RPlog:Operation Shado Kolpo - First Wave

Operation Shado Kolpo had begun. The whole of the New Republic 2nd Fleet had only been given a day's notice to go over the operational routines, report to their task force commanders, and prepare for their sorties. The first one out was code named Task Force Zulu, for this run only. Led by General Skywalker, a group of four X-wing starfighters moved out into Coruscant space and rendezvoused with a mid-sized bulk freighter headed for the Perlemian Trade Route, headed for Roche. After exchanging greetings, aligning comm frequencies and moving into position, the team headed for deep space. Two of the X-wings, piloted by Skywalker and 2nd Lieutenant Kyrin Sh'vani, headed out ahead of the team and began running sensor sweeps based on intelligence gathered from prior patrols on the Imperial border. It wasn't completely unexpected that they'd find a hole... the Empire wasn't yet aware of what the New Republic had begun, but they'd figure it out swiftly. Hopefully not too swiftly. The task force had no problems getting through the hole in space and back into a position where the freighter could freely navigate into the Perlemian Route. Now, it was off to a remote asteroid belt in the far reaches of the Brentaal system, where they'd rendezvous with another bulk freighter headed back into Coruscant. "Jedi One to Task Force Zulu," says Luke into the comm. "Stay frosty. Its no surprise the Empire wasn't expecting us on the way out, but they might've figured it out by now." Meanwhile, R2-D2 begins calculating a jump back along the Perlemian Route toward Coruscant, where the whole process will be repeated... only this time, the going won't be so easy.

Flying on patrol in his TIE MkII, Krieg found the dullness of such an event to be almost an insult to the pilots that flew today. He also knew though this was needed as the rebels were stepping up trying to get things in and out of Coruscant, something they just couldn't let happen. With a TIE on each flank his formation was a neat little flight, searching for anything the enemy might be bringing in on them. He calls up to Loki's Flight, "Shrike Lead to Shrike Second, what's your status over there?" The question is dull, something more of a routine check than anything else. Though to pass the boredom his two wingmen had cranked up some techno and it was being piped through the intercom on the three fighters. It wasn't enough to impede communication, but it kept them awake enough to be alert. Needless to say the computer would pipe up should anything be amiss. He flips a few controls and runs through a few checks and scans to make sure nothing it out of the ordinary, then comes back to looking out into the blackness of space.

Aboard Ghost 4, Kyrin Sh'vani breathes a soft Chyleni prayer quietly to herself. Unlike the opposition-to-be, she prefers to think and occasionally hum to herself, nothing to distract her colleagues about their work. Her scanners are sweeping back and forth as ordered, and all seems peaceful. Far too peaceful for this part of space, she considers, but there's nothing for her to base such a worry upon. Hitching herself up slightly in her pilot's seat, she tries to find a more comfortable position within the confined space. Having wings makes it even a tighter fit than for her human companions. "Jedi One," she comms idly, "have you noticed any difference in your ship's behavior since it was repaired? Any improvement or unimprovement?" Professional curiosity.

Loki sits in his cockpit as he pushes yoke forward. Behind him to either side of his ship are his wing mates. Throughout his cockpit he is playing a song title 'Ridin Dirty' from one of the Outer Rim planets. As he is checking his scanners, in his earpiece, the message from the CO comes in, "Shrike 4 to Shrike Lead...all quiet on this front. Nothing to report so far."

"Negative," replies Luke over the comm. "Seems as steady as always, though I can thank Artoo for that. He's kept the internals at the same setting for the last, gosh, twelve years easy." The pilot from Zulu Four pipes in, "Old timer." There's a chuckle from both Zulu Four and Zulu Seven at that, to which Luke merely smirks inside his cockpit. "Very nice, you two, very nice. Okay, everyone, ready for hyperspace on my mark. Three, two, one, mark." The task force, their navigational computers synced together, enters hyperspace along with the bulk freighter, headed for Coruscant. Hours later, the task force emerges deeper into space than most ships, in order to conduct an advance scouting run, just like before. "Ghost Four, follow me out to the advance scout position and ready your scanners. Zulu Four, Zulu Seven, stay back and escort Zulu Baby." Luke guns the throttle and draws his X-Wing ahead of the Task Force, his scanners going rapidly. "Artoo..." he says quietly, as something seems to nudge his consciousness. A suggestion from the Force. "Artoo, check two point seven to..." He leans forward, observing the scanner a second as he waits on his senses. "Two point seven through two point four." The droid adjusts the scanners and angles them, ironically enough, toward an area where the Imperial TIE MkII's are sweeping along. It's only a matter of time and space before one of the groups will spot the other on the fringes of their sensors.

