Kal looked at the insistent Pugwis, "If you don't have anything of Jabba's, why not just let some of them aboard and prove it to them?" Kal asked, not particularly liking the odds against them.

In reply to Kal Wennyn (msg #264):

"If I let hem board they'll steal whatever else we have or worse," Pugwis grumbled. "Besides, me and Vertuba have a few surprises up our sleeves, right Vert?" The co-pilot gives a nevous nod, though Pugwis doesn't seem to realise the Dug was visibly tensing.

Kal frowned at that response, they really could watch them as they searched and avoid any unpleasantness.  Unless...."There isn't actually anything on board Jabba would want, right Pugwis? Vertuba?"

Kal's gaze fell upon each in turn as he tried to discern the truth.

12:19, Today: Kal Wennyn rolled 17 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 9. Perception.

There's never a Jedi around when you need one, he thought.

In reply to Kal Wennyn (msg #266):

Before Vertuba can answer, Pugwis answers that of course there isn't any cargo destined for Jaba. "First off, I've only had bad experiences with him, and I don't care much to do any more business with the slug... These guys must think that I'm still running for the hutt though..." [Private to Kal Wennyn: You cast a suspicious glance at Vertuba who been stalling at the bar... Maybe he was waiting to make contact, and the quick departure had upset his plans? You can't be certain, the Dug being extremely hard to read and quiet since you've left.]

Mirax saw the ship as it rounded the large asteroid, and already she was on edge.  She could not hear their transmission, but since the ship launched fighters, it could not be friendly.  Keying the comm, she drifted her fighter closer to the Black Comet.

"Uhh, guys?  Imminent bad day approaching," she said, though she knew they would have already seen it. "You guys have a brilliant plan you want to inform me of?"

Kal frowned at what he saw from Vertuba, then punched the transmit button, "We see it Escort Two. I don't think there's much choice but to terminate the approaching fighters. Good hunting, ladies." Kal turned his frown back to Pugwis and Vertuba, not particularly happy about the situation. He had become quite attached to both Claire and Mirax in their short time together and really disliked that they were put in such a dangerous situation. He quirked an eyebrow hoping they did have something up their sleeves besides just sending the fighters into bad odds.

"Terminate?  Now why would I want to do that?  I say any pirate who wants to steal what belongs to a Hutt is a pirate I like.", exclaims Claire in response over the comm channel.  "Dump your cargo holds, Pugwis.  Let them sort out if what they want is floating through space while we make a get away."  This desire to run rather than fight though doesn't stop her from powering up her V-wing's weapons.  As for the shields, they are already up to deflect the smaller rocks in the asteroid field.

"Kifes, yes, terminate," came Pugwis' voice over the comm, "we ain't dumping my cargo in here, even if I do have that hutt's cargo. I'll sort it out in the holds later..." Turning to Kal and Mi, "Either of you would probably be more than welcome in the gunnery well..."


Claire and Mirax, initiative / pilot checks in lieu of please.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:59, Tue 31 May 2011.

Kal looked briefly at Mi, then tilted his head in the direction of the gunnery well "I think you'll have more, er, luck with the guns than I would."

Kal slid on a headset and started to monitor communications, prepared to make some of his own. He used the ship's receiver and his datapad to determine frequencies currently in use by those flying toward them.

Once he figured that out, he planned to listen in and potentially provide his own suggestions for the enemy fighters.

OOC: Let me know at what point in the initiative order Kal can talk...

Edit: 14:11, Today: Kal Wennyn rolled 13 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 4. Use Computer.

This message was last edited by the player at 19:12, Tue 31 May 2011.

Mi nods, and heads towards the back of the ship.

[Private to Kal Wennyn: The fighters aren't communicating by radio frequency... at least, not from any of the bands you've scanned as far as you can tell. There is some interference from the asteroid field though ...]
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:26, Wed 01 June 2011.

Using Claire and Mirax' previous Pilot checks to establish their initiative.

01:22, Sun 10 Apr: Claire de la Croix rolled 20 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 11. Pilot.
15:05, Sat 09 Apr: Mirax Bey rolled 24 using 1d20+7 with rolls of 17. Pilot Check.

Claire flicks on her shields, as Mirax goes around the asteroid debris, pushing her fighter as much as she can to get around it quicker. Meanwhile, the Comet follows Mirax's six, hoping to get the asteroids between it and the fighters, while slowly closing in on the enemy transport.

Kal and Mi may now act, the Comet went 4 squares up, see the coords in the initiative thread, will draw up a new map.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:53, Wed 01 June 2011.

Kal frowned at the ship's comm console and his datapad. The fighters must have some sort of comm that they're using. He continued to try to detect what that might be. He also tried to see if there was any information on the transport they were up against. Information was his lifeblood, and he felt that he had a shortage of information right now.

