Fiarr shook her head at the offer of command.  "Wasn't in a starfighter squadron long enough to get any kind of command.  Then I transferred to covert ops where I spent most of my time on solo operations.  I've got no command experience."

Flash shrugged and nodded at Devon.  He didn't care what ship he flew as long as he got to show the rookies who was top dog.  He didn't answer Devon's question about command.  He'd flown with Devon since the formation of the Talons.  Devon knew what he could do and would assign him wherever he wanted him.  This wasn't a test for him so he'd lead or not lead accordingly.

'Wanna give it a try?" Devon asked the Bothan. 'No?'
'OK, guess its me then.  Your callsigns will be whatever fighter you are flying at the time.  I'll also answer to 'Lead' until I get killed.   Janine is my second - she becomes 'Lead' when I die.  If we both bite it, Forim is up next.  Got it?'

Devon paused to consult his datapad again.
'Ok, we want to be in and out fast without any Imperial attention.  So when we spring our little ambush, we'll send a short range broadcast giving them exactly one chance to power down and surrender.  If they dont, we take out any hostiles as fast as possible, then disable the freighters for boarding.  Chances are we're going to be facing armed freighters and maybe a few escort fighters, so we should have them easily outclassed.'

Devon tapped at a button on his datapad and information began to scroll up the wall display behind him.
'Initial formation will be three flights - two flights will be an R-41 and three Z-95s, the third wing is our bombers.  One and Two flight will range ahead of the Y-wings till we know what we are facing.  Against armed freighters or any large, slow targets we want to single one out and focus fire on it - attack from multiple different directions to overwhelm their gunners with targets, then use our speed and agility to get out before the others can move to reinforce.  If it turns into a dogfight, we break into wing-pairs and aim to kill their fighters as fast as possible, whilst keeping the Y-wings and shuttles safe.  If we loose the bombers this gets a whole lot harder... if we loose the SHUTTLES, its over and we bug out.'

Devon mulled for a moment before continuing.
'I DID wanna fly one of the R-41s, but I'm changing myself to a Y-wing.
Forim: you'll lead One Flight in, Janine - you'll have Two Flight, and I'll take Three Flight as well as over all command.  Questions?'



Flight 1:
Blue 1 - R-41  -   Forim
Blue 3 - Z-95

Blue 4 - Z-95  -   Fiarr
Blue 5 - Z-95


Flight 2:
Blue 2 - R-41  -   Janine
Blue 6 - Z-95

Blue 7 - Z-95
Blue 8 - Z-95


Flight 3:
Blue 9 - Y-wing  -  Rian
Blue 10 - Y-wing

Blue 11 - Y-wing  -  Kyvarr
Blue 12 - Y-wing
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:07, Fri 12 Sept 2014.

Kyvarr looked up at Devon and nodded at her designation.  "Understood sir.  Hope you're not taking a ship you don't want just to accommodate me."

She looked at the flight manual she was reading for a second then looked at Devon again.  "Excuse my ignorance sir but why aren't the Y-wings attacking and disabling the freighters?  Wouldn't we be the logical choice while the other wings take care of any fighters?"

"Yeah, primary target for the Y-wings will be the freighters.  If the enemy doesnt have an overwhelming fighter presence, they'll go straight in under cover from the others.  IF they DO have too many fighters though, we'll aim to thin the crowd some before we start into attack runs."

Devon shrugged.
"Simple fact is we dont know exactly what the enemy will throw at us. We're gonna have to play it by ear and think on our feet.  What we need to be doing here mainly is building contingencies - so if you spot something I've missed... say so.  We havent got long left to plan this."

Fiarr spoke up. "Do we know how big the convoy is and Imperial response times?  With only two shuttles it's going take time to board, capture and repair the freighters. Then they have to escape before the Imps arrive.  Seems an awfully big job in a short time."

"We"re just doing the fighter part, right?  Or do we have to switch to the shuttles once we doable and get ready to board?"

Janine added a question to fiarr's.   "And do we have jamming capability? For when they refuse .  I know they ren't gonna call the imps for help, but might help keep them from talking to each other."

Flash chuckled.  "I think we have had enough practice boarding enemy freighters.  I think we're just doing the starfighter bit."

Devon grinned "Yeah, we're not boarding.  All we gotta do is make the boarding possible"

Putting on a more serious expression, the shipjacker continued.
"As to the Imps?  Based on where they are and travel times before they could intercept?  IF they detect us instantly and move to engage immediately, they could be on us in as little as 15 minutes."
Devon paused for a moment before he continued.
"So we're on the clock here.  Remember though - the enemy doesnt want the Imps to arrive any more than we do - they wont be yelling for help, and our ships are faster than their freighters... so we can afford to push the fight for longer before having to cut and run.  All the same... we act like we've only got fifteen minutes we can rely on."

