RPlog:Reclaiming Coruscant

 The space over Coruscant had become what some may call superheated. Fleets of proportions that boggle the mind have been engaging, pulling back, and taunting each other for the good part of a week. The war had raged and raged; thousands if not millions have died in all the fighting. But it was not over, not yet. There was one final move to be made when each fleet met, lashing out with the full and deadly force each was capable of. Many more would die, many others would be wounded. Such was war and battle. Heros were made from those who survived, others would be engraved in the annals of time. Such were battles like these that songs were written and talked about for all time. The epic battle tension is about to be released, each side can sense it is coming. Anticipation has all the fighter and bomber wings on each side out and about, poised and ready to attack. It seems surreal how it all happens, a fighter from one side strays too far from the main group, flashes of light flicker. The little lights turn from a localized incident to the entire sky lighting up with deadly fire - the battle starts its slow eruption. Soon the fate of a planet would be decided.

  Standing on the bridge of the Broadsword and finishing off a joint comm conference between the commanders of the Prowler, Pillager, the acting captain of the Malevolence and the squadron leaders, Captain Caiton finishes outlying the battle plan and finishes up with a few choice words of instructions. "No battle plan ever survives the first encounter with the enemy. And the enemy, a we all know, is comprised of some of our best and brightest, swayed to the side by promises of grandeur and circuses. Our plan is flexible, be adaptable, nimble, think on your feet, expect the same of your officers and help them live up to their very best, for we accept nothing less. You have your orders, and I expect to see all of you on Coruscant before this night is through." Receiving the replies via comlink, Caiton turns towards her chief navigator and extends one hand to Lt. Nelhrn, "It's an honor to serve with you, Lt. Nelhrn, happy hunting."

With the rest of the task force, the Imperial Fleet, surrounding Coruscant and engaged in multiple battles in the immediate space. The Broadsword with her escort of Prowler and Pillager are, in turn, escorted by the Malevolence. With the death of Grand Admiral Danik Kreldin the crew of the Malevolence is uniquely focused on the task at hand, that being: evict the Rebels from their foothold on Coruscant and chase them back into the fringe worlds to scrape away once more. "Lieutenant," Captain Caiton orders, "take us in."

  Keline nods in answer to her captain's commands before she keys in the sequence on the board in front of her. The Braoadsword's main engines flare into life before the ship itself moves forward toward the enemy force for the final bout. She is as composed as the rest of the crew on the task in front of them.

 There is no way, by any calculation, on any scale, that the New Republic can afford to hold Coruscant. Far away, forces are being assembled for one final push. Down on the planet, the ground forces fight to get every being that desires to leave to one base, one base that will be the last point to be held on the planet. The fallback is carefully organized, staggered waves that peel away the Republic's presence. That not all are sorry to see them go is obvious enough.

Aboard the Reprisal and the Fusillade, two of the star destroyers present still in the system, all fighters are scrambled. Gunships are withdrawn from their defense of the planet's space platforms, pulling back with the other corvettes to rendezvous near the massive capital ships still holding the line of the New Republic's defenses. There is no hiding preparations this large, for either side, and the New Republic races time to get their people assembled and prepared to flee before the Empire chooses, out of boredom or spite, to attack.

As the sun breaks the far horizon, the first jewel of it showing against the planet's edge as seen from the Reprisal, the remainder of the New Republic reinforcements come shimmering out of hyperspace and into place among the standing fleet. "Reprisal to Fleet," comes the command from the Bridge. "Proceed with Operation Anti-Twilight."

  There are hundreds of ships in the space over Coruscant, each grouped with it own mission. Some to attack, so to defend, yet all have one thing on their collective minds. And that is the death or destruction of their enemy. For the Imperial fighter group, they have another goal, to break through the New Republic picket line creating a fighter gap in the line for the fleet to exploit. The Pilots they face just want to stop that from happening, And are equally willing to fight tooth and nail to stop the Imperial threat.

The Leader for the Imperial fighter corps is Commander Jal'Dana Rall, bull headed and aggressive she has no illusions as to what they must achieve this day, the very balance of the battle hinges upon her success. Failure is not an option, just death or success. The losses in this campaign to gain back the Imperial Center have been staggering on both sides, The Republic forces hoping to exploit the loss of Grand Admiral Kreldin are in for a shock if they think the Imperial Battle Group is going to roll over and quit.

TIE fighter pilots represent the elite of the Imperial Navy, having undergone grueling physical and psychological testing to achieve their ranks. Only 10 percent of prospective candidates are chosen for duty. Even fewer live through 10 combat missions, those that fly with Jal'Dana are a mix of combat veterans or raw rookies, on the Republic side, the mix is the same. The battle groups have TIE Bombers, X-wings, Interceptors, A-Wings and a menagerie of other craft destined to become wreckage. Tonight, everyone is the hero of their own story as the two fleets collide. Opening the communications frequency to her combat grouping Jal'Dana radios in a cool and collected voice, "It is well that war is so terrible; else we grow too fond of it. Let's make the New Republic loath the very thought of it. Our orders are clear, weapons hot, engage at will attack pattern Theta Theta Sigma"

  Another day, another fight. Blue Squadron, a mixture of B-Wings and A-Wings, form in two separate ranks, the A-Wings holding back to let the slower B-Wings keep up for now. Blue Leader, riding one of the B-Wings, acknowledges the order from Reprisal and then orders the other five B-Wings to open their S-foils and increase speed. As they near the Imperials, the A-Wings dart forward and begin attacking any TIE Interceptors in their path. Meanwhile, the squadron leader finds himself a nice Interceptor target and locks on, firing upon it.



 As for Krieg, the squadron seemed like it never stopped flying missions during this battle. There was always a demand for them, but the fact they were overtaxed never came into the equation. The loss of the grand admiral had an unforseen impact, negative at first. However, as the thought of the NR doing all this to the old man soaked in the thoughts of all the pilots turned to a rage. Each one of them was out for blood today. Taking Ensign Alex, Krieg calls the pilots. "Our mission here is to break through their battle lines and engage any ships that are trying to leave. Seems we'll be getting some stiff opposition, however, we do not need to destroy our targets, just disable. We'll be fighting our way through the entire time today; fly well. It's been an honor serving with you all." He takes his fighter and has the formation stay on him, moving in at high speed. Seems one of the other younger pilots got too far out today... It was bound to happen sooner or later. This battle needed to come to an end - fast.

 Seems his time has come yet again, although the last few times he's been on the bridge, there have been no battles, so he can't be the bad luck charm. But this day, clearly a battle to be remembered for the age will be fought, one whom many holonovels will be written about(who, hoping, Rasi will play a glorious non-fatal part), in other words, a huge battle. Rasi's at one of the secondary, if not tertiary, control consoles for some of the Reprisal's batteries. Prepped and ready to do some Imp-shooting as he's taken to calling it, but not his idea.

  Forming up with the rest of Black Squadron, Alex brings her TIE into formation on the wing of Shrike-lead. Running the pre-battle check is always fun when there are multiple targets to select from. With their orders relayed from the top of the food chain on down, their orders are clear, the computer enumerating the tactical readout and the targeting options available. "Alpha-4 to Shrike Lead," she begins, opening up the channel in reply, "it is an honor to serve with you as well. " With that, she remembers, disable don't destroy, disable don't destroy. If possible, that is.



<Vengan> "Join the Marines, they said. See the galaxy, they said." Vengan's lips compress into a thin line, so tightly that the blood is forced from them. He grins, feebly, at the attractive technician strapping him into place. "I'd rather be sailing. Any chance of a good luck kiss?" he asks, his voice nervous. The technician giggles, leaning down to brush lips against Vengan's cheek, before stepping away.

"Oh, thanks!" Vengan calls insincerely, as the hatch closes. He tries to shift a bit. A screen near his face flickers on, barely an inch from his nose. <Ok, Lt. Draelis. We're activating the inertial dampeners. You won't be able to scratch your nose, but hopefully this'll keep your brains intact.>

"HOPEFULLY?"

Meanwhile, a long, slender object is being loaded into a torpedo launch tube. The cylinder is roughly seven meters long and perhaps a meter and a half in circumference. Its tip is capped with a vicious looking conical spike, and it looks meant to do some damage. Inside it is one 2nd Lt. Vengan Draelis, firmly strapped in place and watching a countdown timer on the screen at his nose. A blue field shimmers into place around the man, utterly paralyzing him. Even his eyes cannot seem to twitch, albeit in the near absolute dark, that would be a difficult thing to discern.

On the bridge, a gunner makes his target. "Alignment, positive. Inclination, positive. Target acquired. Target lock. Request go." Someone flashes a thumbs up. "Firing."

In the vastness of space, amidst the raging space battle, a black torpedo is flung at incredible speed into space, screaming towards one of the Imperial Star Destroyers. It nears, closing the space in moments, angling to strike at the aft portion of the vessel.

Once it strikes, however, there is no explosion. The hull ruptures, crumpling around the sleek tube as it firmly embeds itself in the side of the Destroyer like a great dart flung from a giant's hand. Air whooshes from the impact site, sparks fly, and a blue static field shimmers into place, sealing the breach. Inside of the torpedo, however, the smaller field deactivates, oxygen flooding the interior. Vengan comes awake in a rush, kicking off the access panel after a few panicked moments. The Marine clambers out of the tube, a heavy blaster in his hand and 36-T rifle and rucksack on his back. He wears Marine combat armor and a thick helmet, the kind designed for troops about to engage in vicious close-quarters combat. He flashes the corridor with the blaster barrel, looking for enemies, seeing none. Vengan consults a PAD, then maneuvers around the hull breach and starts jogging through an access corridor, moving into the Destroyer's heart.

<SPACE> <Broadsword> Pulling up a battle schematic, Caiton outlines the formation that the quartet of ships will be approaching in, "The Prowler and Pillager are going to come in low, below the plane of the battle, engaging any bombers or attack cruisers that the rebels throw at us. The Malevolence will come in from this angle," she explains, highlighting the path of the Malevolence, "And we'll come in from this angle, taking the high road and engaging any ships that try to sneak up on the Malevolence from this vector." She calls up another screen and indicates one of the other assets of the battle plan, "Signal the captains of the shuttles to begin their approach vector. Keep low on the field of battle, do not engage, I repeat, do not engage enemy craft until ordered."

<SPACE> <Kesander22>

For the Corellian piloting Ghost 7, the past days have been largely a blur. Little sleep and a lot of time spent in the cockpit, either supporting ground forces or tangling with the Imperial fleet. But having managed a few hours of sleep, the treating of some injuries, and the acquisition of a new flight suit, Kesander Beysarus once again finds himself launching into the star-spangled blackness of space. Forming up with Ghost Squadron and her sister squadrons, the Flight Office sets about the assignment he and his comrades have been tasked with: Protect the frieghters and the ships carrying those who are escaping this hellish maelstrom of battle. With a grim aspect, the pilot begins to scan his scopes, picking out the targets that begin to multiply like droplets in a rain storm. "Ghost 7 to flight leader. S-Foils locked and accelerating to attack speed on vector provided by Doomsday. Sandman, out."

