<Eleven hours later>

Nightshrike

Zyra and Mika sat on the bridge together, currently the engineering was flying, Zyra was examining the sensors.  Since launch, the Nightshrike had moved into its pre-designated flight path and power had been pulled back to 30%.  To any casual observer who bothered to check their transponder, the ship appeared as the luxury vessel of a wealthy merchant.  The slow speed suggest either someone saving on fuel or too busy indulging in hedonistic pleasures to bother rushing to his next location.

Down in the communication room, Cor fussed over the myriad of systems.  R2-A9 was plugged into a scomp link near her.  Between them the pair had been watching the sensors for the convoy, checking and double-checking the jamming system whilst monitoring the power flow to Mark and Flash's fighters.  The two ships had been tethered to the Nightshrike and were recieving power and life support from the Shrike.

Zyra's voice came over the intercom.  "Convoy spotted, bearing one five four mark four two, speed point four.  Cor, alert the fighters please.  Mika align our courses so we intersect their path. . .here.  Do it slowly."  She pointed to the astrogation map and indicated a point that would require only a mild course deviation.




Fighter Pair
Arin and Sheila were tired.  Not only had they been in their respective cockpits for the past eleven hours, they were flying in close formation to hide their numbers.  It was work that required constant attention on the controls so the pair had not managed to get much rest since taking off.


Maintenance Vessel TX-4190-N
Grayrhynn had slipped the transport onto autopilot and had left it there for the past six hours.  The maintenance vessel, while small did have basic amenities at least.  Nobody envied the fighter jocks.  At least on this ship they could use the refreshser, drink caf and stretch their legs.  CC9 sat next to Gray in the cockpit whilst Xil and Devon prepared the boarding gear in the back.

Cor's droids had worked hard, assisted by some of the Talons.  They'd manage to craft three, full-head masks, resembling B2 super-battle droids.  For the civilian crew, they'd managed to make simpler versions, half masks, secured with rope behind their heads.  They were still fairly intimidating and served to hide the faces of the boarding crew.

CC9 rechecked their course.  They'd been partially shadowing the convoy since they'd spotted it.  Zyra had assured them this was not unusual.  Smaller vessels often stayed close to military vessels for the protection they offered.  Few pirates would dare attack a ship within sensor range of the Imperial Navy.  Today would prove the exception, the Talons planned to attack freighters being escorted by the Imps!


OOC:  Now is the time for any last minute plans, check, pep-talks, etc.

"Got it."  A quick calculation tells her the sort of course adjustment is necessary and Mika's hands play across e ships controls, slightly altering thei course .  "We got about 10 minutes folk."  She announces into thips intercom.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:07, Sat 27 Oct 2012.

"Any sign on the number of escorting fighters", Arin asked through the intercom. Probably not yet - the fighters would be out of the resolution range for the sensors for a moment, but it didn't hurt to ask and with Cor handling things, Arin was pretty confident. She was the one he knew best and trusted the most - infact enough to have left her a "death letter", a file she was to read if he died and another one she would be asked to send to his mother. He went through the panels of his Headhunter for the fourth time already, but there was little else to do.

Xil sat back on his heels, with the checking of the boarding equipment now complete there was little to do but wait. He stood slowly, went and made himself something to drink and then reported to CC9 that all was ready.

"Convoy sighted, bearing one-five-four mark four-two, speed point-four.  No sign of enemy fighters yet, Raider Five."  Cor's calm eyes flick over a dozen sensor readings, keeping herself appraised of the situation.  "Jamming system primed and ready, all systems nominal.  Stay alert, it will not be long now."

She watches her boards which, amongst other things, hold the vitals for her droids.  If one of them goes down she'll know it immediately.  "Boarding party, status please."

"Boarding party's status remains unchanged," CC9 responds immediately.  "Weapons systems functional, all boarding raiders prepared."

The droid says this with absolute certainty.  They are ready.  They have trained for this.  The boarding team is adequate.

CC9 has made sure every member of the boarding team is suitably kitted out.  Each combat-ready raider bears:
* medium battle armour;
* a heavy blaster pistol;
* a blaster rifle;
* 5 pairs of binder cuffs (the B1 droids do not have these);
* 3 medpaks;
* 1 medkit, and;
* 2 power packs.

Any additional weaponry and gear brought by the raiders is up to them. In addition each team has a grenade launcher and five mini stun grenades.  The B1 droids carry a riot shield each; two spare riot shields are also packed.

Xil, Devon and Grayrhynn also each have some of the meanest-looking B2-droidish masks this side of the Empire.

In addition each organic member of the boarding party (including the civilians) wears a full flight suit against decompression.  Rebreathers are available but unlikely to be necessary as the flight suits contain 10 hours of life support.

Mark switched off his portable music player and began readying himself for the mission.  When the time came, he'd need to power up quickly.

"Acknowledged.  Five, remember not to break until the order is given.  Nightshrike, you need to tell us when to go.  Get us in as close as you can but the moment we're compromised we need to attack."

"Understood, Raider Lead," Cor replies mildly.

"No worries, Raider Lead. We'll be sticking like Corellian Bloatflies in the Rock Lizards tongue."
This message was last edited by the player at 11:31, Sat 27 Oct 2012.

Cor blinks a few times and then sets up a couple of intranet searches for 'Corellian bloatflies' and 'rock lizard's tongue' to run while she monitors the equipment.  Humans have such odd similes.

OOC: CC9's team need to indicate what gear they are taking on the mission (i.e. bringing anything extra, leaving anything CC9 allocated you behind).  If you don't indicate what you take, you'll be equipped with CC9's standard load-out.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:13, Sat 27 Oct 2012.

Alert: Nightshrike

In the Nightshrike's cockpit, Zyra and Mika countinued to casually close the range with the Imperial convoy.  Down in the comms room, Cor worked to enhance images of the convoy without making it obvious.  A direct sensor probe would give them away.

Slowly Cor was able to make more sense of the images.  There were definitely four tankers in the convoy.  Occasionally she picked up a blip that had to be the 'escort' but without a direct scan she couldn't tell if it was one ship or a dozen.

Suddenly a message came over the subspace radio on a general channel.

"Attention Private Vessel 65471-85X, this is Imperial Convoy Theta Four.  Our sensors show you on an bisecting course with us.  Alter course by at least 30 degrees immediately and maintain a range of no closer than two hundred kilometres.  Failure to comply will result in your ship being impounded and your crew arrested."
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:19, Sun 28 Oct 2012.

Zyra checked the sensors.  "We're still too far out." she said to Mika.  "Hold course."

She flicked on the intercom.  "Heigran, you're on.  Stall them as long as you can.  Cor, supply sensor data to Arin's group.  When the shooting starts they may have to fire their missiles with your sensor data, they might not have time for their own."

The external comm activated.

"Arrr, what you be bothering me for sonny?  Don't ya know I've bin sailin' these lanes for ny on fifty years?  I don't need some lick-spittle boy, barely off his mother's teat telling me where to go.  Why I should sail over and gives you a floggin' ya scurvy knave!"

He sounded like a bad mix of all the old sea captain and pirate stereotypes you've seen in B-grade holomovies.



Entertain Roll: 27.  Oscar winning performance maybe?

Cor, trying to keep her voice level, says over internal comms, "Feeding sensor data.  Raiders, data incoming.  Four tankers, escort number still undetermined."  She feeds the sensor data through, keeping it as realtime as possible.

Grayrhynn sits beside the Droid in silence, handling the mask given to him. At his side, the only extra gear he brought was his bowcaster. The wookie looked upon the ships with a detached feeling. His mind was fully on his task.


...he was ready.


other than the specific gear, grayrhynn will leave the blaster rifle behind and bring his bowcaster

As Arin receives the sensory data, he begins to dissect it as efficiently as possible. He tries various settings to enhance the imaging in order to get betterresolution out of the data and thus to discern the numbers of the escorting fighters.

Xil settles the various bits of gear that he is carrying so that they sit comfortably and don't impede his movement. He has his E-11 blaster rifle in his hands as his primary weapon.

He notes that Gray hasn't any extra gear other than his bowcaster. Looking at what is left to take, he hands the grenade launcher and mini-grenades to him "Here, I want you to take these as well. Make good use of them."

OOC: people should probably update their currently equipped gear in that thread to make it easier to see who has what. Just a suggestion."

That would indeed be the wisest move

Devon was sat with various chunks of his gear laid out on a workbench, organizing them.
His weapons he had already examined and set aside and now he was carefully organizing his toolkit - sorting through the various implements and making sure each was tucked away in its own little pouch or pocket - hopefully he wouldn't have to go rummaging for a lost spanner or dataprobe when it mattered.  Anyone watching Devon work would notice that his toolkit seemed to have a few odd objects in it in addition to all the stuff one might expect.  The number of zipties of various sizes was quite spectacular, then there was the tube of glue-anything-to-anything resin and for some reason a small empty glass bottle.

Having finished repacking his toolkit, Devon picked up the grenade launcher CC9 had given him and hefted it, getting a feel for the weight.  Then he spent a few moments getting everything settled so that things wouldnt tangle or snag on each other (or him), pulled on his battledroid mask and ambled up to the bridge.

"Boo." he growled at the others and eyed them menacingly "I'm scary."  sliding the mask up on his forehead Devon leaned forward and peered at sensor readings.
"How we doing?  I see they're not shooting at us yet..."

There was a long pause after Heigran's comments.  Clearly the response was not what they expected which had been the plan.  Slowly, the range began to close, though far too slowly.  The Nightshrike had to get in close to use her jammers.

The Imperials came back on the comms and again ordered the freighter to change course.  Heigran continued his banter.  The cool demands of the Imperials were met with salty wit and banter from Heigran, playing his role of the old salt to the hilt.

After the freighter had closed even further the sensor picture began to show more detail.  The first thing of note was that each freighter had a weapons turret.  The turret was small for anything bigger than a laser cannon but it added a new threat.

Finally the Imperial commander got sick of his talk and gave and growled.

"I am deploying fighters to disable your vessel.  If you have not diverted course in the next thirty seconds, they will destroy your engines.  Either way I'll have your ship, your licence and your hide in a prison cell."

On the Nightshrike, the girls could see that indeed the escort had broken off and was closing.  As they did so, the sensor images became clearer and she could see there were four TIE's in the wing and all were closing with the Nightshrike.

Zyra whispered on her comm something to Heigran.  Moments later he responded on the comm.

"Bring 'em on!  Ayieeeee!" he screamed in some sort of warcry.  With that, Zyra jammed the Nightshrike to full throttle, aiming to close the range.  Arin and Sheila had to quickly make up the speed.

The teams closed.  Heigran was screaming curses on the comm, shouting for imagined men to roll out the guns, load with round shot, prepare the boarding pikes and other commands that made him sound like he was either in some old pirate holofilm or completely insane, probably both.

Zyra watched the range close.  She needed to cut it close.  They needed to get as close to the freighters as they could but still give the fighters time to defend themselves.

She kept the Talon comms open as they closed.  "Get ready everyone.  Almost there, al. . .most there.  NOW!, NOW!, NOW!"

---

OOC: Combat round time!  2 day turnaround people!!!

The TIE's (4 in total) are currently 15km (30 squares) from the Nightshrike.  The Nightshrike, Arin and Sheila are moving at the Shrike's top speed of 6 squares/round.  The TIE's are closing at half speed (5 squares/round) but they'll undoubtedly speed up when they see trouble.

Mark and Flash will need one round to power their ships and detach.  The Nightshrike gunners will also need a round to power their weapons.

The freighter convoy is approximately 50km (100 squares) distant.  The jamming is only good for about 5 kilometres.

CC9's team is about 100km away from the convoy on it's flank.

This message was last edited by the GM at 01:12, Tue 30 Oct 2012.

Zyra kept the Nightshrike pointed towards the convoy.  She turned on the comms.

"We have to close the range.  Gunners fire at will but watch for friendlies.  Mika you have the sensors, assist our gunners.  Cor, can you see if you can and A9 can put on more speed?  Also have the jammers ready.  Heigran, keep up your communications until we start jamming."

Arin readied his fighter for the battle. "Raider three, set shields double front and ready the missile launcher for one round at maximum range. We will target the ones closest to the center to make their formation split. After launching the missiles, we will break to port side and engage the enemy at close range. Nine, if you concentrate fire on the outermost fighters, we'll handle the middle ones."

Having given up piloting duties to Zyra, Mika attacks the sensors like a predator.  "On it." she says tersely while her fingers play across the console.

She engages the sensors, moving them from passive to scan mode.  She was tempted to go to search mode, but best to make sure there weren't any surprises first.  She starts pushing the new data to the gunners, fighters and boarding ships.

08:29, Today: Mika Trake rolled 23 using 1d20+13. Sensors (didn't include the equipment bonus of +2 for Scan mode).

"Freighters have weapons turrets," Cor states in a calm but firm voice over Channel Talons.  "Repeat, freighters have weapons turrets.  Watch out for their additional fire and be ready for any other tricks."  She speaks quickly to A9 in Umbaran and gets on the business of attempting to boost the Nightshrike's speed.

(( Ship speed rolls: 37 for Cor, 15 for A9 (though I suppose A9's help might be a synergy bonus instead, in which case Cor got, what, 39?) ))
This message was last edited by the player at 00:44, Wed 31 Oct 2012.

Xil waited with the others on the transport. Knowing that the others would soon be engaging the imperials he switches his thoughts to his own part of the mission. Xil spends time going over the tactics they last used on this type of freighter as well as the training exercise CC9 had put them through.

At Zyra's command, the Talons flare to life.  As the XO powers up the ship's shields, the gunners power up their heavy weapons.  The Nightshrike feels a burst of acceleration as Cor and R2-A9 coax a little more power from the engines.

On Arin's command, both he and Sheila loose a missile towards the oncoming freighters.  As he does so Mark and Flash power up their fighters and begin to turn to port, pushing power to their engines.

---

OOC:  Update!

This was a surprise round as the TIE's didn't expect this.

Currently all four fighters are in close formation with the Nightshrike and are flying at the Nightshrike's top speed.

The four TIE's are 9.5km from the Shrike & Fighters (so at extreme weapons range)

The missiles are closing on the fighters (5km from target)

---

Battle status

Nightshrike 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 100/100HP (1 missile remaining)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

TIE 1 - Uninjured
TIE 2 - Uninjured
TIE 3 - Uninjured
TIE 4 - Uninjured

Missile 1 - 5 rounds left (Attacking TIE 2)
Missile 2 - 5 rounds left (Attacking TIE 3)
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:45, Wed 31 Oct 2012.

Mark increases his power to the maximum speed Flash's cloakshape can match then pulls off to port, swinging out wide in preperation of the weave.

"Two on me."

"Three, follow me." Arin mirrored the commander and spread the formation onto the starboard side, increasing speed  to match the Cloakshape's maximum. "Shields double forward, we'll open fire at a closer range."

Zyra noted the increase in power in satisfaction.

"Great work Cor, give me all the speed you can.  Also be ready to shore up the shields.  Mika, feed targeting data to the guns.  Gunners fire at will, but don't shoot if a friendly is within two kilometres of the target.  Heigran. . ."

Zyra paused, she didn't really know what to do with the Zeltron.  "Uh, keep confusing them."

Her own job was easy.  Aim for the freighters, push the throttle to max.  If a TIE didn't get out of her way, she'd run them down.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:24, Thu 01 Nov 2012.

Per orders, Mika focuses on the sensors, pulling data and feeding it to the gunners.

07:37, Today: Mika Trake rolled 24 using 1d20+13. Computer Use - Sensor Operator.

Grayrhynn sits quietly and patiently, scratching his head, waiting for his turn

The approaching TIE's didn't flinch as they faced oncoming missiles, ion cannon fire from the Nightshrike and laser fire from the weaving fighters.  They accelerated to top speed, evaded the missiles, got a few hits on the Nightshrike's shields as they approached then flew down either side of the cruiser.  The missiles chased the fighters but the superior speed of the TIE's kept them safe from them.

The TIE's did not get off unscathed.  The PK droid firing the port turbolaser, bolstered by sensor data from Mika, caught a TIE in it's cone of fire and blasted it to bits.  Mark and Flash also managed to hit a TIE with their combined fire but failed to destroy it.

The Nightshrike flew on towards the convoy.  The fact that the cruiser had no aft weapon coverage didn't seem to bother Zyra.

The two flight pairs finished their second Tallon Weave and found themselves in front of the Nightshrike, the nearest TIE's now 9km behind them.

The freighter convoy meanwhile continued to close.

---

OOC:

After two rounds, one TIE is dead, another seriously damaged.

The Nightshrike is heading full speed for the freighters (lets say 'north' for ease of reference).  The three remaining TIE's are 6km behind the Nightshrike and heading away (south).  The missiles are 1km behind the TIE's (so 5km from the Nightshrike) heading towards the TIE's (south)

The two Talon wingpairs are 3km in front of the Nightshrike (so 9km from the TIE's) facing north.

The Nightshrike is approx 35km from the convoy and closing.

The boarding craft remains 100km from the convoy off its port flank (heading south perpendicular to the convoy).

---

Battle status

Nightshrike 150/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 100/100HP (1 missile remaining)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

TIE 1 - Serious hull damage *Stabiliser damage*
TIE 2 - Destroyed
TIE 3 - Uninjured
TIE 4 - Uninjured

Missile 1 - 3 rounds left (Attempting to acquire new target)
Missile 2 - 3 rounds left (Attacking TIE 3)
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:44, Fri 02 Nov 2012.

"Raider 8," CC9 orders to Grayrhynn, "accelerate to full.  Bring us to 15 kilometres from the convoy... just out of firing range."

"Raider 5, circle back and maintain five kilometre spread between us.  Engage weave on my mark.  Don't get more than ten kilometres from Talon Prime."

Following his own plan, Mark put his fighter into a starboard turn until he was heading back towards the TIE's, matching Flash's top speed.  He set an alarm on his sensors to warn him when he strayed more then eight kilometres from the Nightshrike.