10:59, Today: Kal Wennyn rolled 11 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 2. Use Computer.

Kal types a few more commands into his personal computer, while Mi settles himself into the gunnery well. Without any targets, he familiarizes himself with their configuration. Across the field, the Enemy Transport keeps its station.

End of Round 1, Round 2 starts with Mirax and Claire again.
Map has been updated.

[Private to Kal Wennyn: For some reason, you can't glean any more information at present]

Will post for Mirax / Claire... come Sunday given Kal's on holidays.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:00, Sat 04 June 2011.

Though she wasn't particularly thrilled about dogfighting in this aged fighter - in an asteroid field no less - Mirax pushed the throttle back to full as she rounded the small cluster of rocks.  If they were going to do this, it would have to be done quickly.  In a drawn out battle, the enemy had the advantage since htey outnumbered Mirax and Claire.

So, for now, she focused on getting within optimum range of her starfighter's blaster cannons.  Almost there...

Move to T3

Having studied the scans of the local asteroid field Claire suddenly comes up with a plan that may work better than charging straight in on a suicide run.  She saw a dense field of small asteroids next to a very large one, and knowing the Mirax is on the other side of the dense field where she can't provide supporting fire for Claire.  Knowing that the pirates were after the Comet there's just two good ways to reach it, and one of them has them passing between the dense field and the large asteroid.  Seeing the bottle neck, she decides to pull back on the throttle until she is starting to move in reverse.  Using the large asteroid for cover so the oncoming fighters can't get a missile lock on her still ship, she takes site on the bottle neck.  She knows her Light Laser Cannons are only really effective at short range.  What they lack in range and firepower, they make up for in rapid cycling.  And so she can fill a small area with large volly of shots that the oncoming fighters will have to pass through.  And all the shots that miss will go into the dense field blowing apart small asteroids that may rain debris into their aft shields.

15:59, Today: Claire de la Croix rolled 25 using 1d20+7 (-2 size) with rolls of 20. PilotCheck to stop and reverse
:Swift Action: Full Stop & drift reverse to M10
16:36, Today: Claire de la Croix rolled 19 using 1d20+1 with rolls of 18. AutoFire Attack
:Full Action: Autofire Attack on squares N,0-8,9
16:39, Today: Claire de la Croix rolled 22 using 3d10+2 with rolls of 2,10,8. D Damage (x2)

This message was last edited by the player at 23:41, Sun 05 June 2011.

Claire: Just trying to understand what you're trying to do. Are you shooting at the asteroids now in the hopes of making debree slide into the bottle neck? Or are you prepping an attack for the first thing to cross your LOS?

Claire, let me know, but moving the story onward...

Claire shoots into the asteroid field, as Mirax and the enemy fighters roar closer. Some shots are fired at Mirax as two fothe enemies fighters close in on her. All the shots, so far, miss by a comfortable margin. The other two, clearly seeing Claire shooting at something, go off to intercept.

During that time, the Black Comet makes its way around the debris and the freighter remains at station.


End of round 2, top of the initiative with Mirax and Claire again.

Those of you aboard the Comet may take their actions, just moving things seeing I don't think anyone is around to act.

Mi moves quickly through the ship before pulling himself up into one of the gunner's turrets turning it on and preparing it for the battle to come.  He pulled on the comm headset as he waited for the lasers to warm before swinging it around toward the oncoming fighters.  "Turret up and ready."  He had no line of sight on anything, and didn't want to risk hitting one of the girls so just waited for the moment.

Seconds before as Claire held down the firing button on her stick, she took note that the only thing to pass through her gun sights were the rocks floating on the other side of the bottle neck.  She glanced down at her sensors and took note of one effect her attack had on her opponents.  It had made them cautious.  They're not about to charge headlong through where she had just indicated was her field of fire.

Now she was a sitting target.  Space is not two-dimensional like on a map displayed on her sensors.  Even the largest asteroid can be flown over or under.  Claire had to take the initiative or else her opponents would get the drop on her literally.  If she where them, she would fly over the asteroid and attack her from above.  So she did what came naturally to any pilot: hang tactics because there are none that work out well for you, and just start shooting.  So she turned the nose of her fighter downward and hit the accelerator.  She skimmed the surface of the asteroid to go underneath it and emerge from the underside where hopefully her enemies weren't expecting her to appear.

With her targets now in view, she gunned the accelerator to full throttle to do what the V-wing was designed to do: intercept.  She straightened her course and flew at one of the pirate fighters.  She held her fire, doing as her mother taught her, to fire only when she can see the pilot sitting in his cockpit.  Taking her shot at the last possible moment when they're at point blank range, she didn't wait to see the results.  If the results were good, she would be flying through a cloud of expanding ionized gasses.  If not them she'd be passing close enough to the other ship that the other pilot would hear the tearing screech of her ion engines rumble through his hull.  She then continued straight on toward their command vessel.