A deep breath and a relaxing thought or two that at least nothing has happened so far runs through Krieg's mind. He calls Loki back, "Copy Shrike 4. Standby for further transmissions." Well, at least this check has come in clean, so far. They fly around a little more, chillin in the void of space, if one can even call it that. For the life of him he couldn't remember if he turned that last report in to Captain Caiton, she'd be mighty mad if he didn't have it in much before they got back. Oh well... wait... there was something coming in out of hyperspace. Fractions of a second pass as the computer's electronics fire through the analysis it was getting, Krieg tunes in and focuses to get... "Son of a Bothan!" He flicks the comm, "Shrike patrol; we've got company! Shields up; things are going to get hot fast!" His wingmen switch the tunes over to metal with alien words. Getting his own craft aligned he throttles up, preparing for imminent combat. They have the edge; they should be able to get shots off here soon.

"As ordered, Jedi One," Kyrin responds in an almost bland voice. Of course Artoo helped as well. While a human might get a touch offended that a droid's work was more praised than their own, Kyrin is not human and in too much awe of the droid's elite repair skills to protest a lack of credit for her own meager assistance. She smiles when the other pilots tease the farm boy turned Jedi, but she doesn't. "Sensors are sweeping the area," she adds. "Nothing yet... wait, check that. I am reading ships..." She gives the details over the comm. "Assume hostile until proven otherwise," she then suggests. "Be careful," she adds, mostly under her breath. Being careful is not entirely what they're being paid for. "Zulu Four, you are out of alignment. Bring yourself back to formation. You are on my wing."

Loki straightens up even more in his crash couch, his grip on the yoke getting lighter in anticipation of a dogfight. Switching on the comms again, as he begins bringing up the power to shields and weapons he addresses his group, "Charlie flight...get everything up. We have rebels trying to run the blockade. Let's show them the error of their ways gentlemen...let's light the fires and kick the tires boys." As Damien went about pressing the pedals and bringing his fighter around he thinks to himself, 'I hope there are no humans in that group. Rebel scum is bad enough...but to have to shoot down another misguided human was not what he was looking for.

"I copy," replies Luke. "Artoo, lock on to those coordinates and get a tactical. All wings, lock s-foils in attack position, ready defense maneuver Mynock Seven. Zulu Seven on my wing, let's draw them away from the freighter." With a briefly visible haze of blue energy, the shields activate around Jedi One, and the twin wings separate out into the traditional X-formation as the blaster cannons start to come online. "Accelerate to attack speed." He angles his X-wing toward the TIE patrol as it starts to come into his field of vision as six little specks of gray. Letting the Force into him, he starts to release his own control, trusting his instincts as they are cued by the mystical energy field. Just about the moment that the TIE fighters are in range, Luke lets off a series of rapid blasts from his four cannons. None of them find a target, but they weren't meant to - it was a diversion. He banks inward in an attempt to sweep back and cut across the front of the TIE's, as Zulu Seven rushes forward, banking the opposite way as she lets off a swath of superheated plasma as well.

It looked like the boredom just broke, Krieg thinks. There wasn't a whole lot of time to play around; he knew the rebels were out for blood as they were almost backed into a corner, making them dangerous. "Broadsword, this is shrike lead. We have contact with multiple X-Wing craft. Requesting reinforcements and be advised for further contacts." He gets on the comm with Loki again, thinking out a battle plan and sizing the other force up. "Shrike 4, Shrike lead. Take you flight and break for their wingmen (OOC: Kyrin's craft or NPCs). You are weapons free." He himself calls up his own flight and relays what they will be up to, preparing to engage the enemy fighters. He gets his computer to start recording the engagement and anything of note as to who they were fighting. Perhaps it was the one squadron they have engaged frequently in the past... Their formation stays tight, coming in on the enemy; the computer piping up with targeting solutions. As they get closer they quickly see they're with a freighter... "Shrike 4, Shrike lead. Give us cover." His voice has turned stone cold and professional. It was go time and they had a job to do. There's incoming fire and he leads his formation in a barrel roll away from it on a course that puts them closer to the freighter. He pushes his fighter into full speed and calls back, "Shrike 4, they'll want us to stay away from that freighter. Hang back and see if you can't get them from behind."

