The Force Is My Co-Pilot - Star Wars SAGA Edition PBP [IC]

[MechaMaestro]

The debris field above the Radix System is a perfect place for a small fleet to hide in, even one with an asset as conspicuous as the MC80 Star Cruiser "Eternity". The Fleet has sat on standby for a week now, awaiting its newest assignment. The days are long, boring, and everyone is eager to see some action.

It's midday when the ship's intercom sounds with three chimes of alert:

"All pilots from Nova and Holo Squadrons, report to Briefing room 1 in 15 minutes. Say again, all pilots from Nova and Holo Squadrons to Briefing Room 1 in 15 minutes."

When the order goes out, what are you doing at that moment, and with whom in Nova Squadron?

[MechaMaestro]

ROSTER
Nova 1 - Kavik
Nova 2 - Nam Tru'Haiv
Nova 3 - Trent Ribov
Nova 4 - Vinor Finnall
Nova 5 - Sythity Tia
Nova 6 - Nair Wirnul
Nova 7 - Arik Faynor
Nova 8 - Evert Folpar
Nova 9 - Loren Tiild
Nova 10 - Niko Schells
Nova 11 - Cora Loronar
Nova 12 - Mavis Carter

THE FALLEN

[samduke]

Cora hearing the alert tone go off grabbing her flight suit pulling it on rapidly, snatching her helmet on the way out of her quarters pressing her comm to her astro-droid A9 get the ship warmed up as she hustles to briefing room 1 and taking a seat when she arrives

[Thundercracker]

Arik Faynor

Arik cracked his eyes open. He could have sworn he just heard an announcement.
"Play back audio last 20 seconds," he said.

Then he mumbled a curse as he heard the call to briefing room.

The pilot resisted the urge to fall back asleep, and rolled out of bed to pull on his flight suit, not bothering to shower; he'd take care of that after the mission, whatever it was.

"Duty calls, wish me luck babe," he said to the blow-up doll sitting in the corner, "I'll see you when I'm back."
He blew it a kiss and exited his quarters to walk to the briefing room.

[BloodyMagpie]

Loren Tiild

Loren was sitting in the mess decks nursing a cup of tea and half listening to his wingman regale two of the ship's junior and extremely green deck officers with a story Loren figured was probably around 90% BS when the announcement came over the all hands intercom. He downed the rest of his cup in a single gulp before bolting to his feet and nudging Niko towards the hatch leading to their cramped shared quarters. He was all too glad for the alert. He'd used to have no problem with long downtimes, a necessity for a freighter owner-pilot who could expect to spend days or weeks at a time in hyperspace between the far flung planets of the Outer Rim. Now, though, downtime with nothing to do was just an easy trap into brooding over his losses and getting himself into a bad emotional state.

Once Loren and Niko had changed into their fightsuits, they hurried towards the briefing room. Loren had no intention of making a bad impression on his first combat mission, and that included not being late for the mission briefing. Fortunately, they'd made good time, and reached the room to find themselves with a few minutes to spare and only a few other pilots from the two squadrons having beat them there. He nodded politely at Cora and Arik as he headed for his seat.

[Aruetii]

Kavik

Kavik had found himself in one of the halls with a view of space and had been standing there for roughly half an hour at that point. No matter how often he saw it, which was nigh constantly out here, the view hadn't gotten any worse for him. Hearing the alarm, he nodded his head to himself before going to get changed and head to the briefing room.

While he never really understood why it was bad manners to walk around without goggles or cloth over his eye sockets, he respected everyone enough to continue wearing one. For this purpose he kept a piece of cloth wrapped around his eyes, with the Rebel Alliance's emblem displayed over the bridge of his nose. Aside from that distinction he looked the same as any other Rebel pilot when he entered the briefing room with a few minute to spare. He quickly scanned over everyone who was in, offering them a smile and nod before going to take a seat. "Seems everyone's excited to be moving again."

[RandomLunatic]

Trent opened one bleary eye as the alarm chimed, followed by a summons to the briefing room. Groaning and moaning, he clawed his way out of his bunk and dressed himself.

10 minutes later, he shambled into Briefing Room 1. Clutching a large, steaming mug of stimcaf in his hands, he made his way past the gathered pilots with an occasional smile or nod and slumped into the first open chair he could find. He took a sip of the caf and waited for the briefing to start. The caf and the familiar pre-mission jitters helped bring the world into focus around him and shake off the fogginess in his head.