Zyra nodded in satisfaction.

"Great work team.  Keep it up.  We should reach the convoy in less than one minute.  Let's be ready."

Heigren walked onto the bridge.  He was still cursing and playing out his 'pirate captain' role through a wireless headset.

"Ye all a bunch of scurvy knaves.  You're all craven goat molesters.  If ye don't all turn about and set sail I'll give ye a taste of me parrot."

When he reached Zyra and Mika, it could be seen he was carefully carrying a tray.  Without stopping his rant he carefully placed two mugs of steaming coffee and two fresh muffins with cream on a console between Zyra and Mika.  Without breaking his tirade he walked out, one mug still on his tray.

"Fire the planks, make them walk the cannon.  Set sails for the nearest tavern wench me hearties."

He disappeared out of the bridge.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:43, Sat 03 Nov 2012.

"Acknowledged, Raider Lead. Raider Three, you heard the man." Arin shifted his fighters position according to the order while maintaining the relative speed to that of theother wing. "Ready when you are, Lead."

Flash, too, swings his fighter around in position for the Weave.  "Let's show these tin-plated scrotums how a real pilot flies!"

With the shuttle beginning to accelerate it was obvious that the others had engaged the convoy. Xil checked his gear and blaster rifle again. He was ready for his part.

Grayrhynn swung the transport onto its new course.  CC9 took the liberty of dropping their sensors to passive in the hope of hiding them from view.  They didn't need sensors at present anyway.  They knew where the convoy was and the convoy wasn't passive so it wasn't hard to track them.

The Nightshrike continued to aim straight for the convoy.  A9 and Cor bypassed, rerouted and diverted power from any system they could spare and were rewarded with the engines running at 115% of maximum.

Meanwhile the fighter pairs continued to engage the TIE's.  Outmaneuvering the missiles, the remaining TIE's formed a wing trio and charged at Mark and Flash.  The pairs flew passed each other without a hit to either side.  Arin and Sheila also missed as they weaved past.

The TIE's fell in behind Mark and Flash.  Mark dropped behind Flash's unshielded Cloakshape and threw all his shields to double aft.  It was a smart move as the next moment a flurry of bolts slammed into Mark's ship, stripping the shields away.  Before the TIE's could capitalise on this, one of the missiles, temporarily forgotten by the Imperials, crashed into a TIE and blew it apart.

The final missile, ran out of fuel and continued to fly off into space.

---

OOC:  So another TIE is down, courtesy of a missile.

Mark and Flash have a pair of TIE's 1500 metres behind them.  Arin's wingpair is 1.5km to Mark & Flash's right.  Both wing pairs are now 14km behind the Nightshrike.

The Nightshrike is 20km from the convoy and closing fast.

The transport is 95km away and closing slowly.

---

Battle status

Nightshrike 150/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 100/100HP (1 missile remaining)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 0/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

TIE 1 - Serious hull damage *Stabiliser damage*
TIE 2 - Destroyed
TIE 3 - Destroyed
TIE 4 - Uninjured

Mark growled.  "Shields down.  Two on our six."

He threw his ship into another port turn, though he made the turn a little less sharp this time.  He wanted to ensure Arin's turn was tighter and he got a clear shot at the TIEs.  He kept jinking in random directions throughout, using every defensive tactic he knew.


OOC: Full defensive

"Three, cover me. Lead, I'm coming to bail you out, hang on."

Arin turned his fighter sharply and pushed for all the power the engines could give. He had the advantage of coming at the TIEs that were preoccupied with the other pair of Talons and he was going to get at their backs. Hopefully, the other pair was going to survive long enough for him to render aid.

"Prime, you need to take shots at the TIEs, if possible. Just make sure, you don't shoot our own while you are at it."

Time was of the essence.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:27, Sun 04 Nov 2012.

Cor mutters to herself in Umbaran when she hears Arin's words, the language briefly coming through on the Talons comms. 

"A9," she adds, switching to Basic, "continue to boost the engines.  Fighters, if you can get them back in range of the Shrike's guns we can help."

With that she continues to boost the engines.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:05, Mon 05 Nov 2012.

OOC: A quick note.  The Nightshrike can be of no assistance to the fighters for two reasons:

1.  Starship weapons have a maximum range of 10km (20 squares) as per the core rulebook.  The TIEs are 12.5km away.

2.  The Nightshrike has no weapon that covers the aft firing arc (info is in the 'schematics' section of this game).

The only way the Nightshrike could assist would be for the cruiser to turn around and head back to bring the fighters into range.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:27, Sun 04 Nov 2012.

"Stick to the Weave, Sparky!" Flash yells suddenly as Arin's message comes through.  "You don't and we're dead!"

Zyra sniffed her caf and took a tentative sip.  "Cerean Five Spice." she exclaimed to Mika.  "How did he know I like a little Five Spice in my caf?  Oh he's good."

Hearing Arin's comm call she looked at the sensors and sighed.  "Negative Five.  We can offer no assistance."

She felt those familiar butterflies everytime he went into battle.  She wanted nothing more than to turn the ship and help out.  But Mark had given her clear instructions and she would follow them.  Besides, Mark could look after himself.

"Keep up the speed girls.  Let's take the fight to them.  Any progress on the shields?"
This message was last edited by the player at 06:26, Mon 05 Nov 2012.

Mika glances up at Zyra's comment and remembers the refreshments.  She didn't really want them, nervous energy at the battle is already causing her a bit of discomfort, but she had to make sure she didn't have any problems with low blood sugar.  Besides, for now, all they're doing is blazing full speed ahead, she could take 10 seconds to take a nibble and a swallow.

"Don't ask me, but he seems to keep a pretty close eye on us female types."    She grins, but she found the attention a little creepy.  Her own coffee was simpler, straight out of the spigot, no tweaking required.

Since Cor was handling the engines and the jammer, they were blazing on a straight line, Mika puts her primary thoughts to the sensors.  Nothing like a surprise visit from a enemy battle group to put the command folks into a foul mood.

"He's a Zeltron." Zyra responded.  "Zeltrons seek pleasure in any form, they're pure hedonists.  Why you might even see him checking out a few of the male crew.  What's special about him though is clearly he enjoys giving pleasure as well as receiving it.  I doubt he brought us coffee because he thought it would woo us."

She checked her course, saw it was aligned and looked back at Mika.

"It's also possible he uses these wiles as a shield.  Remember what his been through recently.  He lived in a small close-knit community on an Imperial world for years.  Now in the past few days a large portion of them were killed, killed by Arin's former team no less.  Many more are in bacta tanks and the rest have been forcibly relocated and he has no idea if they're safe.  He's clearly protective of them and likely feels responsible for so many deaths.  This could be his way of dealing with the grief."

She sipped her drink.  "Either way he makes a great cup of caf and he has a really nice bum!"

Grayrhynn continued to pilot as ordered, listening to and viewing the battle as it happens.

Seeing that they were beyond is planned seperation from the Nightshrike, Mark called into his comm "Two, initiate 180 degree turn into next weave.  Head back towards Raider Prime."  The strain in his voice was apparent as he jinked and weaved, providing as difficult a target as he could for the far more nimble TIEs.

Arin continued to fire on the TIEs.  He had fired a missile which had missed and was now chasing and now he was firing his lasers while Sheila shot at the damaged TIE, not bothering to continue with the Weave.  Arin had always known his beloved TIEs were nimble but he hadn't appreciated how much until he tried to shoot one in much less agile craft.  Shot after shot flew harmlessly wide.

Gritting his teeth and focusing, Arin timed his next shot perfectly and hit the rear TIE dead center of its aft hull.  The ship was not destroyed but it was a near thing.  Like a true Imperial though, neither TIE wavered, continuing to shoot at Mark and Flash.

In the Nightshrike, Cor and Mika watched the numbers rapidly close.  Mika noted that they were just entering weapons range of the convoy.  Finally realising the danger, the freighters had turned and were fleeing but the rear two were now in range.  They were still not in jammer range, but it wouldn't take more than about half a minute Cor estimated.

The freighters turning and fleeing worked in favour of CC9's transport which started to close at a much faster rate.  At the current rate of closure they would reach the convoy in roughly three minutes.

---

OOC:  The Nightshrike has reached extreme weapons range (10km) of the rear two ships in the convoy (they're flying two abreast).  The freighters are fleeing from the cruiser but the 'shrike is faster.  The jammer isn't going to work until they're less than 5km away.  The fighters can boost the range if they can get close enough.

The Nightshrike is closing on the convoy at 2 squares/round (3 squares/round while they maintain power to engines though once battle starts they'll need the power elsewhere.)

The transport is approximately 75km away and closing.  If the freighters keep fleeing towards it, they should reach the convoy in around 3 minutes.

The fighters are now 15km behind the Nightshrike.  Mark and Flash still have two (badly damaged) TIE's on their six.  Arin and Sheila continue to weave with Mark and Flash.

---

Battle status

Nightshrike 150/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 100/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 0/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP


TIE 1 - Serious hull damage *Stabiliser damage*
TIE 2 - Destroyed
TIE 3 - Destroyed
TIE 4 - Critical Hull Damage *Sensor Damage*

Missile (chasing TIE 4) 3 rounds remaining.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:54, Mon 15 Apr 2013.

Arin literally glued his fighter at the TIEs tail, taking shots of opportunity every time the fighter passed in front of his firing arc. The dogfight, though short, had lagged on long enough. He kept checking his own six, his head moving all around like that of a Dantooninite Rat-Owl. Come on, he thought to himself, You are a good pilot, but I'm better.

"Alright six, fire at will.  Port and starboard gunners may also fire once in range.  Remember we're trying to disable the ships, not destroy them.  Try not to do anything too. . .permanent."

"Eleven, where do we stand on the jamming?  Can you also tell A9 to work on the shields when he can?  For now we still need speed."

Zyra tightened her grip on the controls and looked over at Mika.  "Here we go!"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 11:08, Tue 06 Nov 2012.

Mika, realizing what a fool she'd been, starts working to restore some shield power.  Sure, they shouldn't need too much against a bunch of freighters and a few snubs, but anyone could get a lucky shot.

Still, something in the way she'd cross-wired the ships systems had to be wrong.  She was only able to restore a slight amount of shield energy.

As they draw closer in range, Mika finds her nervousness growing.  "Yeah, here's hoping we don't get any bad surprises."

08:17, Today: Mika Trake rolled 17 using 1d20+13. Computer Use - restore shields.
08:18, Today: Mika Trake rolled 4 using 2d10. Shield points restored.

"Jamming ready; I will activate as soon as we hit jamming range.  A9, work on the shields when you can."  Cor keeps working on the speed for now, as per Zyra's orders.

Mark and Flash continue to madly jink and avoid fire, Arin and Sheila continued to be unable to hit the nimble TIE's.  Arin used every Imperial trick and tactic he knew, but the TIEs were just so maneuverable.

It came as a suprise to everyone when the more seriously damaged TIE exploded in a cloud of superheated gas, courtesy of the missile Arin had fired and almost forgotten about.  The TIE's death left only one TIE who doggedly clung to Flash and Mark.


On the bridge of the Nightshrike, Mika and Zyra watched as Rann opened fire with the ion cannon.  The rear two freighters returned fire but at such extreme range, nobody was coming even close to hitting.

Mika and A9 worked at their respective stations and quickly brought the Nightshrike's shields up to full power once again.  So far the freighter's gunners weren't coming close, but that was bound to change.

After a few more seconds and futile volley fire, Cor saw the numbers on her screen roll down.  Not only were the rear freighters now in jamming range, they were also in range of the port and starboard guns.  Additionally the ion cannon could now hit any of the four freighters.  It would take a little longer to get the last two freighters in jamming range.

Further off, the transport continued to close in.

---

OOC:  Fighters now only have 1 TIE to deal with.

Nightshrike status:
* Jamming - rear 2 ships only
* Ion cannon - any of the 4 freighters
* Port turbolaser - rear left freighter only
* Starboard turbolaser - rear right freighter only



Battle status

Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 100/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 1/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP


TIE 1 - Serious hull damage *Stabiliser damage*
TIE 2 - Destroyed
TIE 3 - Destroyed
TIE 4 - Destroyed

Mark switched on his comm.

"Five.  Take three and help Raider Prime.  Two and I will finish off our friend here."

"Affirmative, Lead. Three, on my wing, tight formation." Arin swooped towards the Nightshrike. It would take them a moment to catch it, which would give them time to plan for a strategyfor taking down the freighters. He didn't say it out loud, but he would have preferred to take out the TIE first, just to be sure - with it being far more agile than the two fighters it was now left to tumble with, there was still a chance of things going wrong. Wouldn't be a good start for co-operation, if one let his CO get shot down, but insubordination against a direct order was neither.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:13, Wed 07 Nov 2012.

Mark saw Arin shoot off and nodded to himself.  He'd been worried Arin wouldn't obey him.

"Okay two.  Continue with the weave, just the two of us.  You start starboard.  Break!"

Mark flicks his fighter out to port.

"Three, accelerate to full speed. Once we reach the enemy, concentrate your fire on the same enemy with me and once their shields fail, break off and start pounding the next one. We concentrate on the same targets as Prime. And watch out for their anti-fighter guns." Arin wasn't sure if he was being overtly comprehensive in giving the order, but he wanted to make sure.

"Prime, Three and I are coming to assist you. Should be there shortly."

"That's lovely five." Zyra purred on the comm.  "Would you be kind enough to take out the freighter's communications while you're there?  We'd appreciate it."

Zyra tried to maneuver the Nightshrike so it was central to all the ships so Cor's jammer would affect all of them.

"Jamming operational.  Raider comms should remain unaffected."  Cor activates the jamming array and an envelope of Really Not Helpful slaps the foe.  "Suggest Ten and I focus on feeding the gunners sensor data; A9 can handle the shields."

"Boarding team Alpha, prepare for assault."  The droid watches the sensory data come in through the transport screens with absolute attention.  "We may need to attack the hindmost freighter instead of the foremost," he notes.

"Affirmative, Prime. I'll target them with my ion cannon." Arin switched to the ion cannon, though it reduced his overall firepower slightly - but on the plus side, the freighters would remain unharmed. "Three, once we reach the freighters, break formation on my mark. Let's give them more targets to divide their fire between."

Seeing that Zyra had taken over the piloting duties, Mika turns back to the sensors.  Pulling data, she feeds it to the starboard gunner.

12:27, Today: Mika Trake rolled 32 using 1d20+13. Computer Use - Sensor Operator.

Mark and Flash broke into a single ship Tallon weave.  The TIE hung doggedly with Mark but the Commander continued to evade.  Flash missed on his first pass, snarled and focused hard, not willing to be beaten by Arin or an unknown TIE pilot.  His second pass was dead on the mark and the TIE disintegrated under his cannon fire.

Arin and Sheila closed rapidly with the freighters.  Space was awash with laser fire.  The four freighters fired lasers at the Nightshrike continuously but only one managed to score a hit that barely damaged the shields.  The turbolaser turrets fired back, the port gunner stripping the shields off one freighter and then the starboard gunner, aided by Mika's sensor feed fired a volley that not only stripped the shields but almost blew the freighter in half, it's hull no match for the turbolaser fire.  The pilots watched as Rann swung the heavy ion cannon to port and raked the unshielded freighter with ion cannon fire.  The freighter's systems went dead.

Arin returned his attention to his instruments as his weapons began getting faint target locks on the rear two freighters.

---

OOC:  TIE's are all destroyed.  No new toys for Flash and Devon to play with there!

The rear two freighters have been hit.  Freighter 3 has no hull damage but has been disabled (for now) by ion cannon fire.  Freighter 4 is so badly damaged it probably couldn't survive another turbolaser attack.

The port and starboard turbolasers can still only hit Freighters 3 & 4, the forward freighters aren't in their firing arc yet.  The ion cannon can hit all 4 ships.

Arin and Sheila will be within weapons range of Freighters 3 & 4 next round.

Mark and Flash are further 7km behind Arin and Sheila.

The transport is 45km away from the closest freighter (Freighter 2), 50km from Freighter 3

A reminder that ion cannon damage can be repaired so Freighter 3 is only temporarily disabled.  You can be sure the crew will be repairing the ship.

The Nightshrike is now in jamming range of all 4 ships.

---

Nightshrike status:
* Jamming - all 4 ships
* Ion cannon - any of the 4 freighters
* Port turbolaser - rear left freighter only
* Starboard turbolaser - rear right freighter only



Battle status

Nightshrike - 175/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 100/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 1/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Undamaged
Freighter 2 - Undamaged
Freighter 3 - No shields, Undamaged *Disabled*
Freighter 4 - Critical Hull Damage

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:43, Sat 10 Nov 2012.

Slight change in plans Xil thought to himself when he heard CC9 mention attacking the rear freighter first. He allowed himself to remain relaxed as he knew it would still be a short while before entering the action, after all they still had to drop off team alpha first.

Mika, still focused on the sensors, says to Zyra, "Freighter 4's about had it.  I don't know if it's worth boarding it when we got three perfectly good freighters about.  I'd send the boarding team to Freighter 3 first.  I'll get sensor data to the ion cannon, start on one of the other two freighters.  Keep an eye on three though, they're just ionized, they'll be back to fighting if the crew's any good at all."


07:41, Today: Mika Trake rolled 20 using 1d20+13. Computer Use - Sensor Operator.

Zyra nodded.  "I'm going to turn towards Freighter 2.  That way our port gunner will be able to fire at Freighter 1.  I'm hoping Freighter 4 will surrender, but if she keeps firing at us we may have no choice.  Unless. . ."

She switches to external comms.  "Five, could you please pull Freighter 4's teeth?  Maybe you can take care of their weapons while you deal with their communications.  Oh, and if you can get them to surrender that would be great!"

Zyra chuckled and looked at Mika.  "Well we can't have the flyboys getting bored can we?"