Devon hesitated, trying to think if there was anything he had missed.
"There's gonna be six freighters and we want to disable and board as many as we can get away with.  Jamming - no, we cant reliably jam them.  Those freighters will have bigger comm arrays than our fighters, so jamming isnt a realistic option."


A grin spread slowly across Devons face, a predatory grin.
"OK, enough talk.  Suit up and lets go kick the crap outta some pirates and get our property back."

Without further preamble, the team climbs into their cockpits and power up.  Quickly the simulation comes to life.  Instead of flying through space or plummeting through the white tunnel of hyperspace, each Talon found their fighter was landed on a small asteroid in three groups of four.  Their ships were in 'grey mode' - power was on but all systems were at minimal settings so they wouldn't be seen.  Assumedly they had been waiting here for some time.

A voice came over the comm.  It was an unusual accent, almost like a Nemoidian.  "Most honourable Blue Leader-san.  Chase one thinks they have them.  The dishonourable thieves approach our position.  Bearing one five zero mark seven two.  We can see at least five ships.  Estimate fifty kilometres out.  Your orders Blue Leader-San?"

Devon remembered from his briefing that one of the shuttle crews had set up a high-powered optical scope to watch for the convoy to avoid using sensors.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:38, Mon 08 Sept 2014.

Kyvarr spent the time continuing to go over her controls, familiarising herself with systems as best she could.  Sounded like the convoy was approaching so she'd likely be called into action soon.

"Blue 11 all systems green."

Janine did her systems check.  "BLue 2 All systems green."  And waited.

Fiarr did not radio in that her ship was ready to go.  This was not due to any sort of comm malfunction but more to do with the fact she had for some reason not been assigned a ship.  She leaned casually against a bulkhead and waited to see if Rian had a job for her.  She jokingly wondered if she should 'defect' to the convoy.

As some of the Blue Team reported ready and others waited for assignments, time ticked pass.  Suddenly another voice crackled on the radio.

"Most honourable Blue Leader-san.  Chase One honoured to report convoy now twenty kilometres away and closing.  We make out at least six ships.  Lead ship is big Leader-san.  Nearly half-again as big as other ships.  They have escort ship.  Big escort ship, it will be glorious battle.  When we fight them Leader-san?"

Flash chuckled when he listened to 'Chase One'.  He'd finally worked it out.

"Hey Nine, is it just me or does he remind you of that bad pirate captain stereotype we head on the convoy mission a week or two back?  You know, the one who threatened to ram an Imperial convoy?"

In reply to Fiarr Melan'nel (msg # 18):

OOC, he told you to take a z-95.  pick one, just not the one I'm in.

OOC:  The problem as I see it is since it's a simulator a ship has to be 'loaded up'.  I can't just pick a fighter because they're not there.  I'll jump into a simulator but it's the simulation leader (which is Devon) who has to gives us all our ships. 

OOC: Oh yeah, I told Fiarr to fly a Z-95 and then didnt put her on the organization chart :D

"Blue 9 here - ready to fly." said Devon as he worked quickly through the Y-Wings preflight, then frowned.  He'd forgotten something.
_{"Frak, they coulda said something."} he muttered to himself, then hurridly pushed the lid of the simulator open.  Blinking in the light he looked round at Fiarr.
"I not assign you a fighter?  Shoulda said something..."  fiddling with his datapad for a moment, Devon pointed the Bothan to the one unoccupied simulator.
"Take Blue 4 - that puts you in One flight."
He gave the Bothan a faintly embarrased grin before slamming the lid of his own simulator again and finishing his pre-flight checks.



Devon chuckled.  "Yeah, that guy was crazy. Hopefully this one's not as nuts."  Devon fidgeted whilst he waited for Fiarr to get her simulator running, then:

"OK, Blue boys and girls - this is Lead.  Time for us to move out.  Get airborne and into flight wings.  One Flight - gimmie a make on that escort ship and any others you spot.  Two flight, escort Three.  Close fast and dont answer comms - I'm not interested in talking to these guys.  Don't forget once the shooting starts, we are on a very tight time limit."

Fiarr stood slightly chagrined.  "Guess I was too busy ribbing Kyvarr to have noticed."  She looked over at the Cathar and noted she was already sealed in a simulator.  "Our secret right?" she said to Devon with a sly wink.

She then climbed into her simulator and quickly powered up.  "Blue 4, Ready to go."