[DoctorFaust]

Tia sticks her head out of the sonic 'fresher pod she had been in to hear the announcement better, and growls crossly at the message. She retracts her head, and a few moments later the whine of the unit dies down. Another brief pause later, she marches out fully clothed but with her fur sticking out at odd angles.

One trip to her quarters later, Tia hurries into Briefing Room 1. She waves quickly to her fellow pilots before taking a seat next to Nair. "It will be good to sortie again. Just running the simulators has been getting dull."

[MechaMaestro]

As you arrive at the briefing room, you can already see that Holo Squadron has arrived far earlier than you, and are patiently waiting for the briefing to begin. That's just like Holo Squadron: they party as hard as the day is long but once the call goes out, it's all buisness. The chatter comes to an end when two officers, a Mon Cal and a Bothan enter from one of the side doors. It's Commander Agmun, the commander of the Eternity's fighter operations, and Lieutenant Melan, the ship's Intelligence Officer.

Commander Agmun steps up to the holo projector in the center of the briefing room. The lights dim as the center projector lights up, showing a display of your curent chunk of the galaxy, casting an eerie blue glow throughout the room.

https://i.imgur.com/q5kpdei.png

"We've been given a critical mission by Alliance High Command. Tosk Fleet is currently transitioning through hyperspace from Miztoc, located here, to Boomis Koori. In order for them to do so, they must first transition through the Kriselist system, here. There's just one problem: Kriselist currently has a picket stationed Victory Star Destroyer on patrol. Should our fleet enter the system, it will be large enough for them to trigger an alarm to the Imperial Patrol station on Ichtor 8, and even if the fleet was able to destroy the VSD quickly enough, it wouldn't have enough time to complete the hyperdrive cooldown and recalculation cycle before the response fleet arrives.

If our fleet is caught by the Empire's reinforcement fleet, they will certainly be destroyed. That is why we have come up with an plan to distract the VSD long enough for our fleet to get through undetected. D'rinba IV is nearby, and home to an important fleet replenishment station for Imperial patrols in the region. Imperial doctrine indicates that an attack on a fleet replenishment station will be met with an appropriately large enough fleet to crush the attackers. In this case, an attack by two squadrons of starfighters and a corvette sized capital ship will be responded to by a VSD and it's complement of TiE fighters.

Lieutenant Melan then steps up to the hologram projector.
"The space around the station is clear. No major astronavigational hazards to contend with, and the transition time between Kriselist and D'rinba IV for a VSD is roughly fifteen minutes. The Replenishment station is an old one, it lacks any shielding aside from standard debris stoppers. It's too small to have a dedicated fighter contingent, and instead relies on it's proximity to reinforcements for its defense, along with a surrounding ring of four heavy turbolaser batteries. The VSD on station is the "Tython", they're an experienced crew and more than capable of providing a serious response to our attack. Their TiE Squadron is experienced but hasn't seen action for a couple months now. Because of this, they'll be very aggressive. The biggest threat it provides against capital ship targets is it's concussion missile launchers. However, if it's close enough to the station, it won't be authorized to fire them without risking the station."

Commander Agmun takes his place again by the projector.
Our plan then, is as follows:

Phase 1: Attack the Imperial Replenishment station in order to draw the VSD from Kriselist to D'rinba IV.
Phase 2: Disable the VSD to prevent its return to Kriselist long enough for our fleet to pass through.
Phase 3: Extract from the area and rendevous with our fleet at Radix.


We'll be dispatching two squadrons, Nova and Holo, along with a CR90 Corvette, the "Savior".
The Savior will use its modified sensor suite to monitor the station's communications and keep the starfighters updated as to the VSD's response time. In addition, it will use its heavier weapons to engage the station itself once it's safe to do so. Holo Squadron's Y-Wings will be armed with Ion Torpedos, and once the VSD enters the battle, they will be responsible for disabling it. Until then they will be providing close escort for The Savior.

Nova Squadron's tasks in each phase are as follows:
In Phase 1, Nova will disable the four turbolasers around the station to allow Savior to close in and engage it safely. Once the VSD has been confirmed to be responding to the station's distress call, they will then disable its comms array.
In Phase 2, They will be responsible for engaging the VSD's TiE Fighter compliment, and escorting Hammer onto the target.
In Phase 3, They will provide the Rearguard for Hammer and Savior if needed.