Mika shrugs.  "What with no more TIE's to play with, it's good for them to have something to do."  Mika dosn't feel anywhere as relaxed as her words indicate, but she at least wanted to appear to be a season veteran.

"Acknowledged, Prime. Feeding some ions to the number four freighter. Three, take a shot at freighter three's antenna array. Just don't fry it any more than necessary to make them shut up." Arin turned towards the last freighter and opened up with the ion cannon. The blue bolts lighted up the cockpit, making it look a bit eerie. He aimed for the turrets, so there would be less a chance for them getting a shot at him.

"Two, one.  Break off and go ahead. I want you to help knock out the freighters' communication arrays and weapon systems.  Start with any of the disabled vessels. I'll catch up once I have shields."

Mark begins diverting power to his shields to get themback to full strength.



Computer Use - Shield Repair: 14
This message was last edited by the player at 01:27, Sat 10 Nov 2012.

"Pff.  Shields," Flash says with mock-scorn, before zipping off through space double-quick.  Like the other fighters he starts targeting systems as best he can, pulling his old fighter around in a way that clearly shows his skill and his love of flying.

"This is going quite well, really," Cor comments mildly as, noticing Mika's assisting Rann, she feeds more data through to the Shrike's droid gunners.  She keeps a close eye on the jamming, ready to jump back and support it if necessary.

"Take us up to dock with freighter three," CC9 orders the transport pilot wookiee.  "Four is not going anywhere, and if we can capture undamaged freighters as a priority it will result in ease of escape, less repairs and less cost."

Grayrhynn looks at the Droid, his thoughts mirroring what was just said. The wookie  nods his head and growls in his home togune, and maneuvers to follow the orders of the Droid.

Without even an acknowledgement, Flash throws all power to engines and shoots out ahead of Mark.  He rapidly closed on Mark and Sheila who were rapidly closing on the rear freighters.  Mark opened fire on the badly damaged freighter while Sheila focused on the disabled one.

Arin first volley went wide as he banked to evade fire from the freighter which was keeping up a determined defense, despite its damage.  Arin's second volley took the fight out of them as he raked the freighter in ion cannon fire from stern to bow, disabling main power.

Sheila was having less luck with her shots until it occured to her she didn't need to approach at speed or maneuver.  Slowing to a crawl she carefully lined up the stricken ship's communication array and destroyed it with a quick volley of blaster fire.

On board the Nightshrike, Zyra began turning the ship so Freighter 1 came into range of the port gunner.  As it did so, the PK droid on that turret opened fire.  In the ion cannon turret, Rann traded shots with Freighter 2 without success.  Then to Rann's surprise, the freighter slowed and began moving backwards!  It took him a moment to realise someone had snagged it with the Nightshrike's tractor beam.  The slowed vessel made a much easier target and Rann hit it with some cannon fire.  The freighter returned fire, thought its weaponry was of limited use against the cruiser's much more powerful shields.

---

OOC:  Freighter 3 and 4 are now both disabled.  Freighter 3 has also lost its comm array so even if they do regain power, they can't call for help!

Freighter 2 is snared in the Nightshrike's tractor beam and is being pulled in.  Freighter 1 is trading shots with the port gunner.

Rann and Sheila are in close proximity to Freighters 4 and 3 respectively.  It will take them a full round to close with the other two freighters.

Flash is just coming into target range of the two disabled freighters.  He'd need another round or two to catch the active freighters.

Mark is a further 5km behind Flash.

---

Nightshrike status:
* Jamming - all 4 ships
* Ion cannon - Freighters 1, 2 & 4
* Port turbolaser - Freighter 1 only
* Starboard turbolaser - Freighter 4 only



Battle status

Nightshrike - 168/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 100/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 13/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Undamaged
Freighter 2 - Moderate Shield Damage, No Hull Damage
Freighter 3 - *Disabled* <Comms array destroyed>
Freighter 4 - Critical Hull Damage *Disabled*

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

"Three, knock the comms off the last ship as well, but don't blow her up completely. I'll go after the number one freighter."

Arin turned his fighter around again and set off after the last two freighters, still in motion. He set shields double front, just in case the enemy decided to open up at him. He flew around the Shrike and aimed for the freighter number one's guns, unleashing a hail of blue bolts of ion energy. "Going weapons hot!"

Heigran hooted as he locked onto the freighter with the tractor beam.

"Got the nerf herder!  Full broadside!  Boarding pikes, take the fight to them.  Put every last scurvy knave to the sword me hearties!"

He either didn't realise or didn't care that the freighters were being jammed and only the Talon ships could hear him.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:42, Mon 12 Nov 2012.

"He's insane.  Completely out of his tree."  mumbled Devon as he listened to Dread Cap'n Heigren's ongoing rant.

Shaking his head, Devon left the cockpit to get ready for action.

Mark watched satisfied as the fighters began systematically destroying communications arrays and weapon turrets.  Without them, the freighters could do nothing but try to run if they got their systems online.  Neither system was required by the Talons.  They're Talon comms were good for a hundred klicks or so and if the freighters needed weapons then the Talons were in very deep trouble and should have already abandoned the mission.

He continued pumping up his shields.  Despite Flash's disdain, the commander preferred every advantage in a fight.

Flash concentrates on the freighters from rear-most to foremost.  "Killin' off turrets and comms," he states evenly as he squeezes his triggers.  "Not a gun left once I'm through."  He doesn't pass over the disabled ships, firing at any turret or comms array he spots.

"Two, go after the comms first. I'll disable the guns - they're worth much more intact." Arin wasn't too happy about the Duro getting there - too much of a loose cannon.

"Get bent, Im- Five," Flash states flatly, correcting himself a little.  "My orders were to knock the guns out.  I'm knocking 'em out.  You know the difference between 'disabled' an' 'destroyed', right?"  He continues doing precisely what he was doing.

"Two, go after the communications first. I have the guns covered already." Arin repeated his order - he wasn't going to take bantha dung from the Duro. He was about to transmit a snarky comment on the Duro's intellect, but decided against it as it would not have helped. Hopefully, the CO would interfere in the matter, as he most certainly could hear the discussion.

"Get your hearing checked, Five," Flash snaps back.

"Knock it off you two."  Mark growled.  "You both have your orders."

"Lead, I suggest we simply disable the turrets on the freighters as they will be more valuable intact." Destroying the turrets was waste of money and time, at least if you asked Arin. Besides, a misplaced shot at a turret might actually damage the freighter badly and make it unsalvageable.

Flash doesn't comment.  Perhaps he's just concentrating.  Perhaps he's listening for Mark's response.

"Five, your suggestion has been noted.  Carry out my orders.  We can discuss the matter back at base."

Xil waited for team Alpha to commence boarding freighter 3, he then moves to take CC9's place in the cockpit. He will then pick the next target.

Ignoring Arin's 'suggestions', Flash flies in at full speed towards Freighter 3.  He skims the ship's surface and lets of a volley of fire, destroying the freighter's turret only seconds before he would have collided with it.  Pulling into a turn harder than the Cloakshape was ever designed to he flew over to Freighter 4.  He rapidly vapourised the ship's turret as Sheila destroyed the same freighter's comm array.  The Duros noted that the commander had caught up to him, his shields repaired.

Further away, the Nightshrike continued it's running battle with the two remaining freighters.  Several shots hit the larger capital ship but the Nightshrike's shields soaked up the damage.  Rann fired volley after volley into the freighter designated two, encasing it in azure lightning.  Very soon the ship's shields were gone though it's systems were still active.

Off to the Nightshrike's port, Arin flew hard at the ship designated Freighter 1 which was exchanging fire with the Nightshrike's port turbolaser.  Arin switched to ion cannons and began firing, one of his volleys hitting the shields.  Then the world went white. . .

On the port turret, PK-23 could see that one of it's shots had somehow slipped through a weak point in the shields and burned a hole through the freighter from starboard to port.  The shot must have ruptured several fuel storage tanks as the ship blew up exactly 2.173 seconds later.  The concussive force striking both the Nightshrike and the R-41 piloted by human designation: Talon Five 1.765 seconds apart.  The Nightshrike's shields easily soaked up the damage, the R-41 however was knocked spinning off course.

Arin saw none of this.  One moment he was flying towards a freighter, the next a massive explosion had blinded him before the flash suppressors on his visor kicked him.  A large concussive force hit his ship sending it spiralling out of control.  As his vision returned, the pilot gradually drew his craft out of its spin.  Numerous damage reports were filling his screen, though one he checked he was okay.  His shields were gone, his hull had taken minor damage and he had a few secondary systems offline.

Onboard the transport vessel, Gray and CC9 both saw a massive explosion in space which their sensors confirmed moments later was one of the freighters exploding.  Watching for a moment, CC9 then noticed that their sensors showed they would enter weapons range of Freighter 2 - the sole active freighter in less than ten seconds.

---

OOC:  Well a critical hit by a turbolaser has turned one of your prizes into a pretty fireball.  Guess you wont be getting the full set!

Arin, your ship is now under control.

Freighter 2 is the only active freighter though it's lost all shields.

I am tracking ship movements in an excel map.  For those who want to get a better idea of where things stand, just use an excel spreadsheet (or draw a grid with letters on the horizontal, numbers on the vertical (like excel does) and put everyone accordingly:

* Mark C1
* Flash C5
* Sheila D6 (occupying square with Freighter 4
* Arin Z1
* Nightshrike X4 (flying to the right of the map)
* Freighter 1 - Pretty fireball in X2
* Freighter 2 - W6 (flying to the right of the map)
* Freighter 3 - Stationary in A2
* Freighter 4 - Stationary in D6 (sharing square with Sheila)
* Transport with Boarding Crew AV18

(Each square = 1 combat square or 500m)

So Freighters 3 & 4 are now some distance from the Shrike and well outside it's jamming range.  Though since Sheila has destroyed their comms this is not really an issue.

CC9's team will be in extreme weapon range of Freighter 2 next round.  Though given they're probably distracted by the Nightshrike, hopefully they wont bother you!

---

Nightshrike status:
* Jamming - Freighter 2 only
* Ion cannon - Freighter 2 only
* Port turbolaser - Has done enough don't you think? (Has no target anyway)
* Starboard turbolaser - Freighter 2 only



Battle status

Nightshrike - 124/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 0/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - Shields down, No Hull Damage
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - Critical Hull Damage *Disabled* <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 00:58, Thu 15 Nov 2012.

Mark growled as he saw one of the freighters blow up.  'When I find out which trigger happy jock did that. . .' he mused silently.  But that could wait.

"Five, double back and keep freighters three and four out of the fight.  Three, cover his six while he does so.  Two, form up on me, we'll assist Prime."

They might just need to take freighter 4 now, damaged as it was so best to keep it and the other freighter ionised until the boarding teams were ready.

As soon as Flash formed up he diverted full power to engines, slowing just enough to match the Cloakshape's slower top speed.

"Turbolasers cease fire!" Zyra cried as the freighter exploded.  She cursed herself for the loss, but it couldn't be helped.

"Ion cannon fire only.  Sensors data to the ion cannon.  Let's get Freighter two sleeping before the transport gets here."

Cor, checking the data feeds from her droids as well as maintaining data to them, nods.  "A good but unfortunate shot, PK-23.  Remain on alert for approaching hostiles until otherwise ordered."  She doesn't seem worried in the slightest.  If anything she sounds a touch proud.

Sithspawn, was the first word that came to Arin's mind when he recovered from being thrown around, this is exactly why I wanted to use only ion cannons on them. Then the commander gave him an order. "Acknowledged, Lead. With your permission, I'd like to fix my shields and see if I can do the same to a couple of my systems that got a bit knocked out." He wanted to play it safe now - there was no point in dying for this.

Ain set the shields to recharge and begun to run a quick systems check on his fighter. He wasn't going to sit idly by, but take the matter to the CO in private once they were through with this.

The wookie squints at the huge fireball lighting up his vision.  He roars and shakes his head.

"Save it for the fight, Eight," CC9 states calmly.  "One less freighter means one less target to spread our forces thin trying to retain.  It was tactically unlikely that we could recover all four freighters before assistance came.  Boarding parties," he adds, "our task remains unchanged.  Be prepared for heavy resistance.  We can use that freighter's destruction to our advantage in our demands for surrender once the stormtroopers are neutralized.  Now the targets know we aren't 'playing around'."

The wookie looks at the droid, and nods his head.  He knows that the destruction of a ship will be greatly intimidating to the others, and can be used against them.

"Damn!"  The emphatic tone is still kept low as the freighter explodes.

With the turbolasers on stand-by, Mika focuses on routing sensor data to the ion cannon.

11:36, Today: Mika Trake rolled 32 using 1d20+13. Computer Use - Sensor Operator.

The droid nods back to the wookiee.  "Take us in to dock at freighter 2, as it is now the closest.  Route will be freighter 2, then freighter 4, then freighter 3."

Rann keeps his ion cannon locked on the freighter.  With the help of Heigran's tractor beam slowing the freighter, Zyra keeping the ship in close and Mika feeding him targetting data, the gunner could hardly miss.  Azure fire engulfed the freighter and its systems went dead.

The transport vessel swooped in quickly and Grayrhynn prepared for docking with Freighter Two.

Eleven kilometres behind them, the freighter designated Freighter 4, roared back to life.

---

OOC: Freighter 2 is now disabled but freighter 4 is active.

Boarding teams, nearly time to do your thing.  Gray needs to dock and then it's go go go!

Updated co-ordinates:

* Mark & Flash O3
* Sheila D3
* Arin Z1
* Nightshrike Z8
* Freighter 2 - Z9 (stationary)
* Freighter 3 - Stationary in A2
* Freighter 4 - Stationary in D6 (engines powering up)
* Transport with Boarding Crew Z9 (preparing to dock with Freighter 2)

(Each square = 1 combat square or 500m)

---

Nightshrike status:
* Jamming - Freighter 2 only
* Ion cannon - Freighter 2 only
* Port turbolaser - Nil
* Starboard turbolaser - Freighter 2 only



Battle status

Nightshrike - 140/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 6/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - *Disabled*
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:55, Sat 17 Nov 2012.

Zyra allowed herself a sigh of relief as the last transport was disabled, but only a quick one.  The mission wasn't over.

"Mika, keep an eye on the long-range sensors, we don't know when trouble might come or what form it might take.  Keep an eye on the freighters as well.  We don't want them getting away."

She switched to comms.  "Eleven, cease jamming and get on the comms.  Listen to civilian and military traffic.  If trouble is coming, we need to hear it."

"One, this is Prime.  Phase one complete, phase two commencing."

She kept the Nightshrike near the Freighter, watching as Grayrhyyn prepared to dock.

"Five, I want freighter four disabled now.  Forget about your shields until it's done.  Two has destroyed it's weaponry."

"Acknowledged.  Freighter two still has comms - could one of the fighters take care of that, please?"  She shuts the jamming off and listens to comms frequencies, both civilian and any she can pick up from the local ships.  Freighter 2 might be disabled now but who's to say when they'll get their comms array working again?

"Strike Team Alpha, prepare to board." Addressing Grayrhynn he states, "Keep us docked until the entrance is cleared and the technical team is safely aboard.  When you disembark on the next freighter have one of the technical team take over piloting and send them back to our freighter for pick-up."

Grayrhynn nods at the Droid, and grunts in his language...a small acknowledgment.

"Affirmative", was the only thing, Arin sent as the response as he turned his fighter towards the last one of the freighters, now under its own power again. He trained his gunsights on to the ship andonce within the range of the light ion cannon, unleashed a salvo of ion energy at the freighter.

Devon is stood next to the docking bay, making one final check of his gear.  He gestures to team Alpha's shield droid to take position in front of the hatch and positions himself crouched behind the droid with his grenade launcher at the ready.
"we're ready, soon as you join us."  he calls to CC9.

"Acknowledged eleven.  Have six keep a lock on their comms array.  If you see evidence of them getting comms active, reinstitute jamming.  At that point six can disable them again.  Two and I will remain close to destroy weapons and comms if it proves necessary."

"Five, I suggest we give the CAP to two and three for now.  You need to watch Freighters 3 & 4 and I'll watch 2 with Prime.  As soon as Alpha takes Freighter two you can take over the CAP and Prime will watch the freighters.  What do you think?"

"Acknowledged, Lead", Arin said. He wasn't i  the best of moods now and kept transferring power to his fighter's shields while flying towards the last freighter.

The wookie scratched his shoulder, now alone in the pilot's seat. Though he was relieved that cc9 was gone, he had to admit his knowledge  in tactics was impressive. The wookie focused on the job at hand, shoring the ship to the freighter.

As an afterthought, Grayrhynn wished that the Droid had called in one of the tech team. The wookie whistled a single loud note, hoping someone would hear

Grayrhynn brings the transport in on CC9's orders and quickly achieves a seal.  The boarding team wastes no time in getting both hatches open.  No volley of blasterfire greets them.  In fact, the airlock seems deserted.

In space, Sheila paces the fleeing freighter whilst Arin slowly gains on it whilst pumping power into his shields.  He lets off an ion volley at extreme range but doesn't come close to hitting.

---

Arin is 5.5km from freighter 4 and closing.  Sheila is less than 1km from the freighter.

The transport has docked and the hatch is open.  Time for Alpha team to make their entrance.  So far no resistance has been offered.

---

Battle status

Nightshrike - 140/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 11/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - *Disabled*
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

CC9 moves forward, though remaining behind the shield droid, watching and waiting carefully.  Over the team comms he states, "Move up, secure the corridor, get the technical team inside and seal the airlock back up.  Remain on alert; resistance may be anywhere but is most likely at one or both bridges."

Once the entire team is inside (presuming the corridor remains unassailed) CC9 will contact the transport.  "Raider 8, the team is aboard.  Head to the next target."

And then he activates the airlock intercom.  Over the ship's channel he roars, "LISTEN WELL, ORGANIC PUS-BAGS!  You are boarded!  This freighter is now OURS!  You will lay down your arms and surrender unconditionally!  If you do, you will be spared and dropped by escape pod to the nearest inhabited settlement!  If you do not my team will EXTERMINATE every last organic maggot on this vessel!"

