RPlog:End Run

 This had been one of the longer missions newly-christened Major Johmac Mabru had flown on lately. Sitting in the cockpit of the X-Wing Ghost One - also known as Alpha One for the purpose of their mission - for several hours by this point had not boded for his body well. He was sort of slouched over his controls, half-attentive, but slowly he was beginning to come more awake. Their job was to get linked up with a convoy and run with it to get it past the Imperial's blockade on Coruscant. Intelligence had radioed earlier, and given him coordinates where the blockade had been thinned out earlier in the evening... They were to push forward and break through quickly.

His ship was flying along with three Convoy Freighters with New Republic Naval insignias painted on the sides... and then other elements of the NRSD Reprisal's Strike Group, a mixture of Ghost, Falcon and Dagger Squadrons. His X-Wing, along with another and an A-Wing formed one flight of three fighters, while another flight was formed by an A-Wing and two Y-Wing fighters. The other X-Wing was known as Alpha Two and the A-Wing of his flight was Alpha Three. The other A-Wing - Alpha Four - leads the two Y-Wings, Alpha Five and Alpha Six. As quickly as possible, they move along... And now, Johmac's fully awake.. They're pushing the area, and will likely be engaged soon.

"Alpha One to Alpha Flight. Lock your S-Foils in attack positions, set your deflectors online double-front and maintain visual scanning. Check status," the tired Major barks into the comlink on his helmet.

 The job of filling the gaps between the spread out blockade had grown more and more difficult on the smaller ships patrolling the holes. The major trade routes were clogged by the destroyers and larger battleships. It was left to the smaller craft to sweep the areas between the fleets that were choking the life blood from Coruscant. In the void, the darkness between the powers rested the Republic's hope to get supplies through.

The Prowler was used to missions like this, but over the past few days the Republic had started to push at the gaps with more regularity. In these fast and intense battles, many had lost their lives. For those whose job it was to stop the advance, shifts had doubled and sleep had been cut in half. It was that condition the crew and pilots of the Prowler could be found in.

On the bridge, the commander of the ship gets an urgent message from the radar officer. "Ma'am! We have fighters and freighters inbound!"

"Launch Zeta and Viper Squadrons." Commander Rall replies, knowing full well they were in for a fight. "I'll be joining the flight. Get the Prowler in position to stop those freighters at all cost. And alert the rest of the fleet."

Running her fingers through her brown hair, Jal'Dana sighs and the turns striding towards the turbolift and down to her fighter. It is a good thing she had checked her craft earlier in the day, for there was no time. Along with the rest of Viper Squadron she secured her helmet and launched. "Good hunting" was the last transmission the CO of the attack group would make before they engaged the Rebel forces.

The Corellian Academy was a great training ground for young pilots, some of the best instructors in the galaxy taught there. Years of training were supposed to prepare an up and coming pilot for the rigors of space combat but none of it prepared cole for the sight before him. A full blown Imperial blockade and he is going to attempt to escort weakly armed freighters right through it. Cole's mouth is dry as usual as he takes in the intimidating sight before him. Capital ships looked so much bigger from the outside, especially when the cap ship belonged to an enemy. "This is Alpha 2, locking s-foils into attack position. Defelectors double front." Flipping on his scanners and glancing over the arrayed battle ships the young Corellian leans back in his seat and slaps his visor down. "Good luck Alphas." Cole checks his status and it appears everything is working properly. He only hopes it will remain that way...

 The pilot of Zeta 1 launches from the Prowler, drifting into position with the rest of the squadron, before thumbing the switch on the comm system to open up a channel back to the Prowler. "Home, this is Zeta 1. Zeta squadron in position and awaiting further orders. Over."

 A-Wing Falcon 2 is zipping along just a bit behind and between the pair of Ghosts in that flight, ready to go roaring ahead at the first excuse. "Alpha Three to Alpha One, foils locked, deflectors set, everything looks green from here," Aramis reports, starting up his scans. "Good luck, y'all." It's really hard to bounce happily when one is strapped into the pilot's seat, which is just as well. Aramis snaps his visor into place and gets ready to get to work.

 Zeta 2 shoots out of the hangar bay of the Prowler. Whiping his fighter down 'Hammer' angles his craft for the incoming freighters. 'Zeta 2 checking in...let's light the fires and kick the tires.'