It is absolutely vital that the station's Comms array on its top is in no way destroyed before the distress call can be sent out.

Are there any questions?
The questions Holo Squadron asks are the kind usual to strike fighter pilots. Most of them involve the capabilities and point defences of the VSD, and all are answered by the Intelligence Officer.

(You may each ask the commander one question, if you so choose. If not, tell us why you aren't speaking up.)

[samduke]

Cora

Speaking up Sir about the minimal shields and the four turbolasers around the station, Do we know if they have any other weaponry to be concerned about, and will we need to contend with the shields in order to get at the turbolaser batteries?

[Aruetii]

Kavik carefully looked over the briefing, nodding his head occasionally as he listened in. Once the briefing was over he spoke up. "How close is close enough to the station for the Imps? Want to keep our Savior as protected as we can."

[RandomLunatic]

Striking targets in support of capital ships was familiar territory to Trent. But switching to top cover afterwards? Not so much.

He raised his hand. "Who has operational command for the mission?"

[DoctorFaust]

Tia listens to the briefing in silence, nodding along to certain points. When the call for questions comes up, she asks, "How much do we know about the Tython's CO, sir? I mean, how likely is it that they will follow Imperial doctrine for things like force response or continuing an engagement?"

[Thundercracker]

Arik doesn’t have any questions, so he keeps quiet.

[MechaMaestro]

Sir about the minimal shields and the four turbolasers around the station, Do we know if they have any other weaponry to be concerned about, and will we need to contend with the shields in order to get at the turbolaser batteries?

"The Station has no other weaponry besides the turbolasers. They're on orbiting individual defense platforms so you won't have to worry about them." Lieutenant Melan replies.

How close is close enough to the station for the Imps? Want to keep our Savior as protected as we can.

"Imperial Protocol dictates 2 kilometers is too close." Melan responds.

"Who has operational command for the mission?"
"Captain Rile on the Saviour will have overall command." Commander Agmun answers.

"How much do we know about the Tython's CO, sir? I mean, how likely is it that they will follow Imperial doctrine for things like force response or continuing an engagement?"

"He will adhere to Imperial Doctrine. If the VSD can't handle it, he will send off a Code Zero assistance request to the fleet nearby who will be on station inside of fifteen minutes, which is why disabling the ship will be the top priority." Melan says.

The lights return as the hologram fades away.
"If there are no other questions then good luck, and may the force be with you!" Agmun says.

Seemingly as one, Holo Squadron rises to their feet and rushes off to the hangar bay.

How quick are each of you to get to the hangar bay and in your starfighters, and if you're going slow, how come?

[samduke]

Cora proceeds directly to her starfighter, taking a few moments to check the ship over making sure that the torpedo bay is properly loaded. Then as she is climbing in and getting fastened in.. A9 power up the shields and get the system chart overlay up, and get us connected in with the rest of nova.

After checking all the gauges and ship readouts.. Command Nova 11 ready for takeoff

[Thundercracker]

Arik proceeded directly to his ship, no sense waiting time.

He hopped into the cockpit and had his R2 unit start running pre-flight. Once everything checked out he opened the comm.

"Nova 7, ready for launch," he said.

[RandomLunatic]

Trent got up and hurried to the cruiser's flight deck, downing the rest of his caf as he went. By the time he climbed into the cockpit, enough of the stuff was running through his system to make him feel like a human being again. He started the pre-flight checks.

"Nova 3, green board."

[Aruetii]

Kavik nodded his head, making a mental note of the distance. If possible he was going to need to stay as close as he could during the sortie to make sure they couldn't bring it against the Savior.

When they were dismissed he immediately went to go to the hanger with the others in Holp and Nova squadrons. Once in he started speaking to the Droid as it clicked at him. "I know some of the others got to their ship first. We still beat quite a few. Get me the overlay of the system and everything started please." While the astromech gave him what he needed, he linked up his comms to the rest of the squadron and did final flight prep. "Nova 1 green to launch."

[DoctorFaust]

Once the briefing finishes, Tia comms her astromech. "Nines, we're launching soon. I'm on my way to the hangar bay, so start up the engines and go through as much of the pre-flight checklist as you can."