There is nothing calm or even about this.  CC9 sounds furious, enraged - unhinged.

Xil moves and takes CC9's vacated seat. "Nice job Eight. Now to pick our next target."

Getting the sensor data up Xil notes that freighters 3 & 4 are relatively close together. He gives Greyrhynn the co-ordinates of freighter 4 "These co-ordinates will lead us back to the other two freighters, we can choose which one to board when we get a bit closer depending on what they are doing."

There was no initial reaction to CC9's intercom announcement.  With most of the freighter's systems down it was possible nobody heard it.  Either that or they were hiding in fear somewhere.  Either way, Team Alpha moved through the airlock without incident and made their way into Deck 3's main storage area which was full of interconnected fuel tanks.  The area was dark, save the odd emergency light.  Making their way to the forward turbolift they found it had no power.


Having ensured Alpha team was safely offloaded, Xil wasted no time in ordering the hatch sealed and then Grayrhynn lifted off and flew towards the other two freighters.  He didn't set a specific course yet as Xil hadn't given him one.  CC9 had ordered them to hit Freighter 4 but Xil was considering his choices.

Arin meanwhile had hurtled towards the fleeing freighter 4, ion cannons blazing.  It took very few hits for the freighter to short out again.  The ex-Imperial took up a patrol between the two nearby freighters and focused on repairing his shields whilst keeping a close eye on the two freighters that were his charge.



Flash and Sheila meanwhile had taken to flying a combat patrol around the immediate area, watching for hostiles.

---

OOC:  A reminder the freighter Deck Plans can be found at http://deckplans.00sf.com/CEC/Action6.html
Alpha team is aboard but has encountered no hostiles yet.
Beta team is about equal distance between Freighters 3 & 4 and need to decide where to go
Arin is patrolling between Freighters 3 & 4 should he need to disable them again

Map Locations
* Nightshrike - Z7
* Mark - X4
* Arin - A7
* Sheila & Flash AD9
* Transport - N9

* Freighter 2 - Z8
* Freighter 3 - A2
* Freighter 4 - A13

---

Battle status

Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 20/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - *Disabled*
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:07, Thu 22 Nov 2012.

Arin grinned a little as the blue ion bolts struck the damaged freighter and killed its systems. The CO should be happy about quickly and efficiently performed task. He slowed his fighter in to a crawl and begun fixing the shields back to their maximum strength. There would be plenty work on the fighter once the mission was over - repairs and possibly some enhancements, should he be able to come up with the parts.

"Freighter four disabled again."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 05:33, Fri 23 Nov 2012.

"Acknowledged five.  Bravo team is enroute."

"Seven, get this turbolift working."  He and the shield droid assume defensive positions, guarding the lift as Devon works on it.  "Tech team, stay back in the corridor until we have the area secured."  He scans not only the surroundings but also the walls and ceiling, looking for security cameras.

Cor continues to scan channels, listening for comms chatter.  While she's ready to start jamming again there's not too much else she has to do.

"Lets head over to freighter 4 seeing as it has been disabled again" Xil said to Greyrhynn as he sends him the co-ordinates "it will also keep CC9 happy that we followed orders."

Using the comm "Five, Bravo is heading to freighter four, we'll be there shortly."

Devon examines the turbolift and then turns back to CC9.  He quickly explains that main power is down and they'll need to bring it back online before they can use the turbolifts.

Recalling the outlay of the transport, CC9 recalled that the only way to the reactor room on Deck 2 was by this very turbolift.  Which meant if the Imperials weren't already in there, they'd have to go through Alpha team to get to it.

The moment they were clear of freighter 4, Grayrhynn put all power to the engines and rocketed towards freighter 4.  He quickly brought the ship in and docked.  The seal wasn't as good this time, the hull was buckled in places, but it would suffice.

Onboard the Nightshrike there was little to do but wait.  Cor's comms were quiet and Mika could see nothing on sensors.  The fighter patrol had seen nothing so far either.

---

OOC:  A reminder the freighter Deck Plans can be found at http://deckplans.00sf.com/CEC/Action6.html

Alpha team needs to re-activate the main reactor which is deck 2 forward, right below the turbolift.  The turbolift car is several floors up so there's nothing stopping you climbing or rapelling down.

Bravo team, you've just docked with Freighter 4.


Map Locations
* Nightshrike - Z7
* Mark - X7
* Arin - B5
* Sheila & Flash AD9
* Transport - Docked with freighter 2

* Freighter 2 - Z8
* Freighter 3 - A2
* Freighter 4 - A13

---

Battle status

Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - *Disabled*
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:18, Sat 24 Nov 2012.

'There's probably already a repair crew down there...' murmured Devon as he worked on getting the lift door open.
'Plan A - we head down there and take out the repair crew... meaning this thing stays disabled till WE fix it.  But the repair crew might be able to warn the bridge if we don't KO them fast enough.'  He slid something resembling a prybar between the lift doors and heaved.

'Or... plan B - we head up to the bridge so that we're in position to take advantage once the power comes back on.  If we hit the bridge fast enough, they hopefully wont get any warning... but does leave a potential sabotage crew loose on engineering.'

Once the lift doors reluctantly slid open, Devon tossed his prybar jauntily in the air, caught it and returned it to his toolkit before risking a VERY quick glance up and down the lift shaft - hoping like hell that the first thing he saw was not hot laser death coming straight at him...

Seeing that the two boarding teams were swinging into action, Zyra engaged the Nightshrike's engines and began moving the ship to a position where the ion cannon could target all three freighters.

"Six, I'm moving to give you a vantage on all three freighters.  If Freighter three begins moving, open fire.  If Freighter two or four powers up we should check with the appropriate boarding team first to see if they want us to disable the ship."

"Five, I'm happy to take over freighter babysitting once I've repositioned."


OOC:  Moving to N15 so the ion cannon can cover all three freighters.  Nightshrike will need two rounds to reposition.

Mika keys up the sensors, trying to figure out the status of the boarding teams.

Once the transport had docked with the freighter Xil gets his team moving "Alright, lets go. Shield droid first, I'm second, Eight you next. The tech team will follow once we have made sure the airlock area is clear from hostiles."

He points to one of the tech team "You, once all the team has cleared the airlock, get the transport back to Alpha team."

He heads into the airlock behind the shield droid, blaster rifle raised and ready to fire.

Arin acknowledged both transmissions with a single-worded response. The mission had gone better so far than he had expected - no losses for them. The destruction of one of the freighters, on the other hand, had him worried. The last freighter was damaged badly enough, it wouldn't take much to blow it up as well. With the Shrike on its way, he could put a bit more distance between it and his fighter. Arin flew in to a position on the opposite side of the convoy from the Shrike and practically parked himself there. It would require someone making a hyperspace jump just there to catch them without a warning and even then, he'd have enough time to whip his fighter in to speed again.

Cor wonders to herself if she should rig in an audio system enhancement to allow her to play music on a separate channel to the Shrike-wide comms.  Theme music is grand.  Especially dramatic space combat theme music.

Or maybe hovering speaker-droids.  Hmmm...

CC9 calculates for a few seconds.  "New orders.  We will secure the reactor room.  The technical team will continue to work on the turbolift when they can, but we must secure the area first.  I do not want a single tech team casualty."  He jerks his head to the shield droid and leads his team to victory!  If the reactor room is clear he will leave Devon and the shield droid on guard to the reactor room entrance and do a quick solo reconnoitre of their end of the cargo hold.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:15, Tue 27 Nov 2012.

Alpha team quickly but carefully descends into the reactor room.  A quick search finds it totally devoid of any Imperials.  It would seem the Talons managed to board before a repair crew could reach this deck.  Deck 3 also appeared empty, for now.

Beta team boarded without incident and the transport uncoupled.  The team sealed the hatch then pressurised the airlock.  They moved to the other end of the airlock and found that the door wouldn't open.  One of the civilian techs pulled out a diagnostic kit and checked the controls.  Once he found the answer he turned to Xil.

"The other side is depressurised.  It's open to vacuum.  Guess that turbolaser hit has hulled her quite badly."

Nightshrike quickly changed it's position and it's new vantage point gave Rann a clear line of fire on the three freighters, leaving Arin free to move on with his other orders.

In the comms room, Cor caught something on an Imperial military frequency then lost it.  Then she found it again.  It was faint, clearly a long way off, but it was there.  Someone a long way off to port was speaking on an Imperial comm frequency.  It was faint and encrypted, but it was definitely Imperial.

---

OOC:

Alpha team has found the reactor room and Deck 3 devoid of enemies.

Beta team is stuck in the airlock.  The cargo area of Deck 3 is depressurised.


Map Locations
* Nightshrike - N15
* Mark - X7
* Arin - N1
* Sheila & Flash AD9
* Transport - G8

* Freighter 2 - Z8
* Freighter 3 - A2
* Freighter 4 - A13

---

Battle status

Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - *Disabled*
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

Cor perks up instantly.  Over Shrike comms she says, "Imperial transmission, approximately one thousand kilometres away, bearing approximately eighty seven, mark fifteen.  Messy and encrypted.  Attempting to clean it up and decrypt."  She works quickly and efficiently, getting A9's aid in reducing the static and decrypting what she can.

Zyra looked over to Mika, "Got anything?"

She switched over to Shrike comms.  "Keep listening, let us know if you get anything."

On Talon comms.  "One this is Prime.  We've got Imperial transmissions on a bearing of eighty seven mark fifteen, approximately 1000 kilometres.  Eleven is trying to get more information."

"Understood Prime, keep on it."

"Five, Two and I have the CAP, take three and investigate."

"Acknowledged, Lead", Arin replied, "Any orders on hostile encounter? Delay or tactical withdrawal?"

Crouching in cover somewhere he can get a clear shot at the turbolift doors with his grenade launcher, Devon directs the shield droid to similar cover - if any enemies come through the lift doors, he and the droid would be able to catch them in a crossfire.

Hefting his grenade launcher, Devon settled into wait for CC9 to complete his scout of the cargohold; and passed the time trying to out guess the defenders.  The lack of response so far was bugging him...

"Can't say without knowing more about what it might be Five.  Use your judgement."

Mika shakes her head, then with gritted teeth, "No, too much interference, hot gas leaks, maybe reactor leaks, I'm not sure."

"Three, form on my wing, tight formation. We got some scouting to do." Arin waited for Sheila to fly to him and set course towards the Imperial signals at best possible speeds. He planned to get within extreme sensor range to determine, what was there - if it was just a coincidence or was the convoy about to receive reinforcements. Of course, he needed to plan this in case there was enemy fighters present. He looked at the star charts to see if there was anything close by to mask their presence - a planetoid or asteroids, anything to keep them out of theenemy sensors for as long as possible.

Xil considered what the tech said about the cargo area. Recalling the design of the freighter he realised that if deck 3 was depressurised then it meant that all of the cargo area up to deck 5 was probably the same.

"Great" he muttered to himself "at least we all have life support capability." The fact that they all had life support at least meant that they could attempt to move forward with the mission.

He turns back to the tech "I don't suppose you can tell if the cargo area has stopped venting?

While waiting for an answer he considers options, if they can get into the cargo area in relative safety, then they could get to the turbolift on level 3 to access other levels.

Location: Freighter 2
After some consideration CC9 made his decision.  Given the decks were currently clear, CC9 moved the civilian team onto deck 2 to get the main reactor online.  While it was likely that the Imperials would eventually send repair crews, it was no more dangerous than leaving them in the airlock.  Besides at least here they could also aid CC9's team a little.  If they controlled the reactor, they controlled primary power.  They could then shunt power to or from certain areas.  It wouldn't allow fine-tune control like engineering or the bridge could offer but they could essentially 'pull the plug' on areas.

While the civilians began repairs, B2-CC9 gathered team Alpha on Deck 3 to issue his orders.

OOC:  There is no power yet but the repair crew will notify you when they have deionised the reactor.



Location: Freighter 4

After consultation with his civilian crew, Xil made his plan.  Everyone donned the helmets of their environmental suits and then they depressurised the airlock, then entered deck 3.

The deck was a shambles.  The team could see where the turbolaser blast had passed straight through the hull and smashed through several fuel tanks.  The hull breach had actually proved a blessing as it had robbed any potential fire of oxygen, else likely the entire ship would have gone up.  As it was a good third of the fuel tanks were ruptured.  Petrochem was frozen on the walls and floors.

Power was down to the entire deck.  Emergency force fields were in effect, sealing the breach to space, but without power and a repair crew, the deck could not be repressurised.  It also meant that emergency bulkheads would be sealed between this deck and the breach to protect other areas of the ship.


OOC:  You are in the deck 3 cargo area.  You have two choices to climb, the turbolift shaft or the cargo elevator.  There is also no gravity on this deck so climbing will not be hard, you could just 'jump' and float up to the top of deck 5 (I consider the cargo areas of decks 3-5 one open area.  would make it easier to install fuel tanks if it was one area other than 3.


Location: Space
Arin and Sheila reformed into their wingpair and flew off at maximum speed towards the signal contact.  The signal was still too far away for their sensors to pick up so they had to follow the vague sensor data Mika had.  She estimated the contact was still nearly 1000km from the Nightshrike.

Mika had to divert attention between short and long ranged sensors.  If she had not been watching local sensors she might have missed Freighter 3 repowering.  Sending targetting data to the ion turret, she watched as Rann quickly disabled the ship once more.  Then she returned to watching the distant contact as well as Arin and Sheila, who were now almost fifty kilometres from the Nightshrike.

The transport, following CC9's orders, had detached from Freighter 4 as soon as Xil's team was clear and were now hovering near Freighter 2, ready to redock at CC9's order.

---

OOC:
A minute passes!

Alpha team is on deck 3.  The civilian crew is in the reactor room.

Beta team is also on deck 3.  The entire cargo section is depressurised and devoid of atmosphere.

Arin and Sheila are 50km beyond the Nightshrike.  They don't have the sensor contact on their own sensors, just basic directional data from Mika and Cor (based on a mix of comm transmissions and faint sensor data the bigger ship is picking up.)

---

Battle status

Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - *Disabled*
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

"Prime, this is Five. Can you see if there is anything to mask our approach within sensor range of the Imps? I'd rather not fly straight in, if there are fighters present. Asteroid field or such would do." Arin hoped for something, anything. If there was TIEs present, there was no running away as TIEs were able catch them easily. The only way would be making sure, the TIEs never found them.

CC9 knows this isn't the ideal team size to be running this mission with.  He'd have preferred two teams of six.  Nonetheless two teams of three is what he had to work with, and as the second team was on an altogether different freighter he only had to concern himself with Devon and the shield droid.

"Decks two and three clear," he confirms.  "We will guard the tech team until they have the reactor running, and then we will strike upward to secure the engineering bridge."  As they get moving back toward the tech team CC9 says to Devon, "Explain what systems can and cannot be controlled from the engineering bridge."

Grayrhynn looks at the damage with a little concern in his eyes. He looked at the frozen petrochem on the walls. Given oxygen and a spark, and this ship would easily blow like the other one.

He looked at xil, and pointed up and made a jumping motion with two fingers.

<ooc: sorry for the absence. back now>

Freighter 2
By the time Devon had finished explaining the various capabilities of the reactor, engineering and bridge to CC9 the reactor had been deionised.  Nearly at once, lights began to come back on and the turbolift engaged.  Quickly it came down to deck 3 as Devon had already wired it to do so.

The civilian crew rejoined Team Alpha near the turbolift whilst on their comms, the transport ship reported they were hovering near Freighter 4 and what were their orders.



Freighter 4
Grayrhynn and some of the crew floated up to the ceiling to examine their options.  Both the forward and aft turbolifts lacked power.  When they pried each one open they saw that bulkheads had closed in the shafts between decks 5 & 6, a common safety measure to keep the rest of the ship pressurised.

Down on Deck 3, Xil got on the comm and reported to Mark and CC9.  He cited the damaged sustained by the freighter with a request for instructions as to wether he should still capture the ship or move on to Freighter 3 instead.


Nightshrike
On board the Nightshrike, Zyra who was watching short range sensors, noted that Freighter 2 had restored it's power but hadn't begun to move yet.  Cor continued to monitor communications channels but had heard nothing else.  Mika continued her long-range sweeps.  So far she couldn't make any more info out on the distant contact, other than it's rough position and that it was closing on them.  She picked up a few other signals, but nothing close or clear enough to act upon.



Space
Arin and Sheila continued to fly at Arin's maximum speed towards the unknown contact.  The fighters had already flown a good fifty kilometres from the Nightshrike but the unknown contact was a still a good nine hundred kilometres distant.

---

OOC:  Xil has requested I NPC him for a little while so Gray needs to pick up some of the leadership duty for team Bravo.

Unfortunately without some good computer use rolls, Mika and Cor wont get much more until the unknown contact closes/

---

Battle status

Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - Shields down, no hull damage
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

CC9 opens the Talons comm channel.  "Prime, this freighter has been powered up.  Do not disable.  Repeat: do not disable.  Four, use your judgement."

Then he closes the channel and states, "We will take the turbolift up to the engineering bridge and secure it.  Tech team, remain here until called."

Cor continues trying to clear up and enhance the small snippet of transmission she secured before the signal faded.

"Your call four." Mark said, echoing CC9's statement.  "Just remember that even a damaged freighter is valuable to us, provided she can withstand a trip through hyperspace.  If she can't be patched up enough to survive a jump, she's no good to us."

Mark tapped his console nervously.  This is the part he hated, the waiting, all power out of his hands.  His boarding teams were on the freighters and he had Five chasing an unknown quantity.  He wished he could be everywhere; on the freighters with the boarding teams, commanding the Nightshrike, in Arin's wing, chasing the sensor anomoly.  But he had to trust in his people.  They were Talons after all.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:34, Sat 08 Dec 2012.

"Prime, this is Five. Come in, Prime." Arin's message about potential spatial bodies to mask his approach had probably been missed the first time. "Any asteroid fields or such in the vicinity of my target?"