 "Alpha Four standing by.." ... "Alpha five, standing by." ... "Alpha Six, standing by." ... "My WSO is reading long range scanners picking up a large group of signals, approaching fast at point oh-five, could be fighters and possibly a carrier," reports Alpha Five, one of the Y-Wings in the second group. "Copy that, Five. I'm reading the same. Prepare for combat. Accelerate to attack speeds. Lets earn our paychecks, ladies and gentlemen." Pulling back on his stick, Johmac brings Ghost one around, and then taps on his comlink panel a bit. "Freighters, stick together. Continue pushing forward, full speed. We'll provide enough of a distraction to piss the fighters off long enough so you can push." Click. That was it. And sure enough, within a few seconds, Johmac squints hard enough to see the TIEs and their outlines... "Bow ties, twelve o'clock. Alpha Four, take your flight and lets plow 'em." Pushing his throttle forward to the afterburner, Johmac pushes ahead to lead the charge.. With laser cannons flaring to life. Zeta One'd be the first one he'd go after.. But not before cutting through a couple of TIE fighters to begin with, his ship maneuvered with the grace of an obvious combat veteran. He could see the Prowler in the distance.. Shit. "Alphas, lets hold off these fighters. We've got a cruiser in the distance there, we'll have to worry about it later." The freighters, meanwhile, hang back slightly, but seem to continue to push forward with their girth.

 As the Prowler moves into a position so it fire control Arcs cover the best routes for the freighters, the fighter screen screams towards the in coming Rebel craft. There is no need to transmit a warning; every pilot on the field knows that they are here to fight. The X-wings have their attack foils ready, the TIE's shields up and weapons armed. And the Scimitar Assault craft bristling with weapons were planning on shutting down the Rebel advance.

"Viper Leader to Zeta Flight" Jal'Dana radios over to the Scimitar, "Split your forces into pairs of twos. One set cover the X-wings and the Y-wing. The others, get in range of the freighters and push them into the Prowler's fire. We'll handle the A-wings" And with that Viper I lurches forward, its profile looking like a dagger as it and it's wing man Viper III speed towards one of the two approaching A-wings. The other two Mark II TIEs form up in a high cover position watching the two hunters back.

Shifting in her shock-couch, Jal'Dana feels the comfort of the 'squint's' controls at her hands and feet. Unlike the Corvette she commands, leading the TIEs is where her heart will always be. Black shielded eyes shift between looking at the HUD and the open view port. She has flown with her wingman for a long time and holds faith in is cover. The two pilots in Vipers 2 and 4 are newer, and this is their first real test. No time to worry about that, quietly the Imperial pilot slips her craft behind the rebel A-wing, it wont be long now.

 "Roger that Alpha One, my readouts show them too. I'm moving up to attack speed, I'll help you cover those freighters." Ghost 10 speeds up fast as Cole moves to engage one of the Imperial fighters. "Watch yourselves Falcon." There was little time to say much else as the X-Wing screeches towards it target. Picking a TIE out of the enemy squadron Cole tries to line the Imperial craft up in his sites. X-Wings were smooth, but not quite as smooth as a sim. It is slightly more difficult to target the defense craft. Waiting until the computer manages to lock on to its target Cole lays into his laser canon and severely singes the wing of a TIE. No matter, there were more fish to fry and Cole speeds towards his next target. Zeta 2.

 The pilot of Zeta 1, "Hawkeye", responds to Viper Leader's order before trying to roll his ship out of the way of the enemy fire that strikes the underside of the Scimitar's shields. He keys the comm panel before speaking again. "Zeta 2, you're with me. Zeta squadron, stick with your wingman and follow Viper Leader's orders. Zeta 2, you cover me. I'm going to give him a taste of his own medicine. Do you copy, Zeta 2?" He begins priming his weapons before locking onto Johmac's X-wing and firing at him.

 Aramis doesn't miss the TIE fighter slipping in behind him. He grins and glances ahead to take in the scene ahead, plotting his escape. When the ship fires, he's already rolling through an evasive maneuver, up and back toward his pursuer. "Someone tell me how that TIE got on my six so fast," he grumbles good-naturedly as he comes about to fire on Jal'Dana's ship.