Flash fired up his comm.  "Okay Four, I'm not big on formality so I'll tell you how I roll.  Stick with the flight until I order a break.  When I do take Blue Five as your wing.  If I get vaped take over the flight.  Other then that, protect your wingman and finish the job."

Once the sim engaged he got his flight in motion.  "Okay one flight you heard the boss.  We're gonna check out this convoy.  So lets keep the formation tight on me so they don't see us.  Passive scans only unless I give the orders.  Keep your emissions down.  We're taking a peek, not starting a war. . .yet."  The last word was said with eager anticipation.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:46, Sat 13 Sept 2014.

One Flight formed up and moved off in the direction of the convoy.  Meanwhile Devon instructed Chase group to form up with Three Flight with Two Flight serving as escort.  Together this group began circling around the starboard flank of the convoy well out of sensor range.  Devon hoped to be in a good position for attack when Flash's group finished their sweep or were detected.

Flash took no time to choose his route but flew straight at the lead freighter.  The four held tight formation and comms were kept to a minimum.  Using visual scanners only, the information was slow to come in.

"Definitely our convoy.  Looks like six freighters in a 2 x 3 formation.  Ship out front is bigger.  Looks like. . .son of a bitch it's a CR90!  I repeat they have a CR90 corvette on point."  Despite his surprise at the capital ship leading the convoy, Flash led his flight further in.  So far the convoy hadn't spotted them.

In a move that would have seem ludicrous from another but only seemed typical Flash to Devon, One flight straight in and started to move inbetween the two line of freighters.  Off the top of it the move may have seemed foolhardy but Devon could see the practicality.  While between the freighters, any opposing fire would risk hitting the freighters.

"Sithspit there's another one.  One to starboard too.  Lead, we've got six Action IV transports here, don't seem to be armed.  But we have three CR90's in escort.  One on point, one on starboard and one port.  Probably one to the rear as well but haven't spotted him yet, possibly more above and below.  Orders?"

By this time Three Flight had moved around to the starboard flank of the convoy.  Given the telemetry from One Flight, Devon estimated he could bring his Flight into firing position in under thirty seconds though someone would have to go active to get a target lock.




OOC:  Well you've confirmed the six freighters are being escorted by a MINIMUM of 3 x CR90 Corellian Corvettes.  Looks like Devon didn't want this sim to be easy!

Flash's team is currently between the two lines of freighters (they're two abreast, three astern) flying towards the back.  At present speed (i.e. maximum) the Flight will no longer be covered by the freighters in two rounds.

Two Flight, Three Flight and Chase Flight are off the right flank of the starboard corvette and could reach missile firing position in 2-3 rounds.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:05, Sun 14 Sept 2014.

Fiarr felt a knot in her stomach as they flew between the freighters.  A mix of nervous energy and excitement.  The fact it was a simulation did not diminish the feeling of danger.  She couldn't believe they had managed this maneuver.  She was only slightly less amazed they hadn't been detected.

She noted the corvette cover as they flew.  Seemed heavy for medical supplies.  Was there more to it she wondered?

"One, this is Four.  I haven't spotted any fighter cover yet.  You think the corvettes are all there is, or you think there's fighters out here we haven't spotted yet?"

Mentally she was trying to work out how they would take out three corvettes with only four bombers.  Fighters would only make a difficult situation worse.  Still she supposed that was what they were testing.

"I certainly hope there's fighters or we're not going to have a lot to do."  Flash replied.  Whilst he had no issue tangling with the corvettes, he lacked the firepower to make a decent dent.

Kyvarr jumped slightly when she heard they would be taking on capital ships.  That would mean the bombers would have to play a big role.  She immediately began reviewing her craft's tactical systems.  Firing the torpedos, switching guns and balancing shields.  She'd need to be able to do it all on the fly while she dodged fire.

She cursed to herself.  She'd done all this before in a hovertank.  It just felt different in a fighter.  She was slower.  She felt like a rookie cadet back in basic training.  A growl of determination escaped her lips.  She would not let the team down, even if she had to rip up a corvette with her claws.

While the team allowed themselves a collective sigh of relief at One Flight not being noticed, it seemed that may have relaxed to soon.  The two lines of freighters suddenly started veering off towards the direction of their side corvettes.  Those same corvettes were turning to point towards the location of one flight.  Ahead the lead corvette was slowing and turning around.

It would seem that Flash's flight had been discovered.

On the bright side, the right side corvette was conveniently turning towards the flight which presented it's rear to Devon's team.


OOC:  Looks like One Flight will quickly face a lot of turbolasers.  Corvettes are all turning inwards while freighters are fleeing.  Looks like Devon's mob have a clear shot at the starboard corvettes stern if they can get a target lock.