?” Rann asked over the Talon comm as he set course toward the stationary freighter.

As Devon held position with the non-responsive freighters, Rann took off in pursuit of the final freighter.  Nearly 30 minutes later he was pulling close to the freighter.  Activating his encrypted comm, he began calling.

"Six to any Talon, over."




<Thread Closed: Move to Freighter Convoy thread>