 Hammer nods as he responds to Hawkeye, "Copy that Hawk...I've got your wing." His grip on the yoke is slight as he guides his ship over towards Hawk's TIE pressing down on his peddles. Just as he was getting into position he sees 4 red bolts coming toward him and he pulls away banking to port away from them. "Alright you son of a bantha.." Hammer pulls back around and bears down on Alpha 1, the fighter that had fired at Hawk. Once he has the Rebel in his sights he squeezes the trigger and lets loose a blast at the rebel scum.

 Aramis doesn't miss the TIE fighter slipping in behind him. He grins and glances ahead to take in the scene ahead, plotting his escape. When the ship fires, he's already rolling through an evasive maneuver, up and back toward his pursuer. "Someone tell me how that TIE got on my six so fast," he grumbles good-naturedly as he comes about to fire on Jal'Dana's ship.

 "These guys aren't playing nice this evening.. Alpha Three, you've picked up an interceptor. Watch it! I've got a fighter." And Johmac grins a little bit as he manages to pick up Zeta One. Sticking onto the Interceptor's tail, he begins to close the gap, bringing himself considerably closer. The other alpha flight is fairing well, the Y-Wing gunners going crazy with their Ion Cannons and their laser cannons. They've not scored kills, but they're distracting the lovely, lovely enemy fighters, keeping them away from the freighters, which are still flaring along. "It's just you an' me, baby." He squeezes off a few rounds from his laser cannons at Ze, grinning a bit as he does.. before breaking off.

"Alpha Three, bring that sumbitch 'round town and I'll take 'em out. Intercept at point six four oh niner," he iterates quickly, calculating it in his head and nodding. He runs it with his Astromech droid, Archie.. who bleeps in approval.. So it'll happen. Just not yet.

 The green lasers pass the nimble A-wing but are little worry to the veteran pilot. Watching the rebel craft arch over itself into a roll she can't help but smile, it's a pretty move but will have little effect other than to bring the A-wing closer to her own weapons. Stepping down on the right pedal her own TIE matching the roll, only a few seconds ahead of the in coming red lasers. Darting between the shots, Jal'Dana's TIE lets fly matching fire for fire. The green energy explodes from the tips of the Interceptor's wings, peppering the space around the A-wing.

Still, Jal'Dana knows she must command the whole battle field. Opening her comm, she radios back to the Prowler, “Bring your guns to bear on -1000, 200 mark 792. One of their freighters has decided to make a run behind you make him pay for it" The gunner on the Corvette waste no time in following the orders. Turbo batteries pound mercilessly on the stray freighter, scorch marks instantly appearing on the craft, unable to stand up to the onslaught.

Vipers two and four have left the space around their commander and found a Y-wing to toy with. The two much faster craft pick apart the old war horse, the rebel pilot can be seen ejecting just as his craft break up, even the layers of armor no match for the faster nimble craft of the Imperial Navy.

 Cole streaks towards the target he'd completely missed. Too far away to score a decent hit he had to close some space between him and the Zeta 2. Throwing Ghost 10 forward at a greater speed Cole takes aim at the evasive TIE Fighter and attempts to disable the ships wing. He'd prefer to keep the pilot alive, but didn't want the TIEs making any more headway against the freighter he's been assigned to protect.

 Hawkeye mutters to himself as he sees Johmac's X-Wing come into sight behind him before he begins evasive maneuvers to avoid the shots he knows are coming. He makes a "hmmm" sound as he notes Johmac's fighter breaking off before he maneuvers Zeta 1 to join Zeta 2 as he speaks to his wingman. "Time for a change of plan. Let's have a go at his wingman and then see where that takes us. On me.

<SPACE> "Tsk tsk," Aramis says, flipping Falcon 2 over and out of the line of fire like physics hardly applies to the little fighter craft. "Alpha Three leaving that for you to spank, Alpha One. Changing target now. Good luck with that, sir." He changes direction again, seemingly at whim, and takes off after Zeta 2. He sets his sights and targets, opening fire on that craft when the green light comes.

<SPACE> Hammer rolls his ship to the port as his HUD warns that the same X-wing is firing on him again. Pulling through the roll he brings his bomber onto a 90 degree course with Viper Lead and the A-wing she is following, "Viper Lead this is Zeta 2. I have an X-wing on my aft coming in at about 90 degrees relative to you. What say we play a game of musical chairs? I'm gonna take a few shots at that A-wing of yours as I pass and that should bring the X-wing right into your sights." As Jona pushes both pedals down to the base of his fighter pusher her to her limits he smiles to himself as he bears down on the A-wing, who it appears is totally concerned with avoiding Viper and does not notice his approach...and then suddenly the A-wing flips about charging towards him, "Oh Sith spawn" As Hammer drives towards the A-wing he notices wingman coming up next to him just as his shields flash as he is hit. "Roger that Hawk...how about we take out this one?"