<SPACE> <Blake14> This would be Blake Hishinko's second real battle - And boy, it was a doozy. With numbers, Hishinko's Falcon 8 had been ordered to help bolster Blue Squadron's persuits, and the young man was quick to accept. Now, it was different, as the order is given to go forward. Much like his quicker companions, the Falcon8 speeds ahead of most of the Rebels, to engage in skimishing. "Come on baby," Blake whispers lowly, "Let's prove how quick you can be." It's not long for Blake to prove how quick that is, for soon blaster fire darts all around the ships, with Blake having to twist and weave just to avoid being collateral. After the initial hail ends, Blake makes his move, zeroing on a TIE Intercepter and letting loose with his guns. <<"Lets's go kiddies, show these dogs how the Republic fights!">>

<SPACE> <Broadsword> Keline watches the schematic as Lynae points out the various paths, nodding as each as explains, before she turns back to her console. She keys in the nav path before she opens a communications channel before she broadcasts a message. "All shuttles, this is the bridge. You are cleared to begin your approach vector. You are ordered to keep low and do not engage. That is all." *She closes the channel and then turns back to the nav screen as she continues to make corrections to the Broadsword's course.

<SPACE> <Jal'Dana1I> The fight is joined and the TIEs and enemy craft mix in a deadly dance of lasers and afterburners. Jal'Dana has found herself with a green pilot form a brother flight on her wing, jerky and rushed his motions are of mild concern, however his fate is not. "Stay close, and you'll be fine" it was the best she could offer him, as her HUD registered a X-Wing sweeping into her kill zone perusing a TIE interceptor restlessly. Pushing down on the control stick, the TIE's solar panels dip, putting all tips on target with the Icom fighter. Green orbs seem to grow on the points for a millisecond before the streaks of light rush forward reaching out to touch the craft.

<SPACE> <Aramis-1-4> Falcon-2 drops out of the Reprisal in formation with the rest of the squadron, turns, and dives for the freighters labouring to clear atmosphere below. The Susshado and the Fen'tili are a pair of smuggling ships leading the breakout from below, carrying human cargo this time. Aramis saw them rigging up the safety netting in both ships on his last visit to the Starport. It was one thing to be escorting freighters in and out during Shado Kolpo - most of the lives on the line were abstract - but this is completely new. The freighters and their escorts from below look rather naked in the dawn light. Aramis targets an incoming Interceptor and breaks off from the group. "Falcon Two, intercepting incoming."

<SPACE> <NRFleet> The Fusillade, carrying a skeleton crew, is first into the fray. She is flanked by her gunships Dragoon and Harrow, above her comes the carrack Jack Cade, looking to avenge her sister, Red Star. "Fusillade to Cade," the captain says, some lightness in her voice. "Engage at will. Dragoon and Harrow, accompany. Dedication and Crux, approach on my mark." The large ships cruise into positions, looking ponderous even in the weightlessness of space. The Fusillade's fighter squadrons, adopted from the fallen Admiral Rishar for this fight, Eagle, Rapier, and Vega, are arrayed around her light flecks of silver snow, shining brighter as the sun rises.

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Blue Leader's ship comes under fire, and one of the A-Wings, Blue 2, goes up in a fireball as incoming Imperial fire goes right up their guns and sets up a chain reaction. The B-Wing of the squadron leader shifts on its cockpit's axis as his shots go wide, and he mutters something. Behind him, Blue 3, another B-Wing, takes a hit on the long wing, but the female pilot within doesn't hesitate, thumbing the trigger upon another TIE Interceptor that's harrying her leader.

<SPACE> <Blake14> Blake grunts his approval as his hud registers a hit, but frowns as the Intercepter doesn't expode. Oh, sparks were flying out of the NPC units, but it seems the Falcon 8's job isn't yet complete. About to sweep in to finish it off, alarms go off, and Blake barely pushes his stick up in time to avoid a hail of fire from an enemy TIE... this particular pilot seeming more skilled than ones before. "Crap... I'll deal with you in a minute, haus," Blake mutters, as if he expected the enemy to hear it, before veering suddenly. The next set of blasts are targeted at the still limping TIE, hopefully enough to bring it down before the Falcon 8 levels, again. All the while, explosions rock meters away from A-Wings and TIEs turning to scrap

<SPACE> <Krieg-2-1> The battle heats, there are things going on everywhere. There is so much happening that he has barely time to think things over when the enemy fighters start to attack. He barrels in on the enemy, taking the fighter down into the atmosphere. He opens up with the lasers, engaging the front line of NPC rebel fighters. The targetting computer is going wild, he barely has time to lock and fire with all the commotion everywhere. As for his wingmen he calls, "Make sure to keep a good line of attack, don't worry about the fire. If you're going to get hit it will happen anyway." He darts in, charging the battle.

<Reprisal> As the Reprisal's command is processed by the Fleet, the Commander aboard the bridge moves back to his seat, smoothly sitting down on it and crossing his right leg over the other. The man, whoever it might be, is not as calm as he seems to be, but he knows that he must at least give the impression of doing that for his crew's sake. And it works on Rasi, the young gunner having taken a good, long look at him and relaxed whatever frayed nerves there were. A few calming breaths, and he is once again his usual self. Calm, cool, perhaps even cold as some call him, if not entirely collected. He waits but for one thing, the order to commence battle, for the Reprisal anyway, already working on firing solutions for all nearby enemy vessels. But the Reprisal does not move immediately into the thick of things, its Commander waiting to see how htings are before deciding on where the Cap is needed most.

<SPACE> <Jal'Dana 1-I> The craft she was aiming for slips and dodges the TIE's shot, the lasers passing harmlessly by. That always seemed to be the way it worked for the imperial pilot, Jal'Dana never connected with her first shot. Flying less by sensors and move by sight, she looks out her front viewport, the large opening giving the woman a great field of vision, rolling her ship in a wide arc, she keeps pace with a nimble A-wing, darting through the Imperial formation. They are still on the outskirts of the picket line, and need to protect the bombers that will punch the hole through. Again, she depressed the trigger and like arrows the bolts shoot forth towards the intended target.

<SPACE> <Kesander:2:2> Kesander's eyes view the collision of the opposing forces with something akin to a business-like interest. This fight has gone on too long for wonderment or awe. It's another slaughter; perhaps the greatest. "Well, I'll get my licks in, that's for certian," mutters the Corellian to himself as he and his flight sweep between the on-comming Imperials and the escaping frieghters. Picking the TIE that happens to be closest to the site reticle in his heads up display, the blond-haired flight officer switches to quad laser mode and squeezes his weapons trigger, sending a hail of hell-fire red laser bolts at his target.

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Blue 4 goes up like a family's fireworks on holidays when Jal'Dana roasts it, the pilot within hardly having time to scream before becoming something less than alive. Blue Leader swears into the squadron comm and orders the ships to form up in pairs, the even-numbered ships linking up, pairs of A-Wings, the odd-numbered ships pairs of B-Wings. With Blue 3 on his wing, still limping along, the philosophical man chosen to lead the squadron spins his ship around, ignoring a shot on his short left wing that does little damage, barely getting through the shields. He continues firing upon the nearest Imperial ship, Jal'Dana's wingmate.

<SPACE> <EmpFleet> With the tactical officer calling out the first attack on one of the ISD's in the fleet, Captain Caiton nods, having expected that sooner than later, and finds her expectations met accordingly. "As to be expected," she replies, pulling up the screen that displays the fighters from that particular ISD peeling off to meet the threat. Tracking the course of the Malevolence as it continues towards the Reprisal, Caiton speaks to Nelhrn once more, "Bring us in on this vector, keep us high, begin evasive maneuvers." She addresses the Tactical officer again, "Fire when ready," seeing the Prowler and Pillager already opening fire on their own. The Malevolence begins it's opening salvo on the Reprisal as both capital ships advance upon each other with the battle engaged on all sides.

<SPACE> <Alex:2.3> Alpha-4 grins suddenly, her sense of humor oddly piqued by combat, and guides her fighter into a neat roll and dives down beneath the nearest enemy, evading the incoming fire and continuing the roll to target the nearest A-wing on her screen.

<SPACE> <Blake:1:4> This time, the Falcon's blasts tear through the TIE's hull, turning it to scrap, which causes Blake to give a momentary cheer. "Oh hell yes!" He cries, before the warning sirens go off. Despite his relative inexperience, Blake had some good reflexes, and hsi training helps him again as he swerves to the side seconds before the energy would collide with him. "I guess it's time to play with you then, eh haus? Don't you know how hard Rabbit's are to catch when they got a mind to it?" The talking helped. It helped a lot. Silence reminded Blake too much that he was in a battle that could very well kill him. The talking provided some focus for the things he could control. And he could control returning fire. With a corkscrew and a sudden vert lift, Blake gets to the TIE's flank and fires a few blasts.

<SPACE> <Aramis-2-4> Aramis sets his sights on the interceptor coming toward him and, tipping on his side relative to the other, he puts his thrusters on full. Noone likes it when he does that in the sims, and less in person. "Come on, baby, do me right," he says to his little ship. He blows past the range at which he could be a target faster than most people can react and fires both guns at the Interceptor. The hit is perfect, solid and head-on. There's a flare of light that doubles as the shields blow and the arrays explode. As Aramis rolls head-down, he can see fire in the cockpit and the clear shielding starting to crack from the impact of his shots. "Good luck with that," he mutters, and pulls up.

<SPACE> <Broadsword> Keline nods to show she heard her captains commands as she glances down at her screen, checking the ship's current course, as she adds more power to the engines as she continues to angle the ship up to the requested position while trying to keep the underbelly of the ship free from as much enemy fire as possible.

<SPACE> <Reprisal> It would seem that Rasi's pre-prepared targetting was a good thing, or perhaps he was just lucky, the young man inputting the command to fire, and his guns, along with all those that can target the Malevolence open fire on it. The guns unleashing a heavy barrage of red-coloured lasers much of them aimed at a single target. The oh-so exposed bridge of the ISSD. The Commander having issued the command to open fire with utmost calm, though his voice betrays the slightest tighteness. In the same time, the vessel begins to slowly creep into a new positioning, attempting to keep the Malevolence between it and whatever incoming destroyers are headed its way.

<SPACE> <Jal'Dana 1-I> The A-wings shields absorb the green lasers like dry earth takes on water, leaving no make of the passing. Yet the craft turns and fires directly on her craft. The unexpected move give Jal'Dana little time to react and the red lasers rip through her shields, blowing out the controls on them and scoring pot marks up along the left solar panel. The jolt rattles the cockpit and snaps the woman's head around, but she regains focus quickly. With little choice she mashes down on the fire control, answering the A-wings volley with one of her own before rolling her scorched ship in another direction.

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Blue 11, a B-Wing partnered with 9, scores some light hits on a TIE Interceptor, causing the pilot to cheer in his cockpit, but return fire from Jal'Dana and her peers is enough to cause that cheer to die in his throat. 11's cockpit seems to have gotten cracked in the fusillade on the squadron, and it's leaking air bad. Lead checks on them, but there's nothing to be done. 11 ejects safely, and the B-Wing explodes behind him. "They'll take it outta my paycheck..." the pilot laments within the lifesupport gear, praying to his favorite gods that he's not killed by stray fire in the deadly confrontation.