As Luke calls out the previously-arranged pattern to fly, Kyrin and her new wingman both shift to attack speed, S-foils locking as the pair of X-Wings echo the maneuver, but in mirror image. "Do not let them draw you away from the flight plan," she warns Zulu Four as she herself cuts inside, lasers blasting forth in a nearly perfect echo of the death being dished out by the Jedi. Zulu Four mirrors Seven, banking on the outside. "Lead," Zulu Four calls in, "I'm gettin' a sluggish stick here. She's fightin' me all the way." "Do your best," Kyrin answers calmly. Together, the two X-Wings manage to pull off the maneuver as ordered, and the Chyleni quickly looks both on her scanners and through the cockpit windows to see where the opposition is.

Loki nods to himself as he receives orders from Krieg relaying them to his wingmen, "You heard him boys. Let's slow up a bit. Charlie flight lock onto those 2 coming up and let's scare them a bit." Lining up his shots he angles for the 2 Zulu flight members coming forward and lets off a 3 quick blasts at the lead fighter while his two wing mates fire a few seconds later at the second Zulu.

Zulu Seven barely escapes without getting one of his starboard cannons fried. "Augh!" he calls out instinctively. "Poodoo!" Clearly someone familiar to Hutt Space. Zulu Seven goes a bit too far off course and is forced to bank hard to pull around, so his return fire on the back end of Loki's wingman's TIE goes too far, lashing into space. "Watch 'em," says Luke, firmly but calmly into his comm. "They're going for the freighter." He breaks from the maneuver and twists the X-wing in a hard bank to port, lining up his sights. A swath of red energy lashes out from the cannons, and they cut across the Shrike leader's path, expertly threading just far enough to keep from pegging against the bulk freighter's shields, and hopefully close enough to force the leader to alter his course and miss the chance at making an attack run. "Keep 'em busy back there, I'll shield the freighter." He follows the maneuver through, blasting past the freighter and pulling his X-Wing the other way, banking around the freighter's engines.

Krieg's flight makes its way in towards the freighter, hoping that the tactic they'd be trying to pull off would work, Loki was hanging back as ordered - hopefully they'd take the bait, but it did not seem likely this time around. He couldn't think too much about Loki but keep track of it in the back of his mind. He gets some fire that comes close to his craft; he begins to dodge but does not stop. The music is good for this sort of mission as it pushes him along and allows him to focus. They go to fire on the freighter, getting finally a good lock; their efforts don't pay off as Krieg and his one wingmen get hit. It throws the course off some, dropping the shields some but not enough to fully drop them. Whoever it was had it in mind that they shouldn't be attacking the freighter. This may be stupid, he thinks, but that freighter wasn't getting through without a few scratches. They press on, rolling to try and get his fire arc in the way of the freighter and open up with a few rounds.

Blasts from the TIE MkII's peg into the freighter's shields! Waves of blue shielding appear as the shots are absorbed, but the Shrike's got their wish - the backlash of energy scores the hull and gives the ship a good rattling. The shields remain online, but are heavily weakened by that blast - another hit on the back quarter and they'll be offline for good. "Taking fire! Taking fire!" cries the ship's captain over the open channel, with some indiscernible shouts in the background. (Luke – insert)

Ghost Four and Zulu Four split off as it goes free-weapons, although the Zulu ship is a bright boy and keeps on the Ghost's wing as ordered. Together, they arc around and line up some of the Shrikes in their sights. "I will take the leader of that group," Kyrin says into the comm, indicating Loki's craft. "You fire upon either of his wing mates. I do not care which. Keep them away from the freighter as best you can." Tilting the stick slightly to better get the TIEs in her sights, she waits, waits, waits for proper tone. "Kindly do not shoot our own ship," she adds into the comm as one of Zulu Four's blasts causes the freighter crew to squawk about who the hell's shooting now. When the targeting computer pings, the Chyleni presses the trigger that sends red bolts of death in Loki's direction.

Loki turns on his comms again, "Charlie flight...continue on course and go for that lead X-wing (Zulu-with Luke)." Switching his transmission off he begins to push his fighter 'down', but suddenly he feels his fighter rock as he is hit. Checking on his shield strength...half power that was not good. Shaking his head he continues with his maneuver pushing his fighter down for a few seconds then lightly pulls back on the yoke to bring his crosshairs onto the Zulu that was firing at his wing mates. Once the ship is in the lock he pulls back on the trigger letting loose 4 blasts from his lasers toward the Rebel's underbelly. Watching as his blasts going he hopes they hit. Then he notices bolts going from one of his wing mates towards the other Zulu flight member...the other one had been spooked from the hit from the other rebel and was now in an evasive pattern trying to regain his position.