Devon nods, and checks over his grenade launcher for the umpteenth time since they boarded the freighter.  The continued lack of resistance was worrying him...

'Maybe I can disable the lift so that once we move away from it, they cant send it back down here?' he asks as the little strike team prepared to move out.

Assuming Mika was distracted with the unknown target, Zyra flipped over to mid-range sensors to undertake Arin's request.

"Five, I can't see anything like that on sensors but that doesn't mean you might not find something.  One thing I can tell is that at current speeds, by the time you close with the target you will be out of the gravity well radius, or at least very close.  If the threat proves to be too much you should be able to use your hyperdrive to escape."

Freighter 2
Alpha team clambers into the turbolift and heads up.  As they go, Devon works to ensure only the front doors would open as the riot shield will only cover one entrance.

Quickly the lift rises and reaches deck 6.  The forward doors open and the team is greeted by a laser blast that bounces neatly off Alpha's riot shield.  Beyond they can see a lone stormtrooper shooting at them.  Behind the trooper several Imperial Navy personnel are working on the engineering bridge.  CC9 thinks there is three but it's hard to make out at this time.


Freighter 4
The civilian crew checking the hatches inform Gray and Xil that it shouldn't be a problem to open one if they want to head up the shaft.  Once through they'd need to seal the hatch behind them to prevent the ship depressuring.

One of the crew who had been examining deck 3 pointed out a corpse in Imperial Navy uniform who'd been lodged under a storage tank.  He must have got trapped there when the ship depressurised else he would have been sucked into space.



Nightshrike
Things seemed to move in slow motion on the Nightshrike.  With nothing to do but wait, watch and listen.  It seemed surprising that there was no other traffic in sensor range but it was possible that if the convoy had got a distress call out then civilian traffic was avoiding the area.  Mika watched as the unknown contact closed.  She estimated it was approximately 900km from the Nightshrike but closer to 800km from Arin and Sheila and closing.

They watched as Freighter 2 got it's engines active again and began to move.  Worse yet its turret began to swivel towards the Nightshrike.  The cruiser held fire though, based on CC9's instructions.



Space
Arin and Sheila continued to fly at Arin's maximum speed towards the unknown contact.  As the range increased, comms began to get shaky.  The Talon comms stopped recieving messages as they moved out of range.  Now they would be solely reliant on ship comms which were not as well encrypted and more susceptible to jamming.

---

Battle status

Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - Shields down, no hull damage
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:26, Sat 08 Dec 2012.

Xil looked around the damaged freighter trying to determine if it was worth continuing or whether they should go to freighter 3.

They still had about two thirds of the fuel and while it had emergency force fields in place, with shields operational again he hoped that it would survive a trip using the hyper-drive.

He looked up to the direction the Grayrhynn had gone an then jumped up letting the lack of gravity work in his favour "Eight report" he said over the groups comm.

OOC: Am back at home, no more dodgy rural wireless internet to deal with and don't have to be on the road for work again until Feb next year

"Acknowledged, Prime", Arin said in to the comms. "Three, we will keep radio silence from now on. Passive sensors only and any emissions we can kill, take them offline. Keep an eye out for anything we can hide behind."

It was like sticking your head in to rancor's cave and asking it if it was at home. He kept watching the passive sensors as well as looking for any hint of an asteroid field or anything to keep the imperials from seeing him. It would not be easy, but then again, of it was, it whould be no challenge.

'Shazbot!' snarled Devon as the troopers shot bounced off the shield, making him flinch.  'Gimmie cover' he told the two droids.

Waiting a beat for CC9 to lay down some fire, Devon aims his grenade launcher round the edge of the shield and fires a concussion grenade at the group of imperial engineers.

If they go down, Devon thinks to himself, I'll switch to the rifle to help with the mop up.  If not... another grenade.  Hey kid, you just fired on Imperial personnel for the first time - your officially a terrorist now.

"No," CC9 puts his hand out as soon as Devon reaches for his grenade launcher, "no grenades near the equipment.  We don't need more damage.  Focus fire on the trooper and try not to hit the navy.  Shield, forward."  CC9 advances behind the shield droid, firing shots at the stormtrooper.  They've trained for this.  No point going overboard with the ammunition just because it's suddenly real.

Gray looked at Exilim and shrugged, indicating the holes in the hull.  He cracked his neck, and then pushed his hand so it was nearly against the hull, with the other a thumbs up.  He pulled it away, and with his other hand, made a fist and opened it up, hoping he'd get the general idea.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:11, Sun 09 Dec 2012.

Xil looked at Grayrhynn and wished that he had his translation droid with him, it would get a little tiring to have to play charades all the time.

He took another look around when the Imperial navy uniform was pointed out and realised that while decks 3-5 could be technically cleared due to been depressurised, there were sections of deck 2 that needed to be checked. It was a serious error on his part, he had let the situation in the cargo area distract him.

"All beta and civilian team members to the fore turbo lift level 3" he said over the comm. He considered his options as they gathered "We need to clear deck 2 before moving on, we might even be able to get some power back. All civilian team members are to wait here until called. Keep an eye out for trouble."

He directs Grayrhynn and the shield droid to pry open the turbo lift shaft doors while he positions himself to provide cover fire if needed. Once the door is open and the shaft has been cleared the raid team will climb down the shaft to level 2. He will position the shield droid to cover the fore door which is the one they will force open. If no Imperial resistance is met they will fan out to clear level 2 from front to back. If they meet resistance, they will deal with it.

<PM>

Freighter 2
Following CC9's command, Devon quickly slings his launcher and pulls his rifle to his shoulder.  The B1 droid is already moving forward, CC9 close behind.

It proves awkward in the narrow confines to shoot around the shield but it also means the stormtrooper has very limited room to move.  In under 10 seconds the trooper is riddled with blaster holes and the shield droid steps over him into the room, Devon and CC9 flanking.

The three naval engineers were caught unaware.  Focused on their repairs, only one had even got a hand to his sidearm and had only half drawn it by the time Alpha team had their blasters trained on them.  Two of the personnel looked to the third, the one who had got his blaster partly drawn.  CC9 noted this man had a rank insignia of chief petty officer.

The petty officer slowly let go of his weapon then raised his hands.  His two fellow engineers quickly followed suit.



Freighter 4
Beta team quickly reassembled at the forward turbolift and checked the seals.  The turbolift shaft had sealed the lower decks just like the upper ones.  It took only a few moments to get the bulkheads open.  There was no sudden rush of air which suggested Deck 2 was also depressurised.


Nightshrike
Seeing the freighter aiming weapons, Zyra quickly checked their shields were charged.  When Cor called from the comms room indicating the freighter was making a distress call, she put the engines to full and closed with the freighter as fast as she could.  Shots from the turret began striking the Nightshrike's shields, the shots becoming more accurate as the cruiser closed to jamming range.



Space
Not wanting to give away their presence, Arin and Sheila continued to close using passive sensors, totally relying on the Nightshrike for sensor data.  With little else to do, Arin began computing the closing speed of the unknown contact based on the data he'd received from the Nightshrike.  He concluded the sensor contact was going far too fast to be a star destroyer, at least 150-200% above its rated top speed.  This lent more credence to his theory of TIE fighters, but why would TIE's be operation so far away from a support ship?  Or was the ISD also running silent?  It wasn't typical Imperial Navy doctrine.  Star Destroyers were meant to inspire fear by their mere presence.

Arin noticed he'd lost his sensor updated from the Nightshrike suddenly.  Still, at such long range from the sensor contact he just headed in the same general direction.

---

OOC:  Only a few rounds as Alpha team VERY quickly overpowered the engineering team and captured engineering.  CC9 & Devon now have 3 surrended navy personnel (2 privates, one chief petty officer).  All have blasters in holsters on their belt.  The stormtrooper is quite dead!

Beta team you have the hatch open leading down to deck 2.  The deck is depressurised.

Nightshrike, you can see that Freighter 2 has reactivated comms, weapons and engines.  Mika, I'm assuming you've switched to short range sensors to scan Freighter 2 rather than continuing your long range scans of the unknown target.  The Nightshrike has closed to jamming range.

Arin, with so few rounds, there's not much to update.  Your mystery target is slowly becoming clearer.  He guessed it's distance at somewere between 750-800km away from the wingpair (so a little over 900km from the Nightshrike).

---

Battle status

Nightshrike - 140/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - Shields down, no hull damage
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:26, Fri 14 Dec 2012.

Zyra kept the ship close enough to the Freighter to allow for jamming.  She didn't like leaving the other freighters uncovered but at least they had no comms.

On the intercom she said "Mika, keep track of all the freighters.  We need to know if the others try to run.  Cor, jam them as soon as you can.  A9, divert power to the shields."

She then got on the Talon comm.  "Alpha this is Prime.  Freighter 2 is active and firing on us.  We will need to disable her soon.  Please advise."

"You have calculated... wisely," CC9 states flatly as the officer eases his hand away from his weapon.  "Seven, shield, remove their weapons and restrain them.  Shield will then guard the door, seven will then disable the ship's guns and comm array."  As they do that the battle droid speaks over Talon comms.  "Prime, this is Alpha.  Engineering secured, guns will soon be silenced." Having established that he stands squarely in front of the petty officer.

"Officer, this is the situation.  Your vessel has been captured; the particulars are simple.  If you co-operate you will be spared and ejected in escape pods toward the closest city.  If you stall for time, disobey, hesitate, resist or lie - even once - your crew will be exterminated one by one until you start co-operating.  Give me your name and rank, as well as the number and last known position of all crew, including stormtroopers, droids and any other combatants."

Arin considered things for a moment. Then he activated his personal comlink, as it had short enough range not to carry over to the unknown Imperial craft, but through it he would be able to raise Sheila.

"Three, this is Five. I don't know if you are reading the same things I am on the sensors, but we might have fighters inbound. We drop all power to minimum once we are at the estimated sensor range. This thing, whatever it is, doesn't look like an ISD. We will keep our forward velocity, once we kill the engines. That way we will give as small a signature as possible. Let's just hope, that'll be enough. Let's set up coordinates for a hyperspace jump to a safe location in advance. If we run in to trouble, we are going to hightail out of there, unless they have an interdictor present."

The plan was not an indication of cowardice but a clear indication of tactical thinking.

Letting his rifle dangle from its sling, Devon drew his pistol so he could still menace the Imperials whilst having a hand free to disarm them.
'Hands on your head, face the wall.' he snapped at them.  'You heard the droid - disobey and get shot.  Even if you think I might be bluffing, the droid ain't. Battledroids ain't programmed for mercy.' 
Devon was under no illusions as to who was more intimidating: himself or CC9, but the fearsome reputation battledroids enjoyed was something they could use...

Once the Imperials had obeyed; Devon helped himself to their weapons, passing the confiscated items back to Shield.  With all their guns safely in his allies hands, Devon holstered his pistol again and quickly frisked all three - confiscating communication devices and anything that could be used as a weapon.  All of this loot got dumped in a pile next to CC9.

That done, he quickly locked all three into binder cuffs - their hands behind their backs.
'Kneel!' he growled at them.  'Face the wall and kneel!  If you turn away from the wall or attempt to stand, the droid will shoot you.'
 He shoved the officer roughly down to emphasis things.

That done, Devon dropped his cold-as-space pirate persona long enough to grin and wink silently at CC9 before hurrying over to the engineering controls.
'Comms first, then guns.'he mumbled quietly as he got to work. 'Sooner we kill any distress calls, the better.'

Mika nods, making sure the freighters are all under the watchful eye of the 'Shrike sensors.

07:31, Today: Mika Trake rolled 28 using 1d20+13. Computer Use - Sensor Operator.

The chief petty officer faced the wall as he'd been instructed while he spoke.

"Darillian.  Chief Petty Officer.  Service Number En-Ee-See-One-One-Five-Six-Eight-Seven-Nine-Three."
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:04, Thu 13 Dec 2012.

"Chief Petty Officer, when I give you an order you are to obey it."  CC9 doesn't bother raising his voice.  "Numbers and locations on all crew and combatants aboard this ship.  Now."

"Darillian.  Chief Petty Officer.  Service Number En-Ee-See-One-One-Five-Six-Eight-Seven-Nine-Three." The chief says to the wall, his tone unchanged.

"You could have gone home," CC9 remarks.  "You could have seen your family."

He raises his blaster rifle and presses the muzzle of it into the back of Darillian's neck.  Then he pulls the trigger; his rifle is not on stun.  When the man's body falls he states, "Shield, retrieve those restraints and move the corpse into the port fore locker room.  Prisoners, march.  Out."

The droid takes them to the starboard fore locker room, quite some way from the resting place of the chief petty officer.  Once there he orders them to sit and leans over one of them (chosen entirely at random).  He stays there for a few seconds, observing the human.

"I do not negotiate.  I do not torture.  I do not hesitate.  You are not heroes.  You are prisoners, and the only thing that prevents you from becoming corpses is your co-operation.  I want numbers of people aboard this ship and their last known locations.  You will tell me now."

The effect of the single blaster shot was incredibly effective.  Blood squirted from the chief's carotid arteries and sprayed the wall in a grisly mosaic of the man's lifeblood.  The chief slumped to the ground.

Beside him, the shot also had interesting effects.  One private turned white as stormtrooper armour and stared blankly, clearly in disbelief.  The second leaned forward and vomited all over his own knees.

When the pair were marched out by B2, they offered no resistance, the pale one assisting his fellow crewer who was still dry retching.

When questioned the pale one stammers  "Ei. . .ei. . .eight crew.  Thr. . .thr. . .thr. . .three troopers.  Only m. . .m. . .maintenance droids.  The others are on the bridge I think."

He cowers at his last sentence, clearly expecting a blaster bolt.  Beside him, his colleague keeps retching.

While this happened, Devon was left in engineering by himself.  Everything had happened so quickly he'd barely had a chance to react.  It seemed so surreal,  though the body on the ground combined with the blood splatter mixed with other body matter on the wall ensured the shipjacker did not think he was dreaming.  As he watched, the B1 droid dragged the corpse from the room, leaving a blood trail as he dragged.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:28, Thu 13 Dec 2012.

CC9 holsters his rifle.  "Do those counts include those of you that we found in the engineering bridge?  Yourselves, the storm trooper and the late chief petty officer?"

The private nods.  "Y. . .yes sir."

"Good.  You have done well, private.  If you continue to do so I will see to it personally that you remain unharmed."  He leaves the room, locks it and returns to the engineering bridge, drawing his weapon as he goes.

Now that the dead Imperial is now no longer there, CC9 collects one of the Imperial commlinks (if there's one present).
This message was last edited by the player at 04:30, Thu 13 Dec 2012.

Xil frowned when level 2 failed to give a reassuring rush of air. If there was extensive damage to this level, it could include the reactor which would be a real problem for the team.

He leads the team beta down and once again gets Grayrhynn and the shield droid to pry open the doors while he provides cover. If no resistance is encountered they will check that it is safe enough for the civilian crew to check the reactor for damage.

Mika is unsure how best to respond.  Between trying to keep an eye on the local issues, making sure the freighters stay disabled until captured, and the distant issues, she isn't handling either task very well.

Listening to the comm chatter, she decides that the local issues are well in hand.  Even if the bad guys got something powered up, sure the 'Shrike was more than a match for a partially functional freighter.  Then, Zyra's order to keep her focus on the freighters.  Well, she doesn't agree but she's accepting of Zyra's being in charge.

"Okay, but I think what's coming in is more potentially a problem than a few semi-functional freighters."

09:43, Today: Mika Trake rolled 21 using 1d20+13. Sensors.

Grayrhynn notices the lack of air and pressure, indicating that it was also like this level.  The wookie looked at Exilim and shakes his head.

He has a scan of the area, looking for any signs of movement or life, and if all clear, will indicate to exilim.

Grayrhynn rolled 17 using 1d20+5. Spot check.

Zyra shrugged.  "Whatever you think best.  Just be sure to warn me if any freighter powers up.  We need to keep them docile so CC9 can capture them all before that unknown anomoly shows itself.  What's the range to the anomoly and its ETA by the way?"

Devon stood frozen, hands poised over the controls as the droid dragged the body out; and then CC9 marched the prisoners out.

Alone once more he stared at the bloody mess on the wall for a moment, shook his head and muttered  'Damn...' before hurriedly cutting all power to the freighters comms and weapons.  As an afterthought, he also shutdown its shields and engines.

So now they know that we control engineering - they know that to get out of this they have to retake this deck.  Damnit, he coulda gone home - you TOLD them B2s ain't programmed for mercy, why the hell are you surprised at this?

Devon sighed - he'd never liked killing if it could be avoided, he'd hoped making the point about battledroid programming would get the Imperials to cooperate - and padded across to the turbolift, tools in hand.  He triggered his commlink as he worked.

'Alpha Seven to Prime: Guns, comms, engines and shields disabled.  You're welcome.'  despite recent events, Devons sense of humor came to the fore again and he added:
'Tell my fiancee she can thank me later.'
Others might call his clowning and bad jokes a coping mechanism, but Devon had never really thought about it himself.

Wondering idly about what response his last comment might provoke from the crew on the Shrike, Devon got to work on locking down the turbolift - no-one was getting into or out of engineering without HIS say so.

Didn't want those other storm troopers dropping in for a surprise visit, after all.

"Alpha, this is one.  If you have control of the freighter then move it over to the other freighters and then move on to the next one.  Prime, begin preparing primary and secondary evacuation co-ordinates."

Freighter 2
The remaining engineering crew offered absolutely no resistance as the battle droid interrogated them then locked them in a small side room.  They'd been fearful of the droid before he killed their superior, now they were terrified.

Devon had worked quickly since the execution, wether due to the mission urgency or to distract him from CC9's act was anyone's guess.  Either way, in less than a minute he'd cut power to weapons, communications, sheilds and engines.  Whilst they didn't yet hold the bridge, the fact they held engineering meant the essentially controlled the ship.