<Krieg-2-1> Taking fire at the closest ships Krieg fires again, the first rounds sinking directly into an x-wing; blowing it into tiny pieces. There were too many targets here to be stopping, and so he continues to fire, making sure to get good lock. Moving from craft to craft and diving and spiraling in and out of danger he makes his way through, somehow to where the civilian ships are coming out. But there was too much protection to engage them just yet. His shields sizzle as another blast comes past, but he's able to make it out. There was heavy resistance; he was doing all that he could not to get hit while taking them full on. Capital ship fire almost takes him out, but he steers clear, keeping the power at max.

<SPACE> <NRFleet> The Fusillade follows the Jack Cade into the fray, her smaller guns and her gunships Dedication and Crux keeping the bombers at bay while her big guns fill the sky over Coruscant with fire to cover Jack Cade, Dragoon, and Harrow. <Fusillade to Monarch,> the captain calls. <You may make your approach in my wake. Offset ninety-degrees. Ware the Reprisal at all times.>

From the Jack Cade to the Dragoon and Harrow comes the call, <Triad formation, keep it tight. We're going at the big guns.> When the smaller ships work in unison, they can provide some of the fire of the monstrosities with far more maneuverability. The three take aim for the Victory, the captain of the Cade laughing all the while. "Terrible name for a ship," he tells his first mate.

<SPACE> <Blake:1:4> In the battle of reflexes and heavy gunfire, it was impossible to remain unscratched. ALthough Blake has a moment of relief when he confirms a hit, the lax moment costs him a flick later, when laters penetrate through his shields and rupture the left wing. There's a momentary flicker of power failure, but Blake quickly readjusts his computers, and with a jolt, the thrusters return to full. <<"Falcon 8 to Blue Squadron. Just a rough shake up, I'm okay. How are you folks handling things?">> Even as he speaks, he's reaquiring that damnable pilot, leveling his ship for a good strike. "This guy's gotta be an ace or something," Hishinko to mutters, mostly to himself as he fires. After all, who else would stay so level after his first attack?

<SPACE> <Kesander:2:2> Kesander's salvo lands solidly on a TIE interceptor, blowing through its shields and breaking off some bits of its wings. However, the Corellian does not have an opportunity to deliver the coup de grace on that poor bastard. Fire from Alpha-4 intended for one of the A-Wings in this scrap misses its intended mark and falls on Ghost-7 instead. "Aragh!" Barks the Flight Officer as the green daggers of death pound his shields, leaving dark carbon scoring on his hull. Some sparks from an instrument panel also cause some concern. "R2," says the pilot to his Astromech. "Keep track of powerlevels, bleed off any ionization we pick up. I don't wanna get roasted in here again." As the droid beeps it's acknowledgement, the X-Wing driver rolls and banks hard, comming around on a vector that puts Alpha-4 in front of him. Shooting on instinct as much as on the data in his heads up display, the blond-haired man squeezes his weapons trigger, letting his four laser cannon belch forth hot red bolts of death at the streaking TIE.

<SPACE> <Alex:2.3> Alpha-4 --Seeing her shot miss the A-wing entirely but hit one of the X-wings instead, Alex examines Ghost-7 with her sensors while beginning her evasive maneuvers. Tracing the path of Ghost-7 as he spins around and ends up behind her TIE, Alex listens to the sensor warnings of incoming fire and banks a hard roll to port, doing her best to evade the incoming fire with the hope of turning the same maneuver back on him.

<SPACE> <EmpFleet> Spotting the Cade, Dragoon and Harrow aiming at the VSD Victory, Caiton grins suddenly, "It's about time they pay attention," she says aloud. "Bring us about," she orders, "Open fire on the Fusillade," she says, issuing the order and letting her tactical officer take care of that while she signals the shuttles to advance again, sending the coordinates to advance to without speaking the order, just transmitting it this time. The Malevolence shifts fire to the Fullisade, away from the Reprisal, as those ships maneuver in the path of their incoming fire. "Concentrate fire on the Cade while the Malevolence takes care of the Fullisade." Opening the link to the Prowler and Pillager she continues, "Pick your targets, fire on the Dragoon and Harrow, clear the path to the Reprisal."

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Aboard Blue One, the handsome squadron leader frowns. "We're fine, Falcon 8, keep yourself safe out there or Archilles will have my head on a pike." He lines up another member of Jal'Dana's squadron in the fight and blasts away, but the B-Wing coughs once before spitting out the stream of deadly lasers. Behind him, Blue 6, an A-Wing, twists and dives in an effort to evade an Interceptor on her six... to no avail. The Imperial zooms through the remains of the Republic ship as it explodes in incandescent fire and smoke.

<SPACE> <Blake:1:4> Brer curses slightly as his shots veer wide, but this time he doesn't keep his pants down, immedeatly pulsing his thrusters. The enemy was really good, but fate seemed to smile on Blake for just a moment. "Let's hope I can get lucky again," he mutters to himself breaking his contact at his nemsis just for a second to check the status on blue. Crap. The TIE squadron must have been damn good. "Can't say you guys are pansies," he admits lowering his visors again, trying to keep a steady track of that one pesky Ace, letting loose another volley.

<SPACE> <SCENE POSE> The two fleets are engaging on an epic proportion, capital ship fire was everywhere. Concentrated fire from the super star destroyer and the Imperial fleet takes its toll upon the larger New Republic ships. Their shields are not able to handle the firepower and soon flicker out on two Republic heavy cruisers. However, the armor of these ships was much thicker than the shields could ever provide, and thus it was far from over. A gap is begining to form (Efforts of Group 1), and is noticed by Republic commanders. They send in one of their victory class star destroyers in attempts to seal it. However, the Imperial fleet notices this action as well, sending two Dreadnaughts and two bomber wings. A channel is opened to commander Rall. "Commander Jal'Dana, this is Captain Verga along with Captain Lotin (Their dreadnaughts are very noticible). We have sent two bomber wings to your command. Take your pilots and escort those bombers through the gap. The star destroyer stops there." As for the Republic fleet, the NR fighters get, "All New Republic fighters, take out those bombers! We'll take the Dreadnaughts!"

On another front, a small NR corvette loaded with troops makes its way to a Imperial victory star destroyer. The NR has two heavy cruisers that converge on it, opening up. Under concentrated fire the victory's shields flail, then go out. This provides the corvette an opening as it is engaged with the cruisers

Aboard the Broadsword, they take a direct hit from a NR capital ship. Normally the shields would take the blast as they do now, but they ionize the controls for navigation. Keline's console totally blows out; the only way for her to get navigation back is to go to the auxillary bridge. Klaxons sound throughout the ship; it seems the last blast had damaged electrical in places and created a few fires throughout the ship.

<SPACE> <Aramis-2-4> Aramis rolls away from the crippled interceptor to dive at one heading too close to the freighters. He picks up the interceptor on his tail - it takes the bait - and goes whizzing off after another. The dual fire from his guns nails the second right up between the tailpipes and it goes spinning off while the pilot tries to activate the fire suppression system. Aramis takes a look behind him and whistles cheerily.

<SPACE> Now that she has the Broadsword on the proper plane she now plots a new course, her fingers moving quickly, to change the Broadsword changes it's trajectory so that the ship's guns will be able to pour as much fire on the Fusillade as possible with still remaining mobile enough to evade and return fire. Needless to say she was busy enough at this before her console blew out of her. She jumps backward, covering her face with her arms to shield her from the sparks, as she quickly hets up from her chair as she turns to Lynae. She raises her voice over the klaxons, but she does not sound panicky. "Permission to go to the auxillary bridge ,Captain?"

<NRSD Reprisal> With the NRCVs Hydra and Jauk there to cover its tail in case any vessels would try to dock it, and at the same time doing the dual role of harrying any vessels attempting to intercept the escaping vessels filled with evacuees. The Reprisal's Commander is content to exchange volleys with the Malevolence, though he knows that this can not continue, after all it is an SSD, and the Reprisal's clearly not. Already effects of the salvo(s) are being seen onboard the Reprisal. Rasi does not stop firing because they are no longer targetted though, the Reprisal's guns continue to open fire on it before the vessel begins to move. Seeking to find an advantageous position in this battle, one where they won't actually fire on their own, and they target the Malevolence.

<SPACE> <Vengan> As Vengan's one-man torpedo, in actuality a modified escape pod, slashes through space, an agile Corellian Corvette cuts alongside, firing a heavy salvo into the Victory-Class Star Destroyer's hull. Though by itself the lean Corvette is nowhere near capable of taking a Victory-class Destroyer down, it does punch a fairly large hole in her defenses, drawing just enough fire for the pod to slink through. It peels off, shields crackling as a volley of turbolaser bolts strafe her reinforced hull. The Corvette is painted black, virtually invisible with her power down. Even with her engines blazing full, she is difficult to discern to a passing eye, especially as she holds position far and away from the vessel in question.

Inside the Destroyer, Vengan moves through oddly quiet corridors. His blaster is out and ready, his lucky wood-handled DL-44. The weapon hums, a slight charge in the secondary buffer chamber. Red lights paint the walls sanguine, the vessel running on high red alert.

Vengan pushes a button, the door sliding open with a hiss of pneumatics. The Marine rushes into the huge, bay-sized power room quickly, blaster high. Three lone technicians turn to him, their jaws dropping in shock. "Hey...you don't have clearance..." one of them begins.

Vengan starts shooting, rapidly, three quick shots. Two technicians are taken entirely by suprised, the bolts hitting their chests. The third turns, starts to run, and takes a bolt in the side of the head, dropping in a sodden mass.

With professional, practiced motions, Vengan holsters his sidearm, reaching into his rucksack for a pair of chunky looking detonators. Ferroplast, coupled with an oversized thermal detonator. He slaps one onto each side of a massive, humming generator, setting the timer for five minutes. The Marine rucks back up, flickering his headset on.

<Raider Assault, this is Raider Prime. Charges set. Five minutes...now.> He activates both the explosives, then slips out of the room with a high degree of giddyup in his steps, fairly booking it out of the aft engine area.

<SPACE> <Jal'Dana 1-I> Again that A-wing is all over Jal'Dana's TIE as it jukes and jives to stay out of the fire. 'Who needs shields' the imperial Ace says to herself as the comm. Unit in her ear transmits a new message. Tapping one of the buttons on the control arm she radios her Interceptors, "Ok, cover the bombers, they'll be making on run towards that Star Destroyer. We're making headwaykeep it up"

Viper I white shading makes it stand out in the field of black TIEs, and therefore it is clear as day to her wingmen as she refocuses the attack on the squadron of B-wings trying to hold the line, "Wipe them out.all of them" comes the order and the swarm moves into the gap, running the gauntlet of fire.

<SPACE> <Krieg-2-1> Another good hit on a NR target, the remains of another x-wing flail about in space, making Krieg smile. That was one less they had to worry about. In doing this, he had opened up a path to engage a few transports attempting to leave. From what he knew they were all loaded with military supplies (Which isn't the case, but he wasn't briefed that). He opens up on the freighter, dodging fire and keeping away from the other ships. But just after he opens fire he notes that several NR gunships are headed his way. In the past he would have flown away, but today he needed to provide cover for his wingmen that were engaging the enemy craft. He comes about, dodging fire and sets up for a new attack run.

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Blue Leader stops swearing and begins praying as the Imperials come at them all-in. "Take out those bombers!" he orders his people, including Blake in that order, the entire remaining squadron wheeling as one to meet the Bombers. Each ship in the squadron tries to fire as soon as they get even something resembling tone. Deadly red lasers streaking across the cluttered space between the two groups, some splashing on shields.