:Move Action: Move at half-speed through "rough" terrain to P10
01:14, Today: Claire de la Croix rolled 17 using 1d20+5 with rolls of 12. Pilot to avoid collision
Straight course to make an attack run on fighter at U9.  End Movement at U10 thanks to Running Attack Feat.
01:15, Today: Claire de la Croix rolled 14 using 1d20+8 with rolls of 6. Attack Run.
1:16, Today: Claire de la Croix rolled 11 using 3d10+2 with rolls of 3,5,1. Possible Damage.

This message was last edited by the player at 08:35, Wed 08 June 2011.

As the two fighters drew into range of her laser cannons, Mirax yawed right just a bit, bringing the lead fighter into her sights.  The very instant it was within effective range, she let loose a burst from her laser cannons, before yanking hard on the controls to swoop away from the two fighters, in order to avoid a collision.  With that in mind, she also did so to keep some distance between her and the enemy fighters - the last thing she wanted was to be drawn into a close range battle in this asteroid field.

Actions:

Attack fighter in V-04: 15:05, Today: Mirax Bey rolled 15 using 1d20+6 with rolls of 9. Attack enemy fighter.
Damage: 15:06, Today: Mirax Bey rolled 27 using 3d10+2 with rolls of 10,8,7. Damage. Total = 54 damage

Move to W-00

If that missed, throw in a Force Point roll because I don't want to lose out on that damage.

Claire: will allow it, though wasn't expecting to let anyone do so. ^_^ However, what I will not allow is two uses of the move action when you are also using a standard action to make an attack. Your final coordinate will be R-10, as I am closing my eyes to the difficult terrain that the two squares that are not fully being covered by the asteroid should actually be.

Claire's V-Wing cruises over the ancient asteroid, so close to its surface that she's reminded of the pod racing she's seen on several of the planets she'd gone to for Dosh Ball tournaments. It's almost like the two went hand in hand. Cruising through the crevices and occasionally jagged terrain, she eventually makes it over just before another asteroid closes the gape between her and freedom.

Weapons blazing, she takes the enemy fighter by surprise and the flash of her cannons visibly weakens the fighter's shields, but causes little damage to the craft itself.

Meanwhile, Mirax has more success as her fighter screams towards her enemy and peppers it with well aimed shots. The enemy fighter's shields suddenly buckle and the craft is heavily damaged, however, Mirax realises that the fighters are made a little tougher than expected.

[Private to Mirax Bey: There was no need for the extra FP]

Next, Enemy Fighters.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:32, Mon 13 June 2011.

The fighters nearest Mirax take pot shots are her before moving on towards the intended target, the Black Comet. The parting shots nearly graze her, but the Jedi ultimately comes out unscathed. Meanwhile the fighter that Claire had damaged stayed back a bit to take aim, while it's friend decided to attempt a dogfight with the Dosh Ball pro.

The fighter has her in its sights for mere seconds before she expertly twirls out of his grasp, causing it's friend to miss also.

During this time, the Black Comet finally makes it to the other side of the asteroid field and advances to meet the fighters head-on.



22:52, Today: Power of the Darkside rolled 10 using 1d20-2 with rolls of 12. S-10 Attempts to Dogfight Claire.
22:56, Today: Power of the Darkside, on behalf of Claire de la Croix, rolled 31 using 1d20+12 with rolls of 19. Counter Dogfight.


End of Round 3, Round 4 starts up with Claire and Mirax again. People in the Comet may also act.

OOC: Actually, there is a Standard Action called Attack Run on page 171 of the core rule book.  It reads: As a Standard Action, you can move up to your vehicle's speed (minimum 2 squares) in a straight line through unobstructed terrain directly toward your target, and then make an attack with a vehicle weapon at that target at the end of your movement.  You gain +2 bonus to your attack roll and take a -2 penalty to your vehicle's Reflex Defense until the start of your next turn.  In Starship Scale, you cannot make an attack run through squares occupied by enemies, but allies do not hinder your attack run.  So basically this is the Charge of Starship Scale Combat.  In addition for Claire because all Feats that do not apply only to Melee Combat will also apply to Starship Combat, she can ignore the '... at the end of your movement.' clause because of her Running Attack Feat.  Hmmm, can't go through occupied squares?  Well, I will have to change the description a little bit and recalculate where she would end her movement.  But basically she can duck under an obstruction with a Move Action.  Then keep on going to charge at the enemy, jinking briefly into their path to fire off a shot, jink away, and then keep on going.

Taking a Move Action -before- the Attack Run is to get around the obstruction so that there is no obstruction in the way.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:55, Sat 18 June 2011.

Kal continued to try to tap into the fighters' communications, widening his search to the more unlikely bands and methods.


09:46, Today: Kal Wennyn rolled 26 using 1d20+9 with rolls of 17. Use Computer.