Freighter 4

Xil stood cover while Grayrhynn pulled the hatch aside.  The big wookie had shunned help from the battle droid out of sheer wookie pride.  The hatch had opened silently and effortlessly.  Beyond there was only faint light from the emergency lamps.

Beta team cautiously moved in and moved towards the reactor.  As they closed they saw moving lights ahead, causing them to slow down and move with caution.  It was difficult to keep the shield in front in zero gravity but they did the best they could.

When the reached the reactor room, they saw two men in Imperial issue environmental suits working on the reactor.  The engineers were so absorbed in their work, they hadn't noticed the intruders. . .yet.




Space
Devon's comm that the ship's systems were powered down came not long after the turret ceased firing so the Nightshrike crew already had a good idea of the situation.  The capital ship's shields had weathered the assault and A9 was quickly getting the shields back to full strength.

Zyra set the Nightshrike in motion again.  Since Alpha team now had control of Freighter 2, there was no need to keep it under the ion cannons.  The ship moved to cover freighters 3 & 4 once more.  The timing worked well as Freighter 3 managed to power up it's engines once more but a quick volley from Rann disabled the freighter once more.

---

OOC: So Devon has reported that Alpha team is in control of Freighter 2's key systems so the Nightshrike has moved to cover the other two.

Alpha team has engineering but most of the crew is unaccounted for.  Zyra has instructed you to move Freighter 2 into proximity with 3 & 4.

Beta team has found engineers in the reactor room (which is in vacuum, hence the space suits)

Arin and Sheila are still closing with the sensor contact.

Mark has given instructions to the nightshrike to start preparing exit vectors.

Haven't given position updates for a while as the freighters haven't moved but figured it was time.

Nightshrike: G5
Freighter 2: Z9
Freighter 3: A2
Freighter 4: A12

Mark/Flash: Patrolling Immediate Area

Arin/Sheila: 200km from Nightshrike
Unknown contact: ~850km from Nightshrike (~650km from Arin/Sheila)

---

Battle status

Nightshrike - 149/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - Engines, Weapons, Comms, Shields offline.  No hull damage
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed
This message was last updated by the GM at 04:08, Sun 16 Dec 2012.

"Engineering team Alpha, take the turbolift up and report to the engineering bridge.  it is secure."  He nods to the other two.  "We will guard the turbolift on this level and then lock the engineers in the engineering bridge so that they remain unmolested."  Back on the Talon comm he states, "Alpha team reporting.  Engineering captured, proceeding to main bridge.  One trooper and one Imperial officer dead, no friendly casualties.  I will report again when the bridge is taken."

With that he moves out with the others to guard the engineers as they come up the lift.

Xil stops the shield droid and Grayrhynn, he looks around, scanning the area for other potential hostiles or weapons.

If he sees no further threats, he will position himself using the droid as partial cover and a way of securing himself from the vacuum's effects and sets his blaster rifle to stun while indicating for Grayrhynn to keep his set to kill.

He then takes a moment to line up the first target, shoots and will then move to the next target if able.

Arin kept on flying in a tight formation with Sheila and tracking something to mask his approach. There was not much to say for now.

Grayrhynn, seeing the movement, kicked into action out of sheer instinct.  he knelt, aiming at the movement.

With the indication from Exilim, the wookie nods, and keps his aim on the other engineer, when he had an idea.  before exilim coulld fire, he holds up his hand. He points to exilim and holds hi hand up.  thn to himself, he indicates with his hands in a walking motion, and a headlock.  he looks at himn with raised  eyebrows in question.

Freighter 2
Alpha team waited until the engineering team was secured and then headed on their way up.  With Devon in control of the turbolifts they quickly rose to Deck 8.  The moments the doors opened they were greeted by a volley of blasterfire from the aft end.  Two stormtroopers had taken up defensive position by the aftmost blast door and were laying down fire.

In engineering, the civilians began to get the ship moving in the direction requested.  It was harder and less precise than working from the bridge, but they managed to get the freighter turned and moving.

Following close behind the freighter, the transport shift with the last team of civilians awaited orders from CC9.


Freighter 4

Xil considered Gray's plan for a moment then shook his head, preferring to stay with his own plan.  Calmly and efficiently he closed in and stunned the first engineer who didn't even realise there were intruders.  The second one had time to turn and begin to raise his arms before Xil calmly stunned him too.

The pair of engineers floated in circles, victims to the lack of gravity.  Fortunately the stun blasts didn't effect their space suits.  Both seemed to be okay.




Space
Mika continued to work on the long range sensors and finally her perseverance paid off, as a blip finally coalesced on her screen.  It was too far out for an identification but whatever it was, it was approximately 125 metres in length and seemed to be approaching at around 3600km/hr.  Range to Nightshrike was now just under 800km on an intercept course.  Current rate of closure should have it reaching the Nightshrike in a little under 15 minutes.

In comms, Cor picked up another transmission coming from the unknown contact, though this time the transmission was clearer.  It was coming in on an Imperial military frequency and was encrypted.

---

OOC: Alpha team has found their last two stormies!  CC9's group is near the forward turbolift on deck 8, the stormies at the aft end.  Civilians are locked in engineering and have the freighter underway.

Beta team is in the reactor room with 2 stunned engineers.  The civilian crew is on deck 3 in the cargo area.

Mika has detected the enemy on sensors.  Problem is that this means the enemy contact will probably pick up the Talons soon if they haven't already (though it is unlikely)

Arin/Sheila are running passively so haven't seen what the Nightshrike has.



Nightshrike: G5
Freighter 2: T7
Freighter 3: A2
Freighter 4: A12

Mark/Flash: Patrolling Immediate Area
Transport: Following Freighter 2
Arin/Sheila: 270km from Nightshrike
Unknown contact: 800km from Nightshrike (530km from Arin/Sheila)

---

Battle status
Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - Engines, Weapons, Comms, Shields offline.  No hull damage
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

With the two engineers momentarily stunned Xil moves forward as quickly as possible. "Eight get the second target restrained asap, we only have a few moments" he says on the comm as he moves towards the first engineer. As he moves he keeps an eye out for any surprises.

Once the engineers are restrained he calls the tech team down to the reactor room and gets them to assess the damage.

Arin knew he was flying blind. With no sensory feed from the Nightshrike, he only had a bearring, nothing else. "Three, I'm going to fire one sensor ping and see if the target is still there. Then we'll reroute ourselves, if needed", he said in to his personal comlink and activated the sensors for one single ping only. Hopefully, whoever was at the electronic warfare station, was asleep.

The wookie nods, and quicky moves to the second engineer and restrained him. While he done this, he kept his eyes and ears open for movement or sounds.

Once that is done, the wookie scopes out the exits.

"Shield, forward!"  CC9 points at the stormtroopers.  "Let's take them down!"

He advances just behind the shield droid, with the intent of Devon bringing up the rear; if the shield droid went down he wanted to be able to shield Devon from the worst of the fire as long as possible.  It was the tactically sensible thing to do; droids are easier to fix than flimsy organics.  Picking the stormtrooper on the left he began taking precise shots, aiming to take the soldier out as quickly as possible.  He makes no mandates about grenades; Devon would use them or not as he saw fit.  There were no important panels around here and the hull should resist concussion grenades.

Unwilling to blind the 'Shrike by using search or focus modes on the sensors, Mika keeps them on scan, trying to glean whatever useful information she can.

"I don't have much on the contact.  I'm guessing, but call it about 125 meters long and inbound pretty damn fast, maybe 15 minutes to reach us.  We might want to prep to take out freighter 3 if the boarding parties don't get a move on."

07:56, Today: Mika Trake rolled 24 using 1d20+13. Sensors.

"Good work Ten, keep everyone updated."

"Alpha, Beta, you heard her.  That means you've got less than ten minutes to secure those hulks and get them moving.  I'd say less than five if you hope to take the third ship.  Quite frankly I'd like a matched set.  Get to it, out."

Devons voice came over the comlink, distorted by the sounds of blaster fire.
'Yeah, no pressure then.'

His comment was punctuated by the distinctive (even when distorted by a comlink) thump of a grenade launcher firing.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:21, Wed 19 Dec 2012.

Xil replies over the Talons comm "This is Beta Four on freighter 4, level two has been hit and is a vacuum, assessing reactor damage and chance of getting it back online now."

He will push the tech team to give him a report asap on the likelihood of getting the reactor working.

Freighter 2
Alpha team quickly fell into formation, just as they had practiced it.  The B1 droid brought up it's shield and began moving forward.  CC9 fell in directly behind with Devon bringing up the rear.

The shipjacker calmly loaded and fired a concussion grenade, aiming it perfectly to land between the two stormtroopers.  One was knocked clean off his feet by the blast, the other managed to hold his ground.  This was not a good thing however as CC9 calmly fired a blaster bolt that was near perfect, the only reason the shot was not fatal was a testament to the armour the stormtrooper wore.  However the trooper did not have time to think of this as Devon who had quickly swapped to his rifle, fired a shot that finished what CC9 had started.

The second trooper never had a chance as CC9 and Devon put several shots into him as they advanced, killing him before he ever regained his weapon.

By the time the reached the aft end of Deck 8 there was nothing to greet them but an empty turbolift shaft and two smoking corpses.


Freighter 4

The civilian engineers arrived and quickly assessed the reactor.  Finally their leader came over to Xil.

"Reactors almost repaired.  Those guys nearly had it done when you shot them.  Only a minute or two more work."


Space
Freighter 2 slowly and clumsily moved until it was floating less than a kilometre from Freighter 3.  It meant that if Alpha team finished in time they could quickly fly over to the final freighter and board her.

The approaching blip now was firmly appearing on Mika's sensor sweeps now it was less than 750km away.  It was approaching swiftly and surely on an intercept course with the convoy.  Time to intercept at present speed - 12 minutes.

Closer to the ship, Arin did a quick sensor ping and located the same target on his sensors.  Their pursuit course was off by less than 10 degrees.  Mika's educated guess had been right on the money.  At current rate of closure they'd be in weapons range of the contact in approximately three minutes.

---

OOC: I want to thank everyone for their very timely posting.  Had all the posts in under 2 days.  Excellent work!

Well Alpha team (hopefully) only has one more area to clear, the bridge.  If the engineer was telling the truth, you have 5 more crew to deal with and no stormtroopers.

Beta team, you have two prisoners and a reactor that needs a few minutes work to repair.

Arin/Sheila, at present speed you will make contact with the contact in 3 minutes.  The same contact is still 10 minutes from the freighters.




Nightshrike: G5
Freighter 2: A4
Freighter 3: A2
Freighter 4: A12

Mark/Flash: Patrolling Immediate Area
Transport: Following Freighter 2
Arin/Sheila: 340km from Nightshrike
Unknown contact: 740km from Nightshrike (400km from Arin/Sheila)

---

Battle status
Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - Engines, Weapons, Comms, Shields offline.  No hull damage
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

Arin made a quick calculation to establish an intercept point with the contact based on its vector he had acquired from his scan. "Three, we'll make a slight alteration to the course. One burst with the engines, then we go back to flying dark", he said on the personal comlink. A peek in and he'd make future tactical decissions based on that.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:15, Sun 23 Dec 2012.

"Excellent" replied to the engineering leader "get it back online and be ready to move to the next location, we're on a tight timeline."

He looks around at the gathered tech staff and selects one that has been helping open the bulk heads "Your with us, raid team, double time to level 5 fore turbolift. We have to secure engineering and the bridge. Lets move."

Xil will lead the team out and back to level 5. They will have to breach a few bulk heads which would delay them a little, but there was not much that could be done at this stage about that.

They will do a quick sweep of deck 6 as they pass through to engineering on deck 7.

CC9 activates the Imperial comms (switching it to only reach the current freighter, if he can; if not then ehh).  "Imperial navy, this vessel is ours.  Three stormtroopers and one chief petty officer lay dead.  You have one opportunity to survive: lay down your weapons and communicate.  Anyone firing on the boarding team will be shot without mercy; anyone surrendering unconditionally will not be harmed, and will be released.  This is not a negotiation: it is a statement of fact.  You will receive no assurances.  You surrender and live, or you fight and die.  Those are your options."

Turning the comm unit off he then turns to Devon.  "Shield and I will travel up first.  If we are deactivated you are to secure this vessel by any means necessary or detonate it if it cannot be secured.  In the latter case I suggest you evacuate yourself, the tech team and the detained engineers first."

He enters the turbolift, directing the shield droid to move in to cover him.  This is the single most dangerous moment in the boarding action.

The wookie nods at Exilim's orders and brings up the rear guard to the lifts and back to levelo five, his eyes and ears open

'One moment...' said Devon - he quickly reloaded his grenade launcher and offered it to the super battle droid.
'Your gonna need this, its loaded with the gas ones now.'

Once CC9 took the launcher, Devon fiddled with the lift controls for a moment.
'Should take you straight up without them being able to over ride...'

Stepping back and hefting his blaster rifle, Devon looked up at CC9s impassive metallic face.  'If I dont hear from you, I'll wait one minute after you go up and then bring the lift back down, so I'm ready.  If I still haven't heard from one of you 60 seconds after that... then i'll go to plan B.  Good luck...'

That said, Devon hunkered down in cover, to begin what would be - one way or the other - the most nerve wracking two minutes of his day so far.

CC9 refuses the grenade launcher.  "Retain the weapon.  Should we be rendered inoperable and the enemy comes down in force you will have need of it.  Fire a grenade into the lift and retreat if need be."  When Devon wishes him luck, the droid nods after a pause.  "We will not need luck.  We are better than them."

There's a slightly awkward pause, as if the droid is aware that this is the point where one shows comraderie, but isn't certain how.

"Stay functional," he says at last, and gestures for Devon to send them up/

Devon grinned, partially in surprise that CC9 could communicate a concept like camaraderie, and thumbed the button to send the turbo lift on its way.

"You too."  he told the droid as the doors closed.  Then he settled down to wait in his chosen hiding spot...

Freighter 2
Devon could do nothing but wait as CC9 left him on deck 8 and proceeded up with B1.  It wasn't long before CC9's authoritive calls for surrender were punctuated by the sounds of blaster fire.  The battle was brief, no more than thirty seconds.  When the noise died down AE5 came down to Deck 8 to bring Devon up to the bridge.

When they arrived Devon saw CC9 cuffing the bridge crew.  To his surprise there were no fatalities.  Two of the crew appeared unhurt, two were recovering from the effects of stun and one had a face swathed in blood, the liquid free flowing from his mouth and nose.  As Devon watched the man spat a tooth on the deck.

A quick check of the uniforms told Devon that three of the men were enlisted men, one of the stunned men wore the rank of ensign and the man spitting out teeth was a naval lieutenant.





Freighter 4

Moving back to the deck 5 hatch, the engineer forced the doors open.  Air hissed as the entire forward section of deck 6 lost its atmosphere though the turbolift shaft.

Once the four climbed onto the deck, the engineer manually sealed the bulkheads behind them and they climbed out into Deck 6.  The group quickly realised that the deck still had artificial gravity.  There was nobody on deck 6 they could see.


OOC:  Deck 6 forward had had atmosphere until vented when you opened the bulkhead from deck 5.  In theory that probably means that the upper decks still have atmosphere


Space
Mika watched hesitantly as Arin's wingpair continued to close with the unknown target.  She'd spotted Arin when he'd done his quick sensor ping and had used it to determine their range to target.  Knowing they'd be flying at Arin's top speed, as the R-41 was slightly slower that the Z-95 she estimated contact in under two minutes.  At present speeds, the target would reach Nightshrike in just over 11 minutes.

Down in communications Cor began receiving a new transmission from the unknown target.  This one wasn't encrypted, it was being transmitted on the emergency frequency.

"Unknown vessel, this is Phindar Patrol Craft Seven.  Identify yourself over."

---

OOC: Looks like I lied about posting over Christmas!  I planned to but somehow everytime I sat down to post something came up (usually my son wanting me to play with one of his umpteen new toys!)




Nightshrike: G5
Freighter 2: A4
Freighter 3: A2
Freighter 4: A12

Mark/Flash: Patrolling Immediate Area
Transport: Following Freighter 2
Arin/Sheila: 340km from Nightshrike
Unknown contact: 670km from Nightshrike (260km from Arin/Sheila)

---

Battle status
Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 2 - Engines, Weapons, Comms, Shields offline.  No hull damage
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:14, Fri 28 Dec 2012.

Mark cursed as he heard the Imperial transmission on the open frequency.  "Alpha, Beta, tell me you're almost ready to move.  If you don't secure you're ships soon we wont get away with our own ships, let along the freighters."

"Five, get a scan on the threat then see if you can do anything to slow them down.  Don't take any stupid risks but every minute you buy us helps."

Arin sighed. There was no going against the patrol craft as it had advantage in both weapon strength and range, and its shields would take ages to bring down while it could fire at them with impunity. He opened a comlink to the Commander.

"Lead, this is five. The ship is a System Patrol Craft with four turbolasers and probably a troop complement of ten troopers. I can maybe slow it down by posing a threat, but I have no means of hurting it, so it might choose to just keep on flying. How copy?"

"Don't need you to hurt it Five.   But anything you can do to slow, delay or distract them buys us time.  If you can't, we'll have to start pulling out."

"I'll see what I can do. Will keep you posted."

Charlie turned to the Talon Comm. "Three, I need you to do something. Once we get within range of the Patrol Craft, I want you to take a shot at me, sort of. Drop a bit back, fire past me and at an opportune moment, I'll vent some tibanna gas through one of the engines. It shouldn't damage it, but it'll look spectacular. With any luck, my screaming for help on the emergency channel will attract their attention for a moment. Once they get our attention, I want you to give them your tail and head back the way we came. Unless you have a better idea, that is."

"Acknowledged Five.  Tell me what to do."