<SPACE> <Kesander:2:2> Ghost-7's driver grins at the fact that his shots at Alpha-4 had any effect at all, but the sheer volume of the firey hurly-burly causes him to lose visual on that particular target. Looking down at his scopes, the Corellian notes the blib designating Alpha-4 fall away to his side as the X-Wing tears through space. "Well, I'm sure I'll see that one again," mutters the Flight Officer, who simply locks up the next available TIE that's moving to fire on the Frieghters. The target and the reticle in his heads up display coincide long enough for the pilot to squeeze his weapons triggers, sending forth a hail of red laser bolts once more.

<SPACE> <Sarai 1-3> Sarai zooms after Jal'Dana and the bombers, pressing her luck as she listens to her commanders orders. Luck is with her as her fighter narrowly avoids the shots fired from a Bomber that she goes after. The battle rages on aroudn her, but she pays no attention but to the space around her and the bomber set in her sight.

<SPACE> <Blake:1:4> It's a mix of regret and relief when the communications give the new order to Blake. He was completely intent on taking down that Ace, but at the same time, he had a sinking feeling that such a kill was out of the books. Perhaps he was the lucky one on this day. Either way, Blake takes a moment to press a series of keys, directing his communicators to that enemy fighter. <<"Not bad, Imp, not bad. Maybe another day, we'll see.">> And with that, the Falcon 8 returns to formation with the blue group. <<"Aye aye, Blue Commander. Consider the bombers dusted.">> Before he even finishes speaking, he's targeting the TIE Bombers, timing his barrage with a few nearby A-Wings to maximize the odds. "FalEi, you've done good. Soon as this is over, I'm giving you a new waxing. Just keep firing true."

<SPACE> <Alex:2.3>Alpha-4 --Taking light damage to her shields, Alex rotates her shields accordingly, continuing the roll and spinning away from Ghost-7 for the moment, taking a pot-shot at another A-wing before she begins the curve back towards Ghost-7. Keeping her shields rotated as she makes the roll, "The enemy gate is down," she murmurs, referring to the position of her TIE to Ghost-7. Briefly as she spins around, the bottom of the TIE faces Ghost-7 before spinning again, rather glad she doesn't get space sick or suffer from vertigo. She see's one of the TIE's from the Basilisk group take a damaging hit that put's it out of the battle. With a muttered oath she brings her TIE around seeking to line up for a second pass.

<SPACE> <Aramis-2-4> Aramis charges a bomber at full throttle, dodging the Interceptor on his tail. At the last minute, as the bomber is locking on him, he dives and the bomber and interceptor catch each other full on with their fire. There's twin blooms of fire behind him as the two accidentally engage. Aramis doesn't stay around for the damage count. He opens fire at another bomber taking a run at a freighter loaded with hospital supplies. The fire takes out an engine and the bomber spirals away toward Coruscant's sun-blushed atmosphere.

<SPACE> <Krieg-2-1> Making his way through the different firefights and dodging he calls stating what he is doing. "Shrikes, continue engagement. I'm engaging the gunships." He notes about this time that the frieghter he hit earlier has its engines blown out - at least it was disabled. He makes his way around and comes in off the rear arc of one of the gunships. They had made the mistake of loosening their formation to increase their firepower. He knows he's leaving some of the other pilots, but they were going to be in a whole world of hurt if he didn't engage now. Getting a good lock on the engines, he was hoping to disable them, stopping them to keep them as a platform for fire instead of an actual target. He opens up and spiral out, clearing the craft but running a gauntlet of fire no fighter should ever be making. His shields sizzle and crackle as the power depletes. He doesn't have a lot of shields to work with, but this was almost to the point he needed to break off, but he goes back in for another round of attacking. The gunships batteries were taking a toll on their bombers; just as he thinks that another scimitar's ejection pod is triggered.

<SPACE> <Jal'Dana 1-I> Reverse flying through the formation of B-wings, the white TIE catches a pilot napping and lights up his afterburners a controlled burst of fire. At the same time a NR coded transmission plays over her one open channel. 'Ok, she thinks to herself, I'll answer in a moment. Not even checking to see if she scored a kill the Interceptors join up with the bomber group. Taking up a position off the lead bomber's wing, Jal'Dana positions her fighter to fend off the rentless attack of the B-wings. "Hold your firehold you're fire" she tells the group, as a few of the bomber's begin to break apart under the enemy's wilting fire. "Holdhold" and as soon as the HUD lets the honey haired woman know they are at the perfect range "NOW!" and with a burst of bluewhite light marks the contrails of the torpedoes as the race towards the Republic Star Destroyer.

<SPACE> <EmpFleet> <Broadsword>"Permission granted," Captain Caiton replies to Lt. Nelhrn, making the rounds of the bridge crew quickly to round every available crew member into the turbo lift for the trip to the auxiliary bridge. It'll take a few moments to get everything routed from there, but she's confident that Nelhrn will see to it. "I'll be there with the next group," she says while helping the tactical officer to his feet. Pressing one hand against the side of her face, she cups the headset to speak into the mic, "Continue firing on the Cade, Dragoon and Harrow, we'll be rejoining you shortly," she orders to the Pillager and Prowler before ducking into the Turbolift and taking it down to the auxiliary bridge.

<SPACE> <NRFleet> Cade sends Harrow and Dragoon out to flank as it drops speed to draw the Victory in. As she approaches, the three streak her sides with fire and Vega Squadron is freed up by the Fusillade to accompany them and lay down bomber fire. Fusillade sits back for the moment and strafes the area with fire, Dedication and Crux with her. When an Imperial corvette veers too close, Dedication peels away to take the enemy on along with half of Eagle Squadron. As ordered by the Fusillade, Monarch is coming up and over the Reprisal like a rising star and taking a new angle of attack on the Imperial fleet, awaiting orders to allow her to plunge into them like a knife and scatted them for the Fusillade to move to a new position.

<SPACE> <Kesander:2:2> Kesander smiles with a feral mirth as his fire squarely strikes the intended TIE Interceptor, shredding it's shields and blowing a sizeable hole in the central pod of the Imperial starfighter, causing that doomed ship to explode in a scintillating cloud of incandescent particles. Banking away from the glowing cloud, Sandman finds a Scimitar Bomber on his new vector heading. "Never rains, but it pours," mutters the Corellian to himself. A quick check of his scopes and what's visible in the space behind his ship seems to suggest that there's no one trying to kill him right this second. Returning his attention to the bomber visible in his heads up display, the blond-haired pilot fires yet again, all four laser spitting red burning death at his intended target.

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Blue Leader lights up the shields of one of those TIE bombers, but not good enough to kill it before it lets loose its payload toward the Reprisal. Blue 9, his B-Wing trailing gouts of fire and ready to explode, manages to find some glory in death, crashing his ship into a TIE Bomber a split second before it can fire upon Republic Star Destroyer. Half his command left, Blue Leader gathers the tatters of another squadron, like abandoned ducklings searching for a new parent to follow, coming back to 10 ships, but still not enough. It's never enough. One of the new arrivals gets torched by a TIE Interceptor only seconds after acknowledging the form-up command.

<SPACE> <Broadsword> Keline nods, quickly running over to a cabinet fixed to the wall where firefighting supplies are kept. She grabs a portable extinguisher and an oxygen mask, in case she needs them, before she makes her own way to the turbolift. She salutes Lynae before she nods and presses the button for the lower deck." "I'll take care of it, Captain. Good luck." *she straps the mask to her face before the door shuts and she disappears. Shortly after the door opens to the deck which contains the backup bridge; several small fires are still smouldering. She makes her way along, spraying the fires as she goes, before she keys in her access code to the auxillary bridge door; it doesn't work, so she uses the manual override and then gets to work.

<SPACE> <Alex:2.3> Alpha-4 continues the roll around, diving down beneath another pair of fighters engaged in battle, rolling again until she's beneath Ghost-7. During her maneuvers she sees her intended target opening up on a Scimitar Bomber, "Hello again," she murmurs. Thrusters engaged, she banks slightly, lining up on Ghost-7 and opening fire. From her view of the battle she can see Shrike Lead moving to engage the gunships, and in the distance the ships still scrambling to escape the planet.

<SPACE> <Sarai 1-3> The bomber takes a hit, but not a huge one to Sarai. Cursing at her luck, she wheels the fighter around expertly to come at it from a diffrent side- Boom! Another hit, but from her or another, the Alpha-3 pilot couldn't tell.

<SPACE> <Blake:1:4> <<"Damnit. We gotta break that bombing run,">> Blake barks into the communicator, though not intentionally. No, he was much too focused on switching his HUD away from the now smouldering remains of the TIE Bomber he was working on. He can only helplessly watch the torpedoes launch towards the destroyer, but shifts to fire on another bomber before it can unleash another volley. <<"We can't break yet. Just hold on... a little longer...">> Blake sure as hell wasn't going to give up just yet, until direct orders proved otherwise. Til then, all he could do was keep grinding against those damned bombers.

<SPACE> <SCENE POSE> The fleets are engaged on a level that no sentient should ever wish to see, but the view was stunning. Lights everywhere, fires on many ships. The damage is taking its toll, and so far some of the smaller ships were destroyed or disabled. Some of the heavy cruisers and cruisers are listing; one is damaged to the point it begins to make its withdraw. However, this isn't possible, and soon is left dead in space by new attacks. Nobody is retreating except for the NR freighters; some have made it to hyperspace, but the numbers are staggering that are trying to leave. Seems they think the planet is going to be totally wiped out.

With Rall and the bombers, they are able to release their torpedos, though to the skilled efforts of the NR pilots not all the bombers were able to make it through to fire. The NR Victory star destroyer takes a beating, but it's going to take longer now that the NR was pounding them. The cruisers continue to move in, still exchanging blows.

Abaord the Broadsword, Keline is able to get into the aux bridge, but only to find that the life support has failed on the ship. However, the key here was - the bridge's indications were faulty, only Keline would be around to realize this fact.

Back with Vengan, his assault into the Victory destroyer takes him on a path with many stormtroopers - they begin to open fire on him. He'll have to do a whole lot more than just engage them head on if he wants to get access to the core.

<NRSD Reprisal> The Commander knows full well that a sustained assault on the smaller vessels by the massive Malevolence will not do much good, and the request is given to place the Monarch between the Malevolence and the smaller Republican vessels for now. Triangular bow first, it begins to provide cover for the Fullisade. Rasi being kept ever busy as his guns, among many, continue to pour laser fire into the Malevolence. Slow as it may be, the Reprisal continues to move this way or that as it tries to take the least amount of fire as possible from whoever happens to be targetting it. The NRCV Hydra and Jauks are right behind the Reprisal, though far enough that the evac ships are still provided covering fire if needed. And following the lead of their bigger sister, they too aim for the attacking capital ships. Their maneuvaribility making it easier for them to attack the other vessels in this scene.

<SPACE> <Aramis-2-4> Leaving destruction in his wake, Aramis goes sailing off after another interceptor making trouble for an escort ship. It's an easy move out of the 'shadow' of another freighter and right up under theinterceptor. As soon as the targeting array goes green, both guns fire and seconds later, Aramis is racing through the fiery confetti of what remains of his target.