<SPACE> The Imperial Corvette is relentless in it's assault on the bloated freighter, and in a matter of moments the cruising lights on the civilian craft flicker, small explosions rock the ship before the space around it is littered with broken crates and parts as one deck explosively decompresses. As the freighter begins to drift, the Prowler breaks off its attack, leaving the broken ship to float powerless and in its death troughs

. Again the A-wing pilot makes a bold move and avoids getting hit. This part of the engagement seems at a standstill, and woman behind the controls of Viper I doesn't feel she can focus on the quick little craft for long without her mind slipping back to the overall battle. It is part of the drawback for Jal'Dana to command the field from the TIE. Going from commanding fighters to Capital Ships was a learning curve, she can't help but think maybe, just maybe she was too aggressive. It is too late for second guesses though, but a change in tactics is in order.

The crackle of the comm. traffic in Jal'Dana's head set alerts her to Zeta flight's request. Breaking hard right, the TIE rolls hard and then the whole ship lurches up, like a striking snake. As the fighter moves red laser pass below it, the lead X-wing's shots had been well placed, but for where the woman was, not where she was going. And that was right at the soft belly of Zeta 2's peruser. Just four pounds of pressure to the index finger and the guns fire in succession at the X-wing.

<SPACE> The Corellian can't seem to land his mark and now he'd drawn the fire of two TIEs in the process. Clenching his teeth and rolling the X-wing to the side he escapes a well aimed shot, but before he has a chance to breathe more laser fire comes from another ship. Throwing the X-wing hard into a roll Cole managed to avoid both shots. He doesn't have time to congratulate himself, however the evasive maneuvers do line him up for strike on another TIE, squeezing the trigger firmly he looses several bolts at one of the less aggressive TIEs. The streak towards their target and Cole watches, in what seems like slow motion. The TIE erupts into a ball of fire and turns into scorched metal chunks. An eye for an eye... The catastrophe of some his squad being killed has yet to set in.

<SPACE> Hawkeye banks away from Cole as he avoids their fire as he speaks to his wingman. "Zeta 2, negative on both hits. Let's spread ourselves around some more; maybe that'll shake 'em up some more." *he studies his Nav console before he spies Aramis's fighter on his screen before he presses on his pedals, sending the fighter into a bank, before he sets a course for Aramis. "Zeta 2, cover my back. If I miss my shot you can open fire yourself if possible."

<SPACE> Another TIE fighter takes a potshot at Falcon 2 and Aramis laughs quietly as he sends his craft spinning away even as he's pursuing Zeta 2. He comes out of his roll and resets his sights on Zeta 2, waiting for the lights to go green. What's going on around him hasn't gone unnoticed but he's got things to do before he can have the luxury of a reaction to anything but the task at hand.

<SPACE> As he charges the A-wing, pressing down on the pedals so that he is still pushing his bomber passed her limits, but he knew how much she could take past the red line, there can be heard something called 'HelloGoodBye' in the background as the dark helmeted figure nods to himself calibrating with one hand while the other lightly guides the yoke of the ship. Lining his fighter up he brings the A-wing into his sights once more he gently puts his finger...but then he looses sight as his HUD then warns him of incoming. Pushing his ship down his shields crackle as he comes back around onto the tail of the X-wing pursuing him before. With his sights lined up he tries a couple of shots.

<SPACE> "Damn it." Well, at least Jal'Dana was falling off of his compadre.. But. There was a problem. One of the freighters had been disabled, or so Johmac heard over the comlink, and one of the other ones was moving to tow. Which, it was doing, and they were starting to move further away from the Prowler and whatnot. The remaining Y-Wing, apparently happy to continue it's bombing run, continues to buzz the Prowler, unloading bombs, and torpedoes, and laser cannon fire every time.