**NPC'd by GM**

"Okay, here's the plan. We break formation and take enough distance to make it appear as ifyou were pursuing me. You take shots at me, but give them a wide enough berth so you won't actually burn me. I'll keep the rear shields with minimal power so you should not be able to blow me up with a single shot, but once are close enough, I'll blow some tibanna gas through one of the engines and make it look like you scored a solid hit on me, stopping me dead. I'll keep asking them for elp and you hightail it out of there if they start heading our way. I'll give them a slip as well and rendezvous with you later, if not anywhere else, then back at the base. Of course, it might be they won't take the bait, in which case we get outof there and inform the Shrike, they are about to have company. Sounds okay to you?"

Like the droid that he is CC9 says nothing as the turbolift heads up.  There's little left to say and besides, B1s aren't really smart enough to make for decent conversations.  It's like trying to discuss tactics with a coffee machine.

The blaster fire that greets him as the turbolift doors open plays across the B1's shield like a sound and light show.  CC9 might even consider it pretty in a deadly kind of way if he were so inclined.  He's considered installing aesthetic mods before but never seen a great deal of point; leave that to the poet-droids.

He's no poet-droid.

The smallest look about shows one active combatant either side, clearly trying to overwhelm the pair with sheer firepower; if the others were helping they may have succeeded in a hit or two.  To the right are a single gunman and two cowering Imperials; to the left are the second gunman and an Imperial who looked uncertain about what to do.

"Left," CC9 orders.  The shield droid immediately steps out of the turbolift and covers their left side.  CC9, stepping the other way, fills the gunman on the right with several stun bolts.  As the man hits the ground twitching CC9 shoots him twice more to be certain and then kicks his blaster away.  "Stay down and you remain unharmed," the droid states to the cowering pair.

Then he turns and, firing around the shield, drops the second gunman.  Aiming at the hesitating Imperial CC9 lets him decide; a few seconds later the man lifts his hands in surrender.

"Weapons on the floor and step back," the droid intones.  "One aggressive mood and you die."  To punctuate the point he visibly switches the blaster from stun to kill.  Having secured the weapons he states, "Shield, retrieve our colleague."  Then he tosses the disarmed man some cuffs.  "Cuff your ally.  Disobey and die."

"We're unarmed prisoners," the Imperial objects, "you can't just -"

BAM.  Rifle-butt to the face.

"Disobey and die," CC9 repeats.  "I possess no compassion programming.  You are an organism waiting to expire and I will speed that process unless you obey exactly.  Your choice is binary: obedience or death.  Even you should be able to compute that."

"Roger, signal when you want me to near hit you."  Sheila will hold back a little, letting him get further in front of her before she starts shooting at him, the first few shots should be aimed wide enough that they should be flat out misses as compared to near ones.  She'll worry about near misses in a moment.

"Ok" Xil says to the raid team after they'd had a quick look around deck 6 "time to head up again. We go through the bulk heads in the same way. Lets hope the lift isn't sitting at deck 7, if it is we'll use the service hatch." He turns to the tech with them "Once we're through I need you to make sure that only the forward door opens, we can't cover both, make yourself small and hidden, no injuries."

To the tech team he asks over the comm "Civilian lead, Beta Four, I need the status of the reactor repairs."

Just as they are about to move he hears Marks comm message and replies "This is Beta, working on it."

He leads the team back into the turbo lift shaft making sure his weapons are ready.

Arin increasedthe distance between his fighter and that of Sheila's. "Alright, let's give them a good show. Lights on!" Saying that he activated every system he had turned off to reduce the EM-signature of his ship, probably lighting up like a plasma torch on the sensors of the Imperial Patrol Craft. He set the shields double aft and begun weaving in front of Sheila as if she was trying to get a firing solution on his tail.

Then, he hit the Emergency Channels, broadcasting a public request for help. "Anyone, please help. The pirate's on my tail and I can't shake him. Need immediate assistance!" Let's see how they react to that.

Sheila tried to gauge two distances at the same time, the distance between her and Arin and the distance between her and the oncoming ship versus its firing range.  She had absolutely no desire to be shot down by the imperials.

Freighter 2
With the Imperials neutralised, Alpha team worked quickly.  At CC9's orders the crew were moved to the escape pods and secured using cables they found in stores.  This way they had their binders for the next boarding.  Confident that all was secure, CC9, Devon and B1 made their way towards their airlock.  When they arrived, the transport vessel was already docked and awaiting them.



Freighter 4

One of the civilians replied to Xil's inquiry, his voice gruff.  "Just finishing now.  We can flick the switch whenever you want.  What do we do now?  What about the prisoners?"

As the civilian spoke, Beta team had climbed the turbolift shaft to Deck 7.  The deck still had atmosphere and gravity so they had to ascend the ladder one at a time, Grayrhynn in the lead.  The wookie had to climb past the turbolift doors to allow the civilian engineer to work at getting the door open.  Grayrhynn grumbled as he bashed his head on the base of the turbolift car, which was stopped on Deck 8, fortunately his spacesuit helmet took most of the impact.  While the spacesuits were clumsy and bulky, they'd prevented a nasty headache.

The civilian fiddled with the doors and soon he managed to pry them slightly open.  Below the door level, Xil heard someone shout,  "Who are you?  Someone's here, intruders!"

A blaster shot flew into the shaft and caught the civilian in the shoulder as he worked to shut the door.  He grunted in pain and nearly fell but the wookie grabbed him from above and held him.


OOC:  Well you're in the turbolift shaft and someone in engineering (Deck 7) knows you're there.  The civilian is injured, you can't tell how badly while in a dark turbolift shaft.  Gray is above Deck 7, the civilian outside the doors (being held by Gray), below him is the B1 droid with it's shield with Xil below him.

The other civilians can restore power anytime you want (though remember the turbolift is directly above you and could ruin your day!




Space

Arin and Sheila discussed their plan until they were confident they both knew what to do.  Sheila allowed herself to drop back a little.  The problem became that as she dropped back she could no longer see Arin's R-41 visually and his sensors were to passive just like hers.  Still, she knew his course and speed and did the sums in her head as best she could.

When Arin gave the signal she went active with her sensors.  Quickly she spotted Arin's R-41 about eight kilometres ahead and started firing, her shots initially wide, but slowly closing.

On Arin's monitor, the System Patrol Craft popped up on his screen, less than 25km away and coming straight at him.

Almost immediately the wingpair heard, "Unidentified starfighters, this is Phindar Patrol Craft Seven.  Power down your weapons and transmit identity codes or you will be fired on."

---

OOC: Well Alpha has secured their freighter and just boarded the transport vessel.  Beta team has had one of their civilians take a lucky shot from a blaster.  Arin and Sheila are moments from playing chicken with a Patrol Craft.



Nightshrike: G5
Alpha 1: A4
Freighter 3: A2
Freighter 4: A12
Mark/Flash: Patrolling Immediate Area
Transport: Docked with Freighter 2
Arin/Sheila: 525km from Nightshrike
Unknown contact: 550km from Nightshrike (25km from Arin, 33km from Sheila)

---

Battle status
Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP
Freighter Alpha 1 - 0/40SP 60/60HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:12, Tue 01 Jan 2013.

"Freighter secure, three stormtroopers and one petty officer eliminated," CC9 reports to Prime.  "Remaining Imperial officers confined to a life pod to be launched remotely immediately prior to departure.  Strike Team Beta, double-time it.  Tactical expedience is of primary priority.  Prime, proceeding to final freighter."

CC9 leads his strike team into the transport.  "The last freighter will require a swift strike," he states to Devon and the civilian techs.  "If time runs out you will retreat back to the transport while I cover your escape with Shield Droid Alpha.  If you are ordered to leave us behind you will do so without hesitation.  Indicate your acknowledgement."

Mark allowed himself a small sigh of relief.  One freighter captured intact.  If they got the ship to safety then this whole gamble would have been worth it.

"Understood Alpha, excellent work.  Prime, feed the freighter our sets of exit co-ordinates and order them to ensure their hyperdrive systems are fully operational.  Watch the patrol craft closely, you need to tell us at what point we need to pull out."

He continued his patrol, grinding his teeth.  Arin was out there, facing a System Patrol Craft with two outdated fighters.  The very success of the mission could depend on the man's ability to delay the craft somehow.  It was a lot of trust he was placing in a man he had no reason to.  Still, there was nothing else he could do.  He'd deal with the results later.

Zyra furiously went over all the jobs she was meant to be doing.  The pressure was overwhelming.  She could speak a dozen languages, handle complex negotiations with informant, infiltrate an Imperial Security checkpoint or handle dozens of information data streams at once.  But commanding a capital ship during a combat operation, especially the complex and time critical kind Mark tended to plan, was testing her.  Keeping up with the myriad of jobs.

'Focus' she told herself.  'Make sure everyone knows their job.  Trust them to do them like Mark does.'

She turned to Mika.  "Keep an eye on that system patrol craft.  I need you to determine a 'safety zone', the point where we need to pull out and free.  Remember the freighters are slow and the nearest jump points are approximately 100km distant."


She switched to internal comms.  "Cor, are you able to do anything to delay the ship?  Some false broadcast or something?  Are you sure the freighters can't transmit?  We need to keep the Imps in the dark as long as we can.  Once the charade is over, get Heigran to revive Captain Blood once more.  Also, has A9 completed those jump calculations?  We'll need to send them to the freighters soon."

"Gunners, keep your systems powered down as much as possible so the craft can't detect you but be ready to engage at a moment's notice.  Rann, use the ion cannon as little as possible to keep the last freighter docile until cc9 is aboard.  Weapons fire is very obvious on sensors."

Having given her last set of instructions, Zyra looked across her systems.  She was forgetting something, she was sure of it.

Grayrhynn, roaring, holds the civilian. Though he knows that he may nit be dead, a turbolift shaft wasn't the ideal place to help him, especially with enemy fire. If he could get the civilian to safety first, then he could deal with the enemies,

Looking down, he let's out a throaty growl.

"Fired upon? I'm already being fired upon, you twit!" Arin did his best to sound both distressed and furious. "Get that damn pirate off my tail before he blows me up, and we might talk!"

He grinned to himself. At least they were getting the Patrol Craft's attention, and probably providing the comms station on Shrike with some comedy at the same time. The Imperials had seen the bait - now was the time to get them nibble on it and sink the hook in.

Cor thinks rapidly.  "I can attempt to fake an Imperial broadcast stating an emergency in nearby space, particularly if you have any transponder codes for Imperial shuttles laying around, but they will likely be required by their procedures to at least investigate the transmission they have already received," she informs Zyra.  "The only freighter still with communication capacity is under CC9's control now, and their Imperial personal comms will be useless at this range.  A9, please inform Zyra and myself once you've finished calculations."  This last part was more for Zyra's comfort than her own.  "Shields are also very obvious on sensors.  We can prevent it from reporting back out with the jamming net but only if it gets closer than would be preferable.  Of course if it does get that close and running becomes untenable we may as well attempt to jam, disable and capture it."

Xil's brain worked quickly, the Imps now knew they were in the shaft. "Eight, pull the tech out of the way as much as possible, we need some room for the shield" he said over the raid teams comm.

He directs the shield droid to provide as much cover as possible for the slightly open shaft door, leaving him enough room to roll out a stun grenade.

OOC: Am assuming the door is still slightly ajar by my interpretation that the tech was working on closing the door.

"I'm on it."  Mika says to Zyra.

She turns the long ranges sensors towards the newly identified patrol craft, trying to determine it's likely ETA arrival time and how soon they'd need to bug out to avoid entanglements.

10:28, Today: Mika Trake rolled 19 using 1d20+13. Computer Use - Sensor Operator.

Sheila had absolutely no intention of getting within the actual range of the patrol craft.  She fired upon Arin while keeping a careful eye on range, then a square before she got within range of the ship's guns, she executed a neat turn and headed back at top speed, like she had chased this guy to the safe zone, but didn't want to get caught there herself.

Sheila will broadcast back to the Talons exactly what kind of ship and weapons she noted, eyewitness verification of the sensors.

Alpha Team _ Transport
Alpha team quickly indicate they understand CC9's orders.  Without any fanfare, the transport is quickly undocked from freighter 2 and begins moving towards freighter 3.  Being that freighter 2 had moved to within a kilometre of the last freighter, CC9 was soon lining up the docking hatch.


Beta Team - Freighter 4, Deck 7 Forward Turbolift shaft

Gray complies with Xil's orders and moves higher up, dragging the wounded engineer with him.  B1 gets into position, holding the shield before the partially open doors as best he can while Xil reaches up and rolls a grenade through the doors.

The grenade rolls into the room.  Xil can't see it from where he hangs onto the rail below the turbolift doors but he hears it explode, though it sounds like it blew off to starboard.

Xil hears no grunts or clatters like equipment or bodies dropping.  Instead after a few moments, more blasterfire begins bouncing off the turbolift doors, one shot hitting B1's sheild.


OOC:  One concussion grenade used.  Hard to assess effectiveness, but given the fire you're receiving you'd say little to none!  Also don't forger the civilians on Deck 2 have fixed the reactor and are awaiting instructions, though I appreciate you're busy right now!


Space

Zyra answered Cor on the comm.  "All codes are in the ship's database, memory cluster 47 alpha.  Work up something but don't transmit.  Let's see if Arin and Sheila have success first."

Arin waited to see if his bluff was believed.  There was a momentary silence from the patrol craft before the Imperial responded.  "Understood.  Fly past us one kilometre to starboard.  We'll take care of your pursuer."

On his screens Arin saw that he was about to enter the patrol craft's maximum weapon range.  Sheila would reach that point in about ten seconds.  How far could he draw this bluff?




OOC:  Arin will cross into the SPC's weapon range next round.  Sheila will reach maximum weapon range in 2 rounds.

---

OOC: Back into combat rounds!  I have added the SPC, Arin and Sheila to the battle co-ordinates.  For perspectice remember the SPC can do 6 squares/round, Arin can manage 7 and Sheila 8.


Nightshrike: G5
Alpha 1: A4
Freighter 3: A2
Freighter 4: A12
Arin: N1064
Sheila: N1048
System Patrol Craft: L1088

---

Battle status
Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP
Freighter Alpha 1 - 0/40SP 60/60HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
System Patrol Craft: Full Shields, Undamaged

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

Mika looks over at Zyra.  "As long as the distraction works, we're good and I don't know how much they'll push it, but once they're serious about heading this way they could be here in 10 minutes and it'll take that long to get our ships jumping out.  Oh, and that's assuming we're not stuck waiting to dock fighters."

as she shot to within 10 seconds of the oncoming ship, she knew it was putting him in actual range.  Pirates aren't stupid and she was damn sure this was as far as one would go.  over the talon com, just in case the other side could hear them.   "Imperial, you get away."  she growled, trying to deepen her voice.  She made a final shot at his tail, and turned away.



(I hate auto correct, and it's really weird what things it will autocorrect to. damn to Ramon, really.)
This message was last edited by the player at 22:34, Fri 04 Jan 2013.

Grayrhynn growls, still holding the wounded man. Even though he was big by human standards, he was a average height and lean for a wookie. Upon hearing the blasters return fire after the grenade, Grayrhynn knew he had little time. He looked around for a place to put the wounded man so he could get firing.

Over the raid teams comm he says to the shield droid "On my mark force the doors open so we can get a footing on deck, then shield up to keep some cover" he takes a moment "Eight if you can get the tech into the lift do so, shaft door should be shut so he should be safe enough."

Xil readies his next stun grenade, while the first wasn't that successful they had little options open to them, he will aim to get the grenade to the port side of the vessel hoping to disable some of the enemy as well as provide a distraction so they can get onto the deck.

Setting himself he rolls out his last grenade, he counts down half the delay time of the grenade and then says sharply "Go"

If he is able to he will make his way up to the deck even if it is only partially so that he can start targeting the enemy.

With Sheila's last shot, Arin put his plan in to effect and blew some tibanna gas through the engine in a fine pyrotechnic display. "Negative, Patrol Craft. Seems you scared the pirate off. I'll limp off to lick my wounds now." He adjusted his course towards the way, the Patrol Craft had come from, hoping, they'd turn around to follow him instead of heading towards the 'Shrike.

CC9 prepares for entry in the last freighter, ready to hit hard and fast.  He goes through a basic weapons check as he waits.

When the airlock is prepared he heads straight into the freighter behind the shield droid.  "Make your shots count," he intones, "and be ready to tear through any opposition without hesitation."

Cor blinks in surprise a couple of times and then accesses the correct memory cluster.  Of course Zyra would have trnasponder codes lying around for just such an emergency.  She sets to work making up a fake Imperial broadcast of an Imperial shuttle in trouble from pirates, with coordinates marginally closer to the approaching craft but in a different direction.

"Right." muttered Devon as he ran a similar check on his own kit, making sure both his rifle and the grenade launcher were fully loaded.
"They've had longer to prepare and we got less time to do this in.  Fun, isn't it?  Concussion should be fine till we hit engineering or the bridge, right?"

Positioning himself in the cover Shield provided, Devon hefted his grenade launcher, ready to fire if they met heavy resistance at the air lock.



OOC:  sorry for my unexpected silence over new year - my PCs power supply went bang with no warning...  :(

Grayrhynn, holding the civilian, looks at the lift above. He knows there is a risk of him being found, but with the lift powered down, that is smaller than letting him drop or letting him climb past. The woo ie gets to work trying to open the hatch.

Alpha Team - Transport
The civilian pilot quickly lined up the shuttle with the freighter and closed in.  It took less than 30 seconds for the computers to register a good seal.  Alpha team gathered near the docking hatch, ready for CC9's orders.

OOC:  Docked and ready.  Team is all in the transport's cargo bay, waiting for CC9 to order the hatch opened.


Beta Team - Freighter 4, Deck 7 Forward Turbolift shaft

Xil threw his grenade and clambered up the ladder as B1-AE5 climbed into the room.  Xil heard the battle droid say "Uh-oh" and was about to ask the problem when there was a flash of bright light, a weight on his chest and then nothing.