<SPACE> <Krieg-2-1> Taking on the gunship probably was the most idiotic thing he had ever done, but his first run seems to have hit at a good location, moderate damage to the rear of the gunship was done. Little did Krieg know that 2 Marauder corvettes had entered and were pouring on fire. Though in all the turbolaser fire, debris, and whatever else was out here it was relatively easy for any number of things to be hitting each ship. Taking aim once again he fires. This time, he breaks right away as turbolaser fire grazes his shields, only to blow them out. Looks like he didn't need those after all- but on second glance he notices a good section of the hull was removed too; good thing he had armor on this. Diving and darting out of the fire and coming back to assist his squadron he noted that they weren't faring as well, but were still hanging in there. Then his nemesis comes into view - it was time they had a real dogfight, though both of them were damaged. He's not able to fire yet, but maneuvers in for a good shot.

<SPACE> <Kesander:2:2> Kesander watches with some satisfaction as his red daggers of destruction manage to connect with the Imperial bomber, but perhaps the angle was bad. The Scimitar begins to jink a bit, but it is definately still closing in on one of the frieghters that is its target. "Ah, blazing hell," growls the Corellian as Alpha-4 again appears prominently on his scopes, and fires on him. Executing a snap-roll and climb along the z-axis, the blond-haired pilot evades the sizzling green death needles intended for him that fly close by. Pushing his stick forward, the pilot of Ghost-7 arcs back on to the intercept vector with the bomber. "Alpha-4 will have to wait. First things first," grumbles the blond-haired pilot to himself as the TIE bomber again coincides with his sight reticle, prompting him to fire off another hail of red laser bolts.

<SPACE> A Bomber explodes in a ball of flame and twisted metal witch pings off the hull of Jal'Dana's TIE. And while impossible she could almost feel the heat given off through the viewport. A piece of shrapnel wedges itself in one of the solar panels, but the battle still rages. Opening up the open channel, Jal'Dana does something she hasn't done in years. She answers her enemy, the raspy and cool voice that earned her the call sign Banshee transmits, "Enemies' promises were made to be broken. Remember this is the day, you faced your mortality and it let you walk away. If we meet again, I can't promise a thing"

The Gap has expanded supported by the Imperial cruisers it has made a open lane filled only with the snub fighters battling, red and greens lasers streak the sky in a morbid display of fireworks. Both sides fighting and dieing, the natural ebb and flow of the battle shifting over the skies of Coruscant.

<SPACE> <Alex:2.3> Alpha-4 refrains from adding any choice comments as her return volley comes close, but not close enough. Close only counts in darts and Thermal detonators, after all. She brings the TIE around, selecting another ship to fire on, trying to take some of the heat off of that Scimitar by providing a distraction.

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Blue Leader frowns as he hears the enemy's voice in his helmet. "Lady, stick it in your ear," he responds briskly, even as his craft takes potshots at a TIE Interceptor strafing on the shields of Blue 7, the latter's B-Wing losing its primary wing and spinning off-course, preventing the Imperial from having a kill, but taking the damaged fighter out of the fight for the moment. More fire strikes his shields, and the aft one burns right out. "This can't be the way it ends..." he mutters. "Rabbit... Rabbit, you out there? I need you to make it back, rookie luck and all. Find my wife... tell her I--" and then Blue One corkscrews as more fire lances in and simply shreds his engine, turning the B-Wing into so much space debris.

<SPACE> <Sarai 1-3> A glance around shows how the battle is progressing to Sarai. She smiles slightly at Jal'danas Bomber hit and when Blue Leader takes off a wing she cheers in delight as her bomber drops it sheilds dramatically according to her readings." She flicks her eyes back up in time to see the B-wing lose it's enigne; the girl groans and continues firing at the Bomber in front of her.

<SPACE> <NRFleet> The Cade sends Harrow and Dragoon off to keep opening the gap a little wider as she closes on the Victory, with Vega punishing the ship to back her up. Fusillade refuses to let the tide of battle to push her back as the Monarch comes down to buffer the freighters from the assault threatened on them by the large Imperial ships. Plunging down at ninety-degrees to the plane of the battle and cutting in front of the line that the Fusillade holds, the Monarch looks like an arrowhead aimed into the heart of the planet. By taking the fight further into the heart of the enemy, the forces hope to draw attention away from the evacuation corridor. The more expensive each innocent life is for the Empire to buy, the better.

<SPACE> <Vengan>

Vengan follows the twisting, turning corridors, using his HUD as a reference. Left, right, left, straight, two rights... "If I ever meet the guy who designed these ships, I'm gonna feed him to a rancor," Vengan mutters. He speeds up, seeing his HUD flash brightly as he nears the primary power reactors.

The Destroyer suddenly shakes, lists in space. The main lights go off, a loud rumble echoing through the great craft. A moment later pale emergency lights go on, though only a few basic systems are online. Vengan grins to himself, realization dawning. The secondary generators were knocked offline. The Destroyer had switched over to emergency power, killing the primary feed to prevent an uncontrolled surge in just this event. More importantly, however, the shields were down and the turbolasers temporarily offline...at least for the next thirty seconds, or so.

Vengan gets off the wall, restablishing his balance as gravity re-asserts itself. The Marine starts running again, fairly sprinting down the corridor as the plan slowly comes together. He makes a sharp right....

....and skids to a halt. Twenty armored Stormtroopers turn around, weapons low. He goggles at them. They goggle back. Both parties look equally suprised.

<Who the...?> The question is never completed, a red-pauldroned platoon leader raising a finger at Vengan, comprehension slowly dawning. Vengan recovers faster, grabbing a grenade off his vest and priming it with one hand. "Hey, catch!" he calls, tossing the EMP flashbang at the man. The Stormtrooper catches it, fumbling with an electronic <Hey!>. Vengan raises his 36-T, flicking the selector to full auto, and holds the trigger down, raking the Stormtrooper platoon. He dances backwards around the corner and lays out like a swoop bike, sprinting pell-mell back the way he came. Behind him the sharp *crack* of blasters is overcome by a loud, static WHOOP as the EMP goes off, dimming half the lights in the section for a moment. Vengan ducks into a side room, some kind of empty mess hall. <Alternate route>, he states, flicking his HUD back on. The device clicks to life. Nothing. His one way down was the turbolift that the Trooper were now undoubtedly guarding. With an angry growl, he kicks a ventilation duct next to him. It staves in easily, the Marine looking at it curiously. He drops to his belly, gauging the size. Big. Accessible, too. He drops his ruck and his armor, unslinging his load-bearing gear and putting it on the back of his ruck. Tying the whole affair to his ankle he starts belly-crawling into the vents, using the system to bypass the Imperial Stormtroopers searching the corridors for a lone Marine.

<SPACE> <Blake:1:4> Blake grimaces as the Bomber continues to stagger along, surviving the A-Wing's initial assault. But dogged as he is, Blake doesn't break off, instead getting dangerously close as he continues blaster fire on it. Every Bomber down raised the chances of his destroyer not going down. When the reply of the enemy comes, Blake frowns for two reason. One - It wasn't a he. Two - They replied at all. Well, wasn't that something. But mortality? Promises? He flicks the communicator. <<"As it should with the fate of Dogs and the Rabbit. You may got teeth, darlin', but I'm quicker than you think.">> And then the Falcon 8 is through his target, as he begins to make another stafe towards the attacking units.

<SPACE> <Kesander:2:2> The latest salvo of fire from Ghost-7 has a somewhat greater effect on the Scimitar this time. A white flash from that Imperial ship that coincides with the X-Wing's fire landing on it announces that the enemy's shields are down. Moreover, some of the Corellian's fire has managed to perforate the Bomber's hull and blow off bits of its wings. Apparently, this manages to convince it's pilot to try another course of action for the Imperial ship banks hard on to a new vector that carries it away from the Frieghters. "You're not getting off that easy, you bastard," growls Kesander. Rolling onto the evading bomber's new vector, the Corellian follows, concentrating on staying out of the way of the thick waves of blaster fire that blanket the battlespace and on locking up the Scimitar in his sights once more. This accomplished, the blond haired pilot fires, delivering what he hopes will be the coup de grace.

<SPACE> <Jal'Dana 1-I> Over a thousand sorties flown, countless enemies downed, hundreds of squad mates lost, and an A-wing pilot wants to boost over channels. The bombers no longer need her Interceptor escort, and so she orders them to break off. "Engage targets at will, Attack pattern Sigma Alpha Epsilon." The white TIE spins on its axis and then banks off the Twin ion engines glowing as extra power is kicked in. Like a cosmic game of king of the hill Jal'Dana lines up a B-wing below her and gives it a push towards the sidelines.

<SPACE> <EmpFleet> With the Broadsword out of the fight for the moment, the ball is passed to the Pillager and Prowler, the Malevolence continuing to hold forth while firing at the Monarch which stands between it and the Reprisal. The VSD Victory takes one hit after another from the Cade, Dragoon and Harrow, its shields down after repeated attacks, minor hull damage taken as well. Speaking into the headset mic, Caiton relays her orders in a clear voice, ignoring the smoldering remains of the damaged consoles on her own bridge while doing so. "Prowler and Pillager, maneuver out of the way. Malevolence, open fire on the Cade the Harrow and the Dragoon." She speaks then to the shuttle crews that have been waiting, patiently, for this order. "Move in on the Fullisade, targeting engines and bridge. Long live the Empire." The solo crews of the two shuttles were volunteers, both wounded soldiers for whom this was one last call to serve before being retired due to wounds sustained in combat. Both shuttles are packed with as many explosives as could be assembled in the time between battles, and they begin their run on the Fullisade without hesitation. "Basilisk, I want cover fire on those two shuttles. They must deliver the package unmolested." The Malevolence firing at a steady rate. The Victory taking one shot after another, the shields down, engines crippled, any trained eye can see that the Victory is down for the count. Caiton stands quietly on the bridge of her wounded ship and waits, listening to the comm chatter.

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Blue 5 takes up the leadership of the remains of Blue Squadron with a smooth precision that indicates she was well-chosen as XO for the late Blue Leader. "Mourn later," she says crisply, throwing her B-Wing into a corkscrew that ends with her firing upon another TIE Interceptor. There's always another TIE Interceptor. That Interceptor shudders under the repeat fire and finally goes up in a puff of Imperial smoke.

<SPACE> <Broadsword> Keline has, finally and after much work at cursing, booted up the auxillary controls. She quickly scans the surrounding space before she types in a quick change to their course, putting them back on track, before she tunes in to Lynae's comm channel. "Captain, this is Lieutenant Nelhrn. Navigation online..sensors..passive only. Orders, ma'am?

<SPACE> <Alex:2.3> Alpha-4 hits the X-wing firing on the scimitar, knocking that one down for the count, while keeping her eyes peeled for Ghost-7 which must be lurking somewhere in the vicinity. But to her dismay the Scimitar is wounded badly, the hull perforated and wings taking on that moth eaten look. She spins around, firing on Ghost-7 again, even though it wont save the Scimitar, it's still the best target available.

<SPACE> <Sarai 1-3> A few flipped switches and then the Bomber goes off in a nice blast of smoke. "Haha!" She chortles aloud before wheeling around to face her next target as acccording to the pattern.