Luke brings his X-Wing up around the other side of the freighter, flying at extremely close range. This puts him on a head-on course with the TIE that is assisting Krieg in their attack run. He pours it on, unleashing a barrage of blaster bolts, while following the Force's guidance on how to aim his ship so that the TIE remains in his fire path. The X-wing twirls about on its horizontal axis, causing the blaster fire to spin in a confusing pattern. Zulu Seven barks out a whooping shout as he manages to recover his flight path in time to avoid the blaster fire coming from Loki's wing mate. He returns fire as he skims past the TIE fighter, aiming for the enemy's wings, and blows past, putting the TIE fighters behind him. The dog fighting is intense now. As the bulk freighter pushes toward Coruscant, it’s only a matter of time before it’s close enough to the capital scale vessels orbiting Coruscant that, hopefully, the Imperials will pull off. However, as the freighter crosses the hottest zone, it will bring the two teams of fighters in close contact. At that point, the pilots will have to think just as much about not colliding with each other, as they will about shooting.

The plan they had enacted worked, they actually got a hit off on the freighter - Krieg chuckles. They probably are getting a little shaken up at that last hit, but this was no time to celebrate. He knew quickly that the other fighter that was discouraging them did not behave like a fighter of the rebels should, and has not fully attacked. There was something that scared him about this fact; something he didn't want to even admit to himself, but knew it was true somehow. He calls out to his wingmen, "Break and engage the X-Wings on Charlie flight." He himself, though, snaps down in attempts to throw off anyone following him and bringing on another angle of attack towards the lead X-Wing that locked up Loki. He finds good lock and squeezes the trigger, wishing to persuade them not to play bully on just one target.

Kyrin's X-Wing veers off when Loki manages to escape with just a dusting from her lasers. Given the freeform dancing of this little party, it's no surprise that when she reorients her ship in another run against the opposition, someone's on her tail, a position she does not like one bit. However, the pilot in that Shrike TIE is good, and the Chyleni woman is rattled in her cockpit as Krieg's lasers stitch the side of her X-Wing. Fortunately, it's on the port side as opposed to the starboard, which has been giving her trouble since the day Lynae was rescued from the Reprisal. After the first few bolts splash onto her shields, the last one actually scorching the hull on the upper port engine, Kyrin throws her X-Wing into a graceful spiral away from her attacker, trying to find her own target in the mix. Perhaps that one Shrike there? Krieg's wingman... Meanwhile, Zulu 4 is having troubles of his own as his quarry turns the tables, and the X-Wing shudders under the impact of a few laser bolts on its own. "Break left, Ghost 4, you're in my line of escape!" he shouts into the comm as he throws his X-Wing away from Krieg's wingman. Ghost 4 breaks left just in time, and the two X-Wings pass within a couple of meters of each other. If it were an aerial display for civilians, they'd get applauded. Here, they're probably gonna get chewed out by Major Mabru when they get back to the barn for stupid-fool stunts.

Loki continues to push his fighter upwards. Charlie flight was good...as he continues upwards the Shrike that was in evasive gets his fighter under controls and joins Damien on the starboard side. As they fly up they push down just a bit to bring the freighter into the crosshairs. Once they have it insight they let loose several blasts towards the escaping freighter. It was time to send a message to the rebels about trying to run the blockade...they could try but it would cost them. With him and his wingman pulling up he switches on the comm "Shrike Lead this is Shrike 4...thanks for the cover fire sir. Time to scorch these rebel scum." As he lets out the last of his comment his other wingman is angling for Luke and lets out dual bursts from his lasers.

As the freighter comes under heavy fire from the TIE fighters, the shields on the front quarter start to take a real wallop. They're barely hanging on, and the freighter's hull is getting scored left and right. Seeing this, Luke diverts his maneuvers and keeps his attention locked on the primary target, yet this time he's going for the kill. As he locks out negative emotions, the Force soars into his being and leads his actions. The X-wing barrels down on Loki's wing mate as it pummels the freighter, opening fire. Then, in a daring move, Luke banks the X-Wing away and sends out a searing array of blasts toward Krieg's wing mate as he engages the other X-Wings. Meanwhile, Zulu-Seven screams after Loki's fighter now, trying to take down another one of the Imperials while they still have the freighter in one piece.