"All right, lets wrap this up! Keep your fire up, boys." Johmac pulls away, deciding to leave that specific TIE alone. Bam.. there goes another kill for him as he pulls around, spraying his laser cannons against a TIE, he comes on around. Three kills. Lets go after another one. He comes up behind Zeta One, as he did earlier, and begins to light it up, firing his laser cannons in quick succession.

<SPACE> The Y-wing's attack on the Prowler did have some success, causing the larger craft to shift its position, rolling a bit to the side to protect it's self from the deadly torpedoes. Still one of the turbo-laser batteries is crippled, but the ship still bristles with teeth. Moving back has allowed the freighters a little bit of breathing room, but if they want to make a break for it, the two undamaged craft are going to have to push past the gauntlet for fire that the Corvette pumps out.

Jal'Dana purses her lips as her shots fly wide of the X-wing. She also was successful in chasing it off Zeta, but with no Damage to speak of she knows it is only a matter of time before the pilot regains his nerve. "Viper 2 and 4. Hunt down that remaining Y-wing, It's a danger to the Prowler, and then need to refocus on the freighters. They make it a habit of running, Zeta stick with them"" Switching off the fighter frequency she calls up the Prowler, "You better bet back into the fight, because if the freighters get through, you'll have more to worry about than some damage to the hull" the woman says in her cool raspy voice before clicking off the mike.

Closing in on the arrant A-wing, Jal'Dana lets loose a string of fire that lights up from it engine to it's cockpit. The tiny fighter explodes in a ball of fire, small fragments causing her ship to shake as she flies through the debris. Locking in on the lead X-wing, she again opens up fire. Trying to push the pilot off the bomber whose shields have been disabled.

<SPACE> Hawkeye curses quietly to himself, and not over the channel, as the blasts from Johmac's shots pierce the shields and cause the ship to rattle as the beams strike the hull. He calls up Viper Leader's frequency and Zeta 2's. "This is Zeta 1. My fighter is damaged and I need to break off. Requesting backup from Zeta 2." *he throws his engines into full before making a flat out run for the Prowler.

<SPACE> Aramis goes after his target again. "Sir, yes, sir," Aramis responds to Johmac. "Alpha Three, on cleanup duty." He waits until his targeting sights go green and he fires at Zeta 2 one more time.

<SPACE> Hammer lets out a growl of displeasure over the comm as he feels his ship brace under attack once again as he sees his shields flash. Taking his ship around he pulls behind the Xwing once again trying to hurt these rebels enough.

<SPACE> The disabled freighter cleared the engagement zone with the rest of the freighters, in tow with the now-leading one. Hearing the all-clear on the radio, Johmac heaves a relieved sigh. "Alpha Group, pull out, I say. Pull out! Prepare for hyperspace jump on my mark." His ship is rocked as one of the Interceptors rounds on him, and he growls... but restrains himself. Instead, he closes the S-Foils of his X-Wing, and pulls away quickly, using the extra speed from closing up to get away. He frowns a little bit. He lost two Y-Wings and an A-Wing. This was shitty. Five people. But their lives hadn't been lost in vain! They had gotten some important supplies past the blockade lone, and for the first time in a long while, he had successfully ran a blockade outnumbered and outgunned. Things were good. The group eventually gets away far enough to make their jump... and it's next stop, Coruscant.

<SPACE> Chasing the lead X-wing, the constant fire from Viper I crackles off the rear shields of the rebel. Too long this battle has gone on, and the freighters have slipped though the smallest gap to the Prowler’s flank. The space around the craft blurs as the enter hyperspace, freeing themselves from the battle. The Imperial Corvette and fighter screen were unable to completely stop the blockade run, however they inflected heavy losses on the taskforce. This was just on the way through to the planet, the ships would have to return and they would loose more. How long the Republic could sustain such costly missions was unknown, but freighter pilots would be less and less willing to test there luck.

For Commander Rall, it wasn’t really a loss, her under supplied ship had performed as well as she had hoped, short of stopping the freighters totally. They had taken out the heavy bombers and an A-wing, as well as crippling a freighter. Every time the Rebels tried to outflank the blockade, the Imperial noose tightened. “Let get back to the prowler. We’ll have to resupply and fix the minor damage” the bone tired woman radios the rest of her flight. Her sweat has soaked through her flight suit and she looks forward to a hot shower. Tonight’s action was over, and there was no real rest to be had.

The Imperial craft start to dock with the corvette and the scene fades to black.