<SPACE> <Blake:1:4> The TIE Bomber becomes space dust in light of Blake's latest barrage, and the A-Wing has little choice to but to fly through the particles. Momentarily blinded, he trusts instinct to level out of the way of any oncoming fire, and manages to once again locate and hook up with BlueSquadron. <<"Just hold together people, and I'll owe each and every one of you a drink. Okay?">> Once again, the Falcon 8 fires, at the lingering TIE Bombers, with Hishinko seeming content enough not to go playing Maverick. He's already had his one moment to do that. Now it was getting people out of this battle alive.

<SPACE> <Aramis-2-4> Aramis goes flitting off between freighters, using their shadows and the battle of other fighters to fire on anything that crosses his path. He's in a good mood, spiralling up and over a Y-Wing to take out the interceptor on her six. "There ya go," he says brightly, watching the enemy ship's shields go out and her relays catch fire. "Good luck getting back to the Rep." He doesn't notice that he's caught Shrike-2'sattention.

<SPACE> <Krieg-2-1> The last shot that Krieg had gotten off was one that many would say was statistically improbable, but not impossible. It was just that the odds were so low it only happened once in a million years. Today, was one of those days. He not only managed to score a hit against the hull, but of the power distribution system, disabling the ship and forcing an evacuation. Seems the ship may go up in a big ball of fire, but not right away. Still on his course of flight towards the other pilots in the area he gets a good lock on his nemesis (Aramis) and opens fire. It would appear that while his opponent engaged other TIEs that he didn't see Krieg roll in from above. His green fire upon the rebel craft would change all that shortly. With his own shields down though, he was careful he didn't take any direct hits - that just might do him in for the battle. Whatever anger he had about the Grand Admiral being shot down - it wasn't something he himself wanted to be as well.

<SPACE> <Jal'Dana 1-I> An important part of TIE fighter training is psychological conditioning that produces unswerving loyalty to the New Order's tenets. To a TIE pilot, the success of a given mission is paramount,eclipsing personal safety and even the safety of fellow wingmen. TIE pilots learn to view themselves as individually expendable, yet an integral part of the Imperial war machine. Since most TIEs lack deflector shields, ejection gear or life support systems, Imperial fighter pilots are an incredibly brave and loyal force. To that end none of the damaged fighters and bombers withdraw. Holding the passage open is the only thing they're focused on.

The worst thing that can be said about the most powerful is that they can take your life; but the same can be said of the most weak. Everyone is having their shot tonight. Jal'Dana however has stopped engaging her own selections, instead she races about the hole her task force worked so hard to open. Aiding other craft in holding the line, she uses herself as a distraction, a wingman and even a decoy. Success is more important than another notch on the kill board. "Commander Rall to Control, the path is clear, we hold the field" she radios her tactical impression of her section.

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Blue Squadron and a couple of stragglers form up in a delta-v formation, working to bring their guns to bear on the Imperials. One by one, lethal green fire arcs in on the B and A-Wings, picking off Blue 12 and 10, both A-Wings, their ships turning into fiery blossoms of doom. Only four ships left to her command, Blue 7 scowls into her scopes. "If we cannot defeat them, let's give them the bloodiest nose we can give them." She spins her B-Wing and takes a potshot at Jal'Dana directly for a change.

<SPACE> <NRSD Reprisal> Rasi's permitted to exercise his expertise with the guns when a small cruiser attempts to sneak past the Republic's lines using the fact that the bigger ships are for the most part already engaged. Not all though, the Reprisal easily able to redoply, and so it does to make sure that the cruiser can't go past them and do more damage among the evacuating ships. The Dominator finds itself being targetted by the Reprisal.

<SPACE> <Sarai 1-3> A potshot? What was she thinking? Sarai didn't have any idea but sent a shot towards Blue 7 before barrelling onwards to her intended target. Afighter appears in her front as the bomber moves to the right- she sighs and guns the engines as she prays for a small miracle to pull off a rolling shot...

<SPACE> <NRFleet> The Malevolence opens up on the Cade, the Dragoon, and the Harrow. Their shields light up almost in unison, nearly brighter than the fire that's raining down on them. The Dragoon is rocked and reels off to the side. <Cade to Dragoon, pull back,> comes the order. They should be trying to reduce overall damage and the Victory is suffering. <Cade to Harrow, cover Dragoon.> Vega is gone like silvery scattershot once the combat group is disbanded, the bombers tracking the shuttles arrowing toward the Fusillade. <Fusillade, Vega-Nine,> a young woman's voice comes over the comms. <We are tracking two birds coming at you. Just shuttles, though.> <Fusillade to Vega-Nine, we read.>

"Terrible time to defect," Fusillade's commanding officer notes. "Scan the Victory, see if her life support is gone." "Negative on Victory, but the Broadsword is suffering," the sensors operator reports. <Rapier Alpha Wing, please return,> comes the call from the Fusillade. The shuttles look unarmed, helpless. <Imperial Shuttles, cease your approach. This is the Fusillade. You will be fired upon if you fail to call parlay.> "Fire on the Malevolence in the meantime," the captain orders the gunners. The shuttles fail to stop but head, like little birds seeking shelter, for the underbelly of the Fusillade. Alarms begin to sound and Rapier's Alpha Wing closes in at full speed. The shuttles make for the docking bays and hangars, still bare of all signs of offensive weaponry - until they reach the shields.The underside of the Fusillade is engulfed in fire and the explosions of the shuttles pitch her into a terrifying roll. The wave of concussion and flame smashes half of Rapier squadron into fragments and catches the leading Vega bombers closing in behind them.

<SPACE> Storm Troopers move in search of the Marine now, checking their corners, ordering Mouse droids to charge about on scans while on the bridge, Ansforth stands, acting as TK Actual for the moment for exemplary service on the ground operation, acting as command central while Squads Eight, Six, and Two are under his direct command, the latter two standing outside of the bridge. "I don't care if he disapeared! Full scan! Hit your backup power while the suits clear out the EMP, keep on thermal if he popped smoke!" "Copy sir, but we can't find him, we think he hit the mess hall." "Then get in there!" "Sir the mouse droids are bringing up movement in the corridors." "Get a squad down to investigate, Six, two... Keep on alert, I doubt he's alone," a chorus of copies and rogers returning to the trooper's ear.

<SPACE> <Kesander:2:2> Kesander's attack on the limping Scimitar creates even worse damage than the last barrage. If the Bomber's crew was trying to get their shield's back up, their efforts are wasted. Large chunks of the Imperial ship's wings are blown off and two more large holes are punched in the craft's thick hide. But no explosion follows. Instead, the engines appear to shut down and the ship begins to drift off on its escape vector in an uncontrolled flat spit that speaks of a punch-drunk boxer weaving towards a neutral corner. "he won't be shooting any more ships today," grumbles theCorellian. However, his grim thoughts don't stay on that thought for long. Alpha-4 reappears prominently on his scopes almost at the same instant that his sensor threat warning tone sounds in his ears. Instantly, the X-Wing driver heels his ship over into a tight bank, just managing once more to evade the green slivers of hell reaching out for him. Side-slipping Ghost-7 onto an intercept vector towards Alpha-4, the blond haired Flight Officer squeezes his weapons trigger returning fire at the Imperial Interceptor.

<SPACE> <SCENE POSE> The efforts of the First group pay off, there is a large enough gap now that the Imperial fleet can push through. Though the NR is trying valiently to slow things down, to which they are having some success, the capital ships push on. First through are the two dreadnaughts, then some smaller ships followed by even larger captial ships. Sort of like a wedge the Imperials push through, turning the fight between large ships into a slugging match to see who had the most armor. Most shields by about this point in the battle have gone down, the massive amounts on each armor was many times greater than any shield around them. New orders come for Jal'Dana, "Commander, re-engage any ships you find. Clear the road." As for the NR forces their orders come through, "They're pressing through! Buy us as much time as you can!" The slugging match takes its toll on several of the larger ships; the battle is peaking out at the greatest intensity. It wouldn't be longer before a side could be seen to start breaking.

Aboard the Broadsword Keline is able to maintain directional control, but new alerts and warnings go off for her that life support was reaching a critical level - in other words it was offline. Other lights go off indicating a power surge has taken a power generator offline, but could be rebooted.

<SPACE> <Blake:1:4> While Blake's first instinct is immediately break the formation and help out Blue 7, he manages to hold back, instead focusing on keeping the wing he's with flying true. The temperence doesn't last too long as 7 begins to get peppered by one of the TIE's. <<"Got your Back, Blue 7",>> Blake mutters into the comm before increasing his thrusters... just in time to get the order. Oh boy. "Well, if I gotta go down, at least I'll distract that Ace," he mutters blasting at the one he was bantering earlier. At least now, the Blue Squad would have time to close the gap as best they could.

<SPACE> <EmpFleet>

<Broadsword> Responding to Lt. Nelhrn, "Passive sensors?" Captain Caiton repeats for clarification before she nods, moving towards the forward view screen, "All right, then bring the Sword high over the Malevolence and open fire on the Reprisal again. Lets do some distraction work while we're here."

The Pillager and Prowler move closer to the Malevolence, maneuvering on axis and rotating their shields accordingly. With the dorsal weapons of the Malevolence to shield them from enemy fire. Once the shuttles impact against the Fusillade, the explosion casting a brilliant light on the battle, the flames engulfing the enemy ship and rolling out of the way of the Reprisal. Once the way is clear, the Malevolence with Prowler and Pillager in close formation, opens fire on the Monarch. Ignoring the smallerfighters, the battles that go back and forth, they concentrate their fire again and again on the Monarch, seeking to drive it from it from it's defensive posture. The Dominator is fired upon by the Reprisal at this time as well, the light cruiser taking a damaging hit that fries it's sensor array, effectively rendering the ship blind but for visual navigation.

<SPACE> <Alex:2.3> Alpha-4 gets the feeling she's flying blind, or that her targeting computer has taken a vacation and not brought her along, which in Alex's point of view is a rather rude thing to have done. The warning tones indicate incoming fire from Ghost-7, the current bane of her existence. She rolls the TIE out of the way, barely evading his shot and continuing the roll while listening to the computer warnings and the battle status via the ships Comm system.

<SPACE> <Jal'Dana 1-I> The fire raking across Jal'Dana's port side causes her to bank further, and slightly annoys her. 'I think I'll go find my friend' she says to herself as the white TIE locks in on the A-wing she had been trading barbs with earlier in the engagement. Swooping in on his stern, she waits like a lioness stalking her prey, and as she float up into the weapons arc, Yet to her surprise, the warning klaxon goes off as her own ship is painted. "So, he go behind me ehall this A-wing look alike" Rearing up like a snake ready to strike, the A-wing and his shots pass by under her. Dropping the stick and stepping hard on the control pedal the TIE pushes down and drops her right on the second A-wing's six. The HUD gives her a solid tone, and with just a light squeeze of her finger the lasers rip from her craft and towards the A-wing.

<SPACE> <Broadsword> Keline resumes her seat, listening carefully to her captain's orders, before she nods and begins entering the new nav course. She pulls off her mask, the front having misted from her breathing, before she brushes the sweat from her forehead and looks at the nav plotter. The engines power up again before she maneuvers the ship toward the Maleovelence before arcing it up over the bridge of the SSD before she enters a firing solution on the Reprisal. The guns begin locking onto the ship before they begin opening fire once she's in range.