AE5 saw it all, the grenade rolling and getting caught on a jutting fixture and rolling back to stop outside the door.  The battle droid had uttered an Uh-oh and was in the process of bringing it's shield to bear when it had exploded.  The droid caught some of the blast on it's shield and was knocked back a few steps.  Xil had caught the brunt of the force and been blown off his precarious perch and into the shaft.

Inside the shaft, Gray had just pushed the engineer into the turbolift above him when he heard the blast.  Looking down he saw Xil fly back into the shaft and then drop limply down the shaft until he crashed into the Deck 5 bulkhead.  Gray could barely make Xil out in the darkened shaft, just an unmoving outline.

There was a quick laugh from forward of the shaft, then the blaster fire opened up again on AE5 who held his shield before him.



OOC:  You had a 1 in 8 chance of the grenade rebounding and the dice roller complied.  Then you failed both your cover and reflex rolls.  The dice roller hates you Xil.  Anyway Xil has been hit by his own concussion grendade, been blown into the shaft and fallen 5-6 metres.  He's now lying unmoving on the deck 5 bulkhead.  You'd have to climb down and assess him to determine his injuries.

B1 is now standing just in front of the forward turbolift doors, being shot at.  Gray is in the shaft just above deck 7, the wounded civlian is inside the turbolift (which is on deck 8) and as mentioned Xil is lying on the Deck 5 bulkhead.

Guess Gray is in charge now!


Space

As Arin turned away, the Patrol Craft opened fire.  The laser blasts fell short as he'd ensured he stayed out of range.  The craft turned to follow him, firing with all gun ports but Arin managed to stay just out of range of the fire.  After approximately twenty seconds of pursuit, the patrol craft turned and began heading towards the freighter convoy and Sheila's Z-95 which has been steadily retreating towards the fleet.  Clearly the captain had decided not to waste his time with a lone R-41 when there were larger issues at stake.

Onboard the Shrike, Mika worked on the numbers.  Arin little ploy had slowed the Patrol Craft to half speed, thereby doubling it's arrival time.  In the comm's room Cor worked on an distress call decoy.






OOC:  Well Alpha team is ready to roll.  Beta team is in trouble and Arin is playing chicken with a small capital ship.

---

OOC:

Nightshrike: G5
Alpha 1: A4
Freighter 3: A2
Freighter 4: A12
Arin: Z1064
Sheila: G1024
System Patrol Craft: C1070

---

Battle status
Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP
Freighter Alpha 1 - 2/40SP 60/60HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
System Patrol Craft: Full Shields, Undamaged

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

Xil - Unknown (?stunned, unconscious or dead)
Grayrhynn - Uninjured
B1-AE5 - Undamaged
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:30, Thu 10 Jan 2013.

"Lead, this is Five", Arin said on the frequency, used by the Talons. "I'll try to harass the Patrol Craft some more to slow it down, but I think I've done all I can short of flying within firing range and taking shots at it. It's got four turrets of light turbolasers and a tractor beam so I'm not very keen to try that approach. You want me to follow it to your location or head out for one of the jump points to see, there won't be Imps waiting for us?"

Arin weighed the options. There was a number of things that could happen. "The Patrol Craft won't probably take on Prime unless the captain's insane. You just need to jam its comms and make sure, it can't turn its attention on the freighters."

Mika looks at the numbers.  "It looks like 5 gave us a good bit of breathing room.  We probably have 18 to 20 minutes before we need to be gone.  Want to start programming hyperspace vectors for the freighters?  Might save them a bit of time when we're ready for them to jump out."

"Lead, this is Five. I suggest, Prime moves so that the freighters are between it and the Patrol Craft. That way it might be possible to lure it within jammer range and keep it from calling in support. Prime better keep itself as dark as possible, so I suggest taking out the comms on the last freighter as well - that way the jamming can be ceased for a moment. The assault teams just need to make sure nobody uses a handheld communicator to contact the PC."

With the limited range for the jammer, something had to be done to get the Patrol Craft within the envelope. A Star Destroyer at the jump point would ruin the day for every one. There was a chance, this plan would work. If it did, it would not only ensure the Talons with a fee passage but also possibly rid them of a troublesome Imperial witness.

"A9 is already working on hyperspace calculations, Ten," Cor says unhurriedly.  She tap-tappy-taps away and then sends a file off.  "Heigren, I have a job for you.  I need a voice recording of an Imperial in distress.  I've sent the specifics to your personal datapad and please, we do not have time for jokes so do your best to take this seriously the first time.  I am entirely willing to come up there and arc weld your testicles to the hull."

"Acknowledged Five.  Do whatever you can to delay them but don't put yourself at unnecessary risk."

Mark switched to Talon comms.  "You get all that Prime?"

"Yes one." Zyra responded.

She looked to Mika.  "What do you think?  Arin is suggesting we go 'dark' and somehow use the freighters to hide us from the Patrol Craft.  Is it feasible?  Is it wise?  You know more about such things than me."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:29, Sat 12 Jan 2013.

Grayrhynn snarled to himself. Damnit he thought to himself. He listened for a moment, then positioned himself to take a peak through the doors, readying his blaster. With a small grin to himself, he allowed an idea born of his heritage. Without showing himself, he issued a loud roar.

Sheila slowed down to allow Arin to catch up with her.  Too bad the little ships didn't have good enough jammers on them.


(OOC I'm at a loss as to what the little ships can do next beyond shooting the communications array off the last freighter so they can stop jamming.)

"Lead, this is Five. I'm tailing the Patrol Craft and will go dark for a while to disappear from their scanners. I'll be coming your way, though. Three, make a little loop, estimate the time it takes them to fly past and once they are out of range, track me down and rejoin formation." Arin begun shutting down systems that produced an active electromagnetical signature while he checked the bearing for the Nightshrike and the Imperial Patrol Craft once more. At least he'd get a visual on the ship, if they didn't ping him with their sensors. And anyway, his comms would be still able to receive, if someone wanted to actively contact him.

Alpha Team - Freighter 3, Deck 2-3 Entry corridor

The team prepared to board.  CC9 gave no orders but none were needed, he'd drilled them until they new the plan backwards.  Devon stood to the side and opened the airlock.  B1-AE3 entered first, shield at the ready.  CC9 came up behind him and Devon took up the rear.

They met no resistance in the airlock and moved into the long corridor.  The first sign of trouble came in the form of a grenade rolling towards them.

OOC:  You are in the long thin corridor (shown on deck 2) linking the deck 2 corridor to deck 3.  There is nowhere to take cover.  You can either advance or retreat.  The grenade is rolling towards you, aided by the downhill grade.



Beta Team - Freighter 4, Deck 7 Forward Turbolift shaft

Shield droid B1-AE5 stood his ground stoically, holding his shield before him as blasterfire ricocheted off of it.  The droid calculated that it should not take so long for the organic Talons to commence their attack.  It was highly probable that the grenade exploding had impacted their response time.  But without new orders, the droid stood his ground.  The two Imperial Navy personnel were becoming more accurate he noticed.  Their initial shots from behind the door forward had been almost tentative and accuracy had been less than 59%, well below Imperial standard.  However with no return fire, the two men had become more accurate, their pistols laying down a scathing fire against the shield.

A shot pinged off the shield.  B1-AE5 noted that the organic designated 'Passive Wookie' stuck it's head out, assumedly to assess the situation.  It seemed B2-CC9's report on that one had been correct as it had yet to fire a single shot.  AE5 made note of that point, thinking CC9 would like to add it to his psychological profile.

Another shot.  AE5 saw that the Wookie had withdrawn and begun to roar.  The droid noticed the sound peaked at 87 decibels and was fairly even in pitch.  He had not been programmed to understand Shyriiwook so the message was lost upon him.  If it was aimed at the naval personnel, it didn't seem they understood the language either.  Perhaps they hadn't heard it over the noise of their blasters.  The wookie then fired a shot that hit the wall very close to where one of the men was taking cover.

Two more shots hit the shield in rapid succession.  Overstressed by the rapid stream of hits, the upper half of the shield to bend and then snap off and fall to the ground.

"Uh-oh" the droid said aloud.


OOC:  Well the sheild droid no longer has a shield.  Constant abuse has destroyed it.





Space

On board the Nightshrike it was a game of waiting.  Cor waited for Heigran to finish his message, A9 waited to know which one of the four escape vectors he'd calculated would be used and Zyra waited for Mika to determine the best course of action with the sensors.  They all waited for progress reports from Alpha and Beta.  Alpha was just docking with the final ship, the one with the most time to prepare to repel boarders while Beta had been quiet for some time.

In his fighter, Arin eased back the throttle to let the System Patrol Craft overtake him and switched over to passive sensors in an effort to stay hidden.  He kept just outside it's weapon range to be sure.  The craft, if it saw him was showing no heed.  It was now on an intercept course with the convoy once more.  Sheila, who had been in it's flight pass had move on a perpendicular vector to stay out of it's gun range.


OOC:  The SPC is on active scanning so Arin is having no trouble tracking it.


OOC:  Well Alpha team is ready to roll.  Beta team is in trouble and Arin is playing chicken with a small capital ship.

---

Nightshrike: G5
Alpha 1: A4
Freighter 3: A2
Freighter 4: A12
Arin: X1062
Sheila: Z1030
System Patrol Craft: C1052

---

Battle status
Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP
Freighter Alpha 1 - 2/40SP 60/60HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
System Patrol Craft: Full Shields, Undamaged

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

Xil - Unknown (?stunned, unconscious or dead) 
Grayrhynn - Uninjured
B1-AE5 - Undamaged (Riot shield destroyed)
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:24, Mon 14 Jan 2013.

In reply to Arin Branden (msg # 242):

Sheila did as ordered, then did her little loop to find Arin.    Once she is behind the PC, she ill go active just long enough to find Arin, then go passive again.

Mika takes a moment to consider, "It's risky, but it's an option.  We power down sensors to passive mode, shift position behind the freighters.  Even if they make us, we can probably keep them guessing long enough to buy a bit more time."

It's obvious that Mika's warming to the idea.

'aww, nuts.' whispered Devon.  A straight corridor, no cover and a live grenade rolling towards them.  Wonderful combination.

Thinking more quickly than he had in a while, he hissed  'AE3 -  retreat whilst keeping shield in position.  If that grenade gets in range, try to kick it back up the corridor.'  Then he looked up at the hulking super-battle droid.
'You, move.'
Suiting actions to words, Devon grabbed at CC9s arm and began towing the B2 back the way they had come.  Several thoughts ran through Devons head during his hurried retreat:

Keep CC9 between you and that pineapple - he's armoured.  Cor's gonna kill me if I get all her droids blown up... and how come I reacted before CC9 anyhow?  Shouldn't he have programmed reflexes for this sort of thing?? 

"Shield, belay that order.  Hold fast."  CC9 hefts his rifle.  "Seven, get down."  CC9 makes no attempt to explain himself, getting ready to head straight up the corridor once the grenade goes off.  His plan is simple enough: let the shield soak up the damage (that is, after all, its job) and shoot the everloving shit out of anything even vaguely stormtrooper-shaped opposing them once they're in line of sight.

AE5 swaps immediately to its blaster rifle, stepping forward and around (further into the line of fire) to get a better shot as its opponents.  It fires at the Imperials, intending to bring them down if it can.  "Beta team shield droid, shield destroyed.  Orders required," it states, requesting Grayrhynn's commands via comms.  Defaulting to a simple 'shoot the bad guys' protocol until new orders are given the B1 doesn't waste time.

The wookie, looking out of the small opening, took aim and fired at the attackers as best as he could from teh angle he was at.

'You're mad, you know that?' muttered Devon as he hunkered down behind CC9 - quite prepared to use the armoured droid as cover.  If they were still alive in five seconds time, he'd join the droid in a counter attack, using his grenade launcher to give the storm troopers a a taste of their own medicine.
'When we get outta this, I'm gonna see Cor about getting your sanity chip overclocked.' he muttered.

Alpha Team - Freighter 3, Deck 2-3 Entry corridor
With no time to argue or debate, CC9 pulled Devon down behind him, while B1-AE3 braced the shield before them for impact.  The grenade blew about a metre in front of the shield, momentarily deafening them all.  A loud creak was heard as the shield took the explosion.

After a few moments the smoke cleared.  All three members of Alpha team were unhurt, the shield having absorbed most of the blast.  The shield had held up better than expected with only some light scoring and a few small cracks.


Riot Shield - 19/24WP


Beta Team - Freighter 4, Deck 7 Forward Turbolift shaft

His shield destroyed, B1-AE5 moved on to the secondary tactical objectives CC9 had given him.  Stepping forward into the room, he unslung his blaster rifle and shot at the two men taking cover in the forward doorway.  It missed but, so do the two men shooting back, who hunkered back at the sight of someone shooting back at them.

Grayrhynn brought his blaster pistol to bear but found he did not have a clear shot as B1-AE5's back was blocking his line of sight.  He'd either have to order AE5 to move or get out of the turbolift and into the room to get a clear shot.





OOC:  Since it's a single combat round, only posting for the two combat teams.  Strict two day turnaround for those in the combat teams.  If you can post faster than that all the better.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:28, Sat 19 Jan 2013.

"Your opinion is noted," CC9 states to Devon, "close distance and fire."  He does the same, following behind the shield droid and getting as close to the menacing troopers as possible with full intent of shooting them in the bodily portions.

Shield Droid Beta marches on, intent on closing the distance between the Imperial Navy louts and himself.  He also stepped sideways, a standard battle tactic that would give his team-mates behind the opportunity to shoot.  Well, team-wookiee.  "Orders required," he repeats.

'Right, right.' mumbled Devon, at least he thought he mumbled - it was hard to tell with his ears still ringing from the grenade.

As he levelled his grenade launcher and followed CC9 up the corridor, planning to fire at the first hint of white armour he saw, Devon found part of his mind wondering if the droid noting his opinion was simply a factual statement or deadpan humour.  Did CC9 have a sense of humour?  the jury was still out as far as Devon was concerned.

Spotting suspect movement ahead, he aimed and fired.
'Lessee how you like being deaf.' he muttered.

Alpha Team - Freighter 3, Deck 2-3 Entry corridor
Wasting no time, B1-AE3 moved forward, shield in hand.  Ahead they could hear the sound of something that Devon recognised as a fusion torch.  The purpose became clear when they got closer.  The crew had laid a bulkhead door across the doorway at the end of the corridor.  From behind it came a flurry of blaster fire.

OOC:  The doorway leading into the cargo bay has a durasteel door on it's side being used as a barricade (approx 1m high).  B2-cc9 can see three people lined up behind it, one wearing a stormtrooper helmet, the other two standard issue blaster helmets.  The corridor offers no cover other than the riot shield.  Devon can hear a fusion torch, assumedly they're welding the door in place.

It would take two rounds to cross the barrier while using the shield as cover (first round to reach, second to climb)



Beta Team - Freighter 4, Deck 7 Forward Turbolift shaft

B1-AE5 began advancing, blaster rifle in hand, pumping shots at the two men.  One of his shots hit the man to port, causing the other man to retreat towards engineering.  He didn't even stay long enough to see his own shot had caught B1-AE5 in the torso, causing significant damage.  The armour B2-CC9 had insisted he wear had blunted the force, likely keeping him functional.

A quick check of the fallen human showed he was permanently offline.  His partner could be heard in engineering, saying something to others.  He couldn't make out what was being said but suspected the tempo of the man's speech would make him hard to understand even at close range.

Lying against the Deck 5 bulkhead, Xil's vision slowly began swimming back into focus.  Above him he could see a turbolift shaft, a ladder and a wookie hanging on to the ladder pointing his blaster pistol out the door.  He wasn't shooting, just roaring in his own dialect.  What he was saying was anyone's guess.



OOC:  Scratch one naval engineer, the other has retreated.  AE5 concludes there are at least 2 people in engineering as the fled engineer is talking to someone.  Xil is sitting on the bulkhead seperating decks 5 & 6, Gray is in the shaft on deck 7 looking out.  AE5 is at the doorway leading into the small sleeping berth just aft of engineering.  The civilian engineer is in the turbolift on deck 8.

Xil is back among the conscious.  Welcome back.


Space

Zyra had no idea of wether going to passive sensors was a good idea or not.  Starship tactics were not her specialty.  Still Mika seemed to like the idea so she followed he judgement.

"Do it." she said simply.

Mika swapped sensor mode with the flick of a switch.  Zyra cautiously moved the Shrike into close formation with the other freighters, ensuring Rann could still have a clear shot at the two contested freighters.

On her sensors, Mika lost all signals minus the freighters which were too close for the sensors to miss and the System Patrol Craft that was actively scanning.  Otherwise they were blind.

Further away, Sheila took little time to circle the SPC's projected flight path and approach Arin's position.  Even though their sensors were passive, they were more than close enough to use their Talon comms and the pair regrouped, though in a loose formation.  They then started trailing the SPC which was still heading towards the Nightshrike.

Then suddenly, the SPC was gone.  Arin, Sheila and Mika all checked their sensor feeds almost simultaneously to the same end.  Clearly the SPC had ceased it's active scanning.

OOC:  Well the SPC has vanished from sensors.

---

Nightshrike: A7
Alpha 1: A4
Freighter 3: A2
Freighter 4: A12
Arin: C1045
Sheila: C1047
System Patrol Craft: Last known position C1028 (if speed and course maintained C1022)
</i>

---

Battle status
Nightshrike - 180/180SP 220/220HP
Arin (R41) - 30/30SP 92/100HP (missiles depleted)
Sheila (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Mark (Z95) - 30/30SP 120/120HP (1 missile remaining)
Flash (C/S)- 140/140HP
Freighter Alpha 1 - 5/40SP 60/60HP

Freighter 1 - Destroyed
Freighter 3 - *Disabled*  <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
Freighter 4 - *Disabled*Critical Hull Damage <Comms & Weapons destroyed>
System Patrol Craft: Full Shields, Undamaged

TIE Escort x 4 - All destroyed

Xil - 53/53VP 6/12WP
Grayrhynn - Uninjured
B1-AE5 - 2/8WP