The pilot makes a deadly attack run, it would seem his rage is being vented, Krieg is not certain but he and his wingmen pull up and out. His wingman doesn't take a hit, but it is enough to keep them moving. To his wingmen he calls out, "Disable that freighter, engines only. The other one is mine." He himself comes in and begins an attack on the lead fighter, hoping to keep it off of the other craft.

With a flash of blue, the freighter expends the last of its shields on the defenses. The aft shields go offline, but fortunately they lasted just long enough to keep the engines safe. Of course, now the crew inside is positively spooked, and having second thoughts about all of this. Ghost Four and Zulu Four recover swiftly from their near miss, and both of them angle toward Loki's wing mates, letting out blaster fire that will, they hope, narrow this gap a little. (Luke – posing for Kyrin)

Loki brings his fighter around for another run at the freighter with his wing mate at his side still. Pulling around flawlessly in unison they begin their attack run. Hearing Krieg's command he nods to himself and nudges his fighter a bit to starboard with his wing mate following lead. "Shrike 6...I want you to go after that son of a bantha (Luke) that is causing us so much..." before he could finish he saw a burst of fire ahead and upwards and all he got from six was static...his wingman had been destroyed. "Stay on target 7. I want this freighter out of action. They are gonna pay for six." As he and his wing mate near the vessel red bolts approach seven but miss completely flying wide. When both fighters are within range they each fire off 3 bursts at the engines of the freighter then pull up in an escape vector.

While the X-wings are working hard to keep the TIEs off the freighter, it seems simply to be a matter of numbers. Yes, the Empire is down one fighter, but they are still outgunned for now. Loki and his wing mate hit well. Superheated plasma clashes into the rear hull and one of the freighter's engine assemblies, mangling a portion of the hull and shutting down one of the engines completely. White sparks and hot steam bursts out into space, crystallizing behind the freighter, but fortunately the crew inside hit the emergency shutdown on the engine, and a set of blast shields collapse over the damaged engine, stopping the chain reaction before it can rupture the reactor shielding. With that, the freighter lurches a bit to one side, and is forced to slow down a little now that she's running on three engines instead of four. The dance continues, and this time Luke draws around and aims his X-Wing toward one of the fighters flanking Krieg. Once again he draws into the Force, mouth silent as he focuses clearly on the task at hand, and presses the trigger when the Force prompts him. Zulu Seven forms up on Luke's starboard side and goes into a barrel roll as she tries to peg a shot on Krieg's X-Wing. However, as the dog fighting boils at the aft end of the freighter, something else appears on the edge of sensor range. A pair of Corellian Gunships, responding from 2nd Fleet, are burning on all thrusters for the engagement, hoping that their approach will be enough to shunt away the Imperial attackers before the freighter is completely dismantled.

The opening shots to the engagement went well on both sides, but Krieg knew when they were outgunned and outnumbered. They had already lost one and at least damaged the freighter, something that was commendable based on what they were up against. However, there was no way they were even remotely going to be able to take out two gunships as they quickly approach. That was the role of a Scimitar bomber. Maybe if they had full strength out here they could have taken the freighter down, but not so today. They had wounded two of their fighters as well, and something seemed familiar about the one. But the ace pilot they had with them, it scared Krieg to even think of him. It really made him question some of the decisions he's made in his life, but that was not something to think of now. "Shrike 4, Shrike lead. Knock it off, we're bugging out." He doesn't have to say anymore, the other pilot should see the gunships coming in as well; not something they're able to tangle with today.

Loki is pulling around with his wing mate for another run at the freighter when he sees the two gunships coming their way just as the alarm goes off in his earpiece. Hearing the new command from Krieg he nods to himself switching on his comm, "Shrike 6...let's get out of here. We'll get these scum later on." Loki pulls his fighter away and with his wing mate starts to push it back towards the Broadsword. He will mourn the loss of his wing mate, but that is for later. Now he had to get out with the lives of the rest of his wing mates and himself intact.

Ghost Four and her wing mate spin about and prepare to return fire, but when the TIE's begin disengaging, they follow protocol. Their operational orders are not do pursue, only to defend. A pursuit could instigate the TIEs to return for a suicide run, and take the freighter out with themselves, which would defeat the purpose. "Form up," orders Luke calmly over the comm. "Flanking Routine Beta, get behind those gunships and vector for Reprisal." The freighter crew are shaken up, but they have survived this one. Of course, the odds of them agreeing to go along on another run like this may have just gone out the ventilators, but at least they got one shipment through. The Task Force heads away from the fray, leaving the remains of the destroyed TIE, pieces from the damaged freighter, and crystallized leakage in space behind them.