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Blue 7 calmly takes the fire from Sarai's ship, the B-Wing rocking with the shots, and one of them gets through her shields to leave a beautiful scorch-mark on her ventral wing. Turnabout's fair game, so she turns her attention Sarai's ship directly once Jal'Dana evades her fire. Cutting her engines and letting Sarai overshoot, she leans on the trigger with something resembling grim gusto, intent on waxing this rather nasty opponent. Meanwhile, Blue Squadron loses 5, leaving only 3 and 8, the decimated Squadron continuing to do their best to ensure the Imperials pay dearly for what they're doing. "Thank you, Rabbit," Blue 7 states calmly into the comm for what assist he's offered her.

<SPACE>

<Vengan> In space, a lethal black dart slices towards the Victory-Class Star Destroyer. It is the Corvette that covered Vengan's initial approach, black as death. No blasters, no evasive action. Just a full burn at high speed, rocketing towards the Star Destroyer. It's pilot, some kind of wizard with the controls, jukes the craft at the last moment. It latches to the top of the Destroyer's command tower, weapons unleashing a torrent of fire to take out the inert turbolasers mounted topside. An explosive decompression rocks the tower as the Corvette smashes a breaching line into the top of the Command Tower. First and Third platoons of A Company, 224th Marine Battalion, disgorge themselves into the tower. The strike team moves like chain lightning, clearing their immediate area and proceeding to the bridge itself, taking advantage of the Destroyer's temporarily disabled status.

Meanwhile, far belowdecks, Vengan peers through a vent. The main reactor bay. Huge, in and of itself almost as large as a fighter bay, but filled with vast, roaring fusion generators. Vengan peers around, looking for technicians. When he sees a clear way, he gets to his feet, slinging his load bearing gear on and rucking up once more. His HUD is discarded, ground under his boot. Blown by the EMP. His rifle in one hand, he starts laying charges on the base of two of the major fuel canisters, rifle in his hand and a wary gaze kept about him.

<SPACE> As the Corvette slams into the command tower, Ansforth and the rest of the troopers within it hit the ground under the force of the impact, listening to the emergency klaxons as mag con fields pop up to stop the loss of Atmosphere. <Rebel forces are on board! Rebels are on-> the transmission cut off by weapons fire. Ansforth works his way to his feet now. <All tower squads! We have Rebel forces in the tower! Repeat! Proceed to sector fifteen and prepare to repel boarders! Lower squads, find that damn marine!> the lot of the Troopers flying into action, heading for access hatches as well as the turbolifts.

<SPACE> <Blake:1:4> Blake's reflexes are good. In fact, all things considered, he was damned good for a rookie, but sometimes, that wasn't near enough to be faced against experience. In this occasion, Blake jukes left and falls for a bluff, causing the eerie green laser to blast through his hulls. At first he thinks he can pull it together, but soon alarms go off everywhere. "Sorry I put you down too soon, FalEi. You were a good ship," Blake murmurs, before looking up. <<"Nice bite, darling'">> Before the ship goes up into flames, Blake emergancy ejects, moments before the A-Wing erupts in a ball of burning hot gas.

<SPACE> <Aramis-2-4> Aramis never even sees Shrike-2 (Krieg) coming. He's targeting another Interceptor in the heat of battle when the volley comes. One minute he's waiting for his display to go green and the next, he's surrounded by smoke and heat and fire suppression powder while alarms go off all around him. He pounds the air recycling up to maximum and reels upward, trying to evade as well as he can without running into another ship. The heat at his back is searing, enough oxygen behind the seat to support the burn and not enough room for the powder to quench it. There's no way he's ejecting yet, he decides, and then realizes that he can't, not with his suit taking fire damage. Well, hell.

<SPACE> <Krieg-2-1> His hits were true, it seemed the other pilot didn't even know he was even firing before it was too late. He sees the craft spark and sizzle, it was appearant that he wasn't going to do anymore damage for today. In this case, Krieg turns to another rebel ship, assisting his wingmate, Alex, before the enemy fighter could even think about firing. He opens up again, getting a weak hit against his solar panel in the process. Darting in and out of fire still he's noticing the numbers are dwindling, hopefully the rebels are learning their lesson. The fleet was pressing forward, it would be over soon.

<SPACE>

<Vengan> Vengan sets the timers for ten minutes. Just enough time to get off the ship. The Marine takes a moment, closing his eyes and trying to dredge from memory the ship's display. After a few moments he shakes his head. "No way I'm gonna get back to my pod," he mutters. He slumps against an access panel, wracking his brain. He glances up, hearing footsteps. A technician, wearing gray work coveralls. Vengan moves towards the man, light as a whisper without his rucksack or armor on. The blaster rests against the base of the man's skull.

"Freeze. Directions to the escape pod, now," Vengan mutters, glancing around the area. The technician lifts a shaking hand. "FF..fffollow the red floor line, then right on b-blue, then left on b-black," he stutters, terrified. Vengan nudges him with the blaster. "That all?" The tech nods. Vengan prods again. "Comm unit." As soon as the device is in his hands, Vengan saps the tech with his pistol, catching him before he collapses and dragging the man out of immediate sight. Twisting the knobs on the commo unit, he finds the Marine frequency. <Raider Prime to Raider Assault. Nine minutes. Nine minutes. Will find own evac.> He tucks the commo device into his pocket and starts sprinting, all out, heading for the shuttlepods.

<SPACE> <NRFleet&Reprisal> <Reprisal to Fusillade, status report.> There's silence on the bridge as the Fusillade slowly keels over, her underbelly in flame. Nothing in her hangars survives and there is no way for her many fighters to seek shelter in her anymore. <Cade, Dragoon, Harrow, Dedication, and Crux; this is the Reprisal ordering full withdrawal. All fighters from Fusillade are reassigned to Cade and Dedication.>

<Fusillade to Fleet; carry on without us. We are still space-worthy.> Staggered, yes, and horribly damaged, but intact to escape. The bridge crew of the Fusillade works furiously to bring her around to the correct orientation. "Navigate us out of the gravwell," her captain snaps, clinging to her chair with white-knuckled hands. "Take us into hyperspace. We're a liability."

<Monarch to Reprisal.> The voice of the Monarch's commanding officer is grim. <Command informs us that the last wave of evacuation is underway. This is General An'arden; you are authorized to pull back. We will cover your retreat.> The Monarch's shields are flaring weakly still, her guns are firing strong. With an order from the bridge, her fighters and shuttles are deploying and heading for the Reprisal at full speed. The likelihood that their safe-haven will survive is small.

<SPACE> <Kesander:2:2> Kesander curses as the agile Alpha-4 flits out of the path of his volley. His four ion engines cranking out thrust at attack speed, the Corellian's ship flies again past the adversary he'd just shot at, distance widening as the TIE interceptor falls away on his port side. But this is still a target rich environment. "Yeah, I'm one of the targets around here," the Flight Officer grumbles to himself as he picks out a new target on his scopes and pushes his stick forward to dive along the z-axis towards yet another bomber that's firing on escaping frieghters. Target and cross-hairs once again merge in his heads up display and with no more thought than he'd give to swatting a fly, the blond haired pilot fires off a barrage of blazing and lethal laser bolts towards the intended Scimitar.

<SPACE> (Ansforth) <Sir we've got odd readings coming from engineering... It looks like there is something set to detonate the ship> <What!? All units! Head for the escape craft! Hangar crews, get those transports out and prepare to retrieve EVA troopers and crew!> already punching in a few keys on a nearby console as he was moving to exit the bridge, alarm klaxons now beginning to go off... Panic ensueing.

<SPACE> <Jal'Dana 1-I>The A-wing that had pestered Jal'Dana all night explodes in a ball of flames and venting gas. She does see the pilot eject however, and at such a close range, picks up his emergency distress beacon. Slowing her craft to a crawl she maneuvers over with the thrusters, close enough for the pilot if still conscious to see shadows in her viewport. Holding position for about thirty seconds as the battle rages on, the craft then drifts away to a safe distance before kicking the twin ion engines on full. Jal'Dana wanted the cocky pilot to know, should he be rescued. Who it was that shot him down. The honey haired Commander had just made this A-wing pilot famous.

<SPACE> <EmpFleet> Aboard the Broadsword, Captain Caiton relays suggestion to the Malevolence that should prove very interesting. While the ship is maneuvering in for a run on the Monarch, the damaged fighters in the hangar bay are lined up, wing tip to wing tip before the opening of the hangar bay. Those damaged fighter still capable of flying, or at least hovering in space, are lined up in a row above. All weapons have been recharged and reprovisioned, and on the cue from the officer of the deck, the damaged ships are manned by flight deck personnel with but one job at hand: Fire all available weapons through the opening of the hangar, using it like a shotgun barrel, adding to the firepower of the Malevolence and the two escort ships tucked into the side of the ship for it's shield cover. Once the Malevolence begins firing on the Monarch the fighters in the hangar open fire as well, relying on the shield covering the hangar for protection. Meanwhile, the Pillager and Prowler continue to fire with the Malevolence, adding their combined fire power to the over all volley aimed at the Monarch.

"Passive sensors indeed," Caiton says calmly, observing the results of their fire towards the Reprisal. 'Towards' should be read as 'in the general direction of', and is perhaps an indicator that the targeting computer can't cope with the lack of sensor input either. Seeing the beginning of the withdrawal of the Rebel forces, Caiton orders all available weapons to continue to fire on the Reprisal, hammering away at its shields.

<SPACE>

<Vengan> It's all-out survival at this point. No one even stops to challenge Vengan as the alert for 'Abandon Ship' is given. Still, he shoots on the run, blasting anyone who even looks like they're going to get in his way. He makes it to the escape pods, glances down the line. He sets the 36-T for fully automatic and sprays reckless fire into the launching mechanisms, disabling fully a dozen of the automatic launchers and causing flarebacks on how many others. He hits the manual override on 'his' pod, climbs in, and kicks the 'launch' button. Inertia pins him to his seat as the pod screams away, shooting far away from the doomed Destroyer. He watches the black Corvette dump it's mooring clamps, the Marine's mission accomplished as it hastily withdraws. Noxious gas pumped into the fusion chambers now. No one would be able to get inside for at least five minutes...which was a minute more time than they actually had.

Vengan grins to himself, watching the first explosions rip through the Victory-Class destroyer's hull. He activates his Marine transponder and sits back, the thrill of victory burning in his chest. Nothing to do now but wait.

<SPACE> <SCENE POSE> The New Republic had accomplished its goal for the day, to allow all the evac ships an opportunity to make a run for it. The last of the evac ships had taken off from the planet and were making their way out. What few NR ships the could disengage from battle were doing so, either because they needed to protect the transports or because they were no longer able to fight further in battle. The victory star destroyer the NR employed to plug the gap in the line finally became overrun by the Imperial push, listing with fires raging across its hull. Other ships are either a floating hull or in the process of blowing up. Throughout all this recovery ships were being dispatched to try and pick up as many as they could after battle before they had to retreat or press forward. One could clearly say at this point the NR was pulling out; the Empire had the upper hand. It wasn't over yet, however, the NR still needed to get the rest of what it had out.

<SPACE> <Alex:2.3> Alpha-4 veers out of the way of more incoming fire from one of those pesky A-wings, unable to roll back in time to take more heat off the Scimitars. "Must go faster, must go faster," she says to herself as she comes around once more, reading the sensor display to identify the various X-wings out there and spotting Ghost-7 through the melee. "There you are," she says with a soft chuckle before dropping down behind him and firing again.

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:2> Blue 7 looks over her shoulder as shots sizzle past her cockpit. Rolling the B-Wing with the cockpit ball as the fulcrum of the spin, the remaining shots slice through space where the bulk of the ship had been, while the cockpit remains motionless relative to Sarai's ship and incoming fire. Blue 3 tries the same trick after being fired upon by an Interceptor with lesser luck. Three goes up with a scream as two Interceptors wax it and its pilot. The Blues are down to 7 and 8, a B and an A respectively. "Form up on me, Brellin," 7 says quietly, taking a brief moment to check on the big picture. "Let's take out that one." And Jal'Dana's ship is the one targetted. "SAR, come pick up Tyrese. He's a floatin'." And then a B-Wing lets loose on Rall's ride, firing with everything she has.

<SPACE> <Sarai 1-3> Jal'Dana! Oh no! Sarai tries to reach her over the comm. >Jal'dana, your being sighted!< However, she presses the ship in a hard, wide bank to go after the only BLue she's not tried hitting- Blue 8. She takes a wide rolling shot, on her way to back up Ja'dana.

<SPACE> <Blake:1:4> Realy this wasn't so bad. You know, drifting in space while plasma energy fires all about, with chances good that a stray blast would turn him into charred space ash. Oh, and that's not to mention enemy pilots, or the ocassional high flying metallic object. But realy it wasn't so bad. With a practiced hand, Blake presses the emergancy beacon on his being, waiting for Raven to pull a miracle for him. Even so, as he waits, the TIE returns, and for a moment, Blake did believe he was nothing short of dead. Well, it was bound to happen sooner or late~ Wait. He watches as the pilot slows, as she regards him. The face takes him awhile to pick up, but when it does, a slow smile begins to spread on his earthly features. Before the Imperial can fly away, Blake passes on a gesture - one that he hadn't used since he was a child.

He gives a feared Ace of the Imperial War Machine ... the bunny ears. "Now, if some god could be so kind, let Raven be handy, and get me out before my mouth realy does kill me," Blake mutters.

<SPACE> Ansforth and Others float in their own escape pods, transmitting their beacons for other Imperial ships to pick up, muttering to one another as they tumble in the black of space.

<SPACE> <NRFleet&Reprisal> As the last evacuation wave breaches Coruscant's atmosphere and Fusillade reaches the edge of the gravwell, the commander of the Reprisal opens up the communications channels to all New Republic Fleet ships and the evacuation convoy. <NRSD Reprisal to all New Republic vessels; we are now departing Coruscant. We will rendezvous at the coordinates given to you all as soon as possible. All fighters return. This is a full withdrawal. All comply.> There is silence and the bridge crew who are able pause at their posts. <NRSD Monarch - We will see you on the other side of the jump.>

<NRSD Monarch to Fleet. We will see you on the other side.> With that, the lines of communication are cut between the Monarch and the Fleet.

<SPACE> <Aramis-2-4> Aramis opens a channel to the fighter bay. <Fighter Bay, this is Falcon 2, coming in hot. Live fire,> he warns. Then a belated puff of suppressant powder goes off and leaves him coughing too hard to do anything but aim for the fighter bay. Shields down, gun arrays melted, all he has left is navigation, but that's all he needs. He can land, it's up to the crew in the bay to get him out before his cockpit does something hinky like melt shut. He didn't think that. Honest. No one up there got that idea in their heads...

<SPACE> <Kyrin:1:1> As Blue 7 does her best to stitch the side of Jal'Dana's ride, off her wing, Blue 8 arcs away from Sarai's fire, but it's a close call. A-Wings are swift on their feet as it were, and the two surviving pilots frown when the command to retreat comes in. Glancing out her cockpit, Blue 7's pilot sighs and shakes her head. "Please let them be safe," she murmurs as she touches a holo perched inobtrusively in her cockpit, a man and tousle-headed child, both grinning and holding up a birthday cake, candles flickering. The holo fuzzes out until she puts her hand on her controls again, redirecting her ship back to the barn so she can properly escape the carnage. Tears slip down her cheeks as she departs the battle, perhaps forever, as she lands her ship safely. Blue 8 makes it back as well, but there's some damage to the A-Wing that causes it to leave a skidmark on the hangar deck the pilot will be cleaning up with Blackledge watching like a hawk.

<SPACE> <EmpFleet> On the Broadsword, Captain Caiton gives the final order, "Finish this," she says simply. With the Malevolence, Pillager, Prowler and the fighters from within the Malevolence firing volley after volley, she opens the link within her own ship to relay the same order. "Leave the Reprisal to run. Lets finish off the Monarch," she orders. Adding the fire power of the Broadsword to the task at hand, whether the targeting computer is up to it or not. The order of 'fire in that general direction and don't hit any of our guys' is sufficient unto the task at hand. And it's enough. Enough fire power, enough ships targeting it, enough previous damage, and before the crew of the Monarch can even begin to think about the life pods or escaping, one massive combined shot hits the Monarch and it explodes. Fragments of the ship spray out in every direction, flying - burning - bits of debris damage the ships in the immediate area as the Monarch slowly falls to it's death to burn up in the atmosphere of Coruscant.

<SPACE> <Sarai 1-3> A deep sigh of relief and Alpha 3 slides in behind Jal'danas fighter. >They got away.< She gripes quietly into the comm, leaning back as she scans the are for any other Blue fighters, but only sees Blue 7 and Blue 8 go into the hangar bay. >Well, at least we got most.<

<SPACE> <Krieg-2-1> The battle was over, or at least the NR was disengaging. The last fighter he shot at exploded in a ball of fire, seding the S-Foils all over the void of space. And with that, Krieg was spent. Enaging gunships, fighters, bombers, and numerous other craft. He had done his duty, taken out so many vessels that only his computer would tell him when he got back of what he really did. "All Shrikes, report in and return to base. Great flying; we've made it to the other side." He checks on the squadron status, seems they lost 4 fighters today, and other 6 were extensively damaged. At least those pilots were still around to fight another day. He checks his own craft to notice he'd taken more damage than he even thought possible - but was still flying. The landing may be tricky, but things were looking better now the war over Coruscant was over. The debris around everywhere when he finally looks is enough to make something think Coruscant had a metal asteroid field...

<SPACE> <Blake1:3> Blake's prayers are answered in a way, and before death can come to hip, he hears the approach of an evac vessal. "Thank goodness you guys are so badass, I was starting to get cold. I owe you one." When all is secure, Blake will take a deep breath, before noticing for the first time, the pain of a few deep bruises acquired during the jolty exit. All things considered, he was luckier than thousands... if not more lost in this battle. The normally jovial Blake is pretty subdued during the trip back to the Reprisal, as he stares out to the mass graveyard, wondering just how many faces he knew lay out there. He did his best, and still a lot of people died. And they were retreating. "You know something? War's hell." As if they didn't already know the obvious.

<SPACE> <Kesander:2:2> Kesander's last assault on the second Scimitar strikes home with a heavy blow. The bomber's shields blow out with a white flash as red lances of laser fire shred them. Following daggers of crimson light punch holes in the Imperial ships hull and make ugly gaps in her wings. However, this ship seems to have the luck of the last bomber Ghost-7 fired upon. It doesn't explode, and it's engines continue sending it after the last of the fleeing New Republic frieghters. "Stubborn bloody mynock," growls the Corellian. "You know your side's won and you're just trying to run up the score. You're probably ignoring orders from your own superiors, greedy fool. Can't have that, now can we?" It is at this particular moment that another salvo of green daggers of fire flies about the X-Wing, some of them striking the deflector shields at oblique angles, causing the screens to flash and crackle as the destructive energy is absorbed. How a man can curse and concentrate on lining up an Imperial bomber as atarget is impossible to explain, but the Flight Officer manages to do just that. Even as the recall order from Reprisal comes, the blond-haired pilot squeezes his weapons trigger. Not waiting to see if the volley strikes home, the New Republic pilot rolls Ghost-7 onto an intercept vector towards NRSD Reprisal and throttles up to maximum sublight speed. "Time to go home."

<SPACE> <NRFleet&Reprisal>The waves of ships escaping the gravity well of Coruscant are orderly, measured, and dignified. The Monarch's death, when it comes, does not go unnoticed but neither is there a response from the focused crews of the capital ship. The crippled Fusillade staggers into hyperspace at the fore of a wave of medical and refugee ships. Other capital ships make a slow procession with their fighters loading into their bays. Shuttles sweep up the sky, crossing over each other as they gather up ejected pilots and latch on to crippled fighters. The space above Coruscant empties in surges of ships leaping into the light of hyperspace.The Reprisal turns her engines toward the planet and waits until the last of her fighters and shuttles are safely locked away within, gunships around her spraying the area with cannonfire to chase away the harrying Imperial ships. Then it is down to the last of the New Republic presence over Coruscant.NRSD Reprisal gathers her gunships and the last of the freighters around her, locks onto the coordinates she has been given, and is gone.

<SPACE> <Vengan> Vengan breathes a sign of relief as the black Corvette snatches his pod up with a tractor beam, the bay doors closing on the pod moments before the ship zips into hyperspace as well.

<SPACE> <Jal'Dana 1-I> A spent laser strikes the port engine causing Jal'Dana's TIE to almost hop, and then the engine to flame out. Hitting the restart it kicks back on, and the dart looking fighter is back off slicing through debris and other craft. Reforming with her flight, the 4 remaining Interceptors link into a diamond formation, patrolling the area. The New Republic craft start to withdraw, and Jal'Dana gives the orders, "All severely damaged fighters, and return to your respective hangars." As the new waves of reserve craft begin to take up positions along the battle field.

The Surviving members of the Task Force led by Commander Rall start to regroup, the veterans are now among the low percentage to survive numerous sorties, the once green rookies are now battle hardened and tested. The field was littered with the heroic dead on both sides. Each holding to the ideals that they would spill their life blood for, there was no right or wrong in death. Neither the sun or death can be looked at steadily, and so Jal'Dana looks toward the living, and the jobs left unfinished.

"War alone brings up to its highest tension all human energy and puts the stamp of nobility upon the people who have the courage to fare it. Tonight, you all showed that courage, and it doing so etches your names on the alter of time" Sweat soaks her fight suit, and the tiredness set in as the rush of adrenalin leave her after the fighting, "Job well done" she finishes to her group.

<SPACE> <Alex:2.3> Alpha-4 grins to herself as she sees Ghost-7 retreating back to the relative safety of one of the Rebel ships. Tempted as she is to pursue and continuing to fire on him, she does obey orders after all. Bringing her fighter around she surveys the damage to the Scimitar and hails it's pilot, rendering what assistance she can to escort the remains of it back to the task force.

<SPACE> <SCENE POSE> The battle is over, the Empire had succeeded in taking the space over the planet. However, the New Republic had won in their own way, taking as many refugees out of the area successfully. Of course this was probably the most intense fighting the galaxy has seen, perhaps to rival the Battle of Endor. The costs were higher than either side wished, with the New Republic losing 40-50 percent of its force, while the Empire lost 35 percent. Each side had many areas to heal in; but a new era for the galaxy had just begun. There were many paths either faction could take, but the shape of everything as it was known before just changed. The New Republic ships had left, but the debris was so bad that Coruscant may be known in the future for its metal asteroid field - something that may eventually become a monument to those that fought and died here. Those that gave their lives would not be forgotten.