She grabs a sweet bun and a cup of caf from a cart as she exits, wolfing down on them as she walks to hangar with the rest of the pilots. Tia climbs into the cockpit of her X-Wing, licking the last few crumbs from her hands, and starts punching buttons to go through the last few checks. "Nova 5, four green and in the clear."

[MechaMaestro]

The eternity's hangar bay is abuzz with activity. As you arrive, you can see many of Holo Squadron's Y-Wings lifting off and out of the hangar bay. Your wingmen climb into their cockpits and do their final checks, all reporting ready to launch. Flight control directs you into your headsets, and in turn, each of you feels your X-Wings hovering upwards as you pull up on your control sticks. There's a loud familiar wirring of mechanical systems and hydraulics as your landing gear lifts up inside your starfighters, followed by a loud "CHA-CHUNK" as it's locked into place and the doors close over it. You pull sideways on your sticks, and point the nose in the direction of the hangar doors, where the force field is all that separates you from the vacuum of space. Switching from take off to flight, your fighter dips ever so slightly as the systems shift and the compensators kick in. Pushing forward slightly on the throttle, your engines hum louder as you fly steadily forward and out into the darkness of space.

As you form up around the fleet, you can see the many ships that make up Eternity fleet. It's very rare for a Mon Cal MC80 to be supporting a fleet in these dark times, but you have a lot more firepower than much of the rebellion. Your HUDs direct you to the small task force forming up on the fleet's edge. The Blue trimmed hull of the Savior, and the dark orange lined hulls of Holo Squadron's Y-Wings beckon you to join them.

Kavik: Your holoprojector lights up, and a miniaturized human officer is projected from your dashboard, shimmering in blue light.
"Nova Lead, this is Captain Rile on the Savior, join up at point 5-0-2 off our front, and prepare your squadron to jump to hyperspace. Report when in position."

[Aruetii]

Kavik smiled to himself as he felt the now familiar sensation of a starfighter transferring from take off to flight in space. He quickly turned his attention to the holoprojector when it started up. "Understood Captain Rile, Nova Squadron will be there shortly." Kavik dipped his head to the holoprojector reflexively, before turning his attention to the comms.

"All right Novas, we've got our meet up position. I'm sending the coords to all of you, once we're all there prepare a jump to hyperspace alongside the Savior. Let's try and show Holo a thing or two this time." At the very least, he was careful enough to make sure the message only went out to Nova squadron. "Shout out when you're in position."

Without anything further, he navigated his X-Wing and started heading towards the position. While he flew he studied what he could of the charts of the area.

[RandomLunatic]

"3, on your wing," Trent said, sliding smoothly into formation with the flight leader's fighter.

[Thundercracker]

Arik

“Nova 7 in position,” Arik replied.

[samduke]

Lead Nova 11 in position, then A9 chirping Coordinates locked in.. Nova 11 green to jump

[DoctorFaust]

"Six, you're my wing." Tia gooses her X-Wing up and forward out into space. After a bit of routine flying, she reaches the coordinates Kavik sent and says, "One, Five, I'm in position."

[MechaMaestro]

https://i.imgur.com/xWOzagg.png

Joining into formation, your R2 units automatically punch in the preset hyperspace coordinates, and your autopilots take over. You and your wingmen press your X-Wing's hyperdrive activation button.

"Savior Lead to Battlegroup, prepare to jump on my mark!" Captain Rile's voice rings in your headsets. "Jumping on 3...2...1...MARK!"

On the Captain's command, you each push the throttles of your X-Wings all the way forwards. You can hear the hum of your hyperdrives as they spool up to incredibly high speeds. The starfield ahead of you stretches out, a pinprick of light brightens, and you're each pushed back into your seats as your starfighters roar into a blue whirling void. Timers on your dashboards count down from ten minutes.

You have a few minutes to yourselves. How are you all feeling right now?

[Thundercracker]

Arik takes the few minutes of travel to settle himself and prepare to fight for his life once again, and destroy some tie fighters.

[samduke]

Cora mentally thinking about the mission at hand and the losses that were sure to follow.

[RandomLunatic]

The sensation of getting slammed backwards instead of upwards was still new and unpleasant. Also new was launching and seeing nothing but a starfield to shoot at. But Trent had flown enough to to keep working himself up when there was nothing he could do about it. "R2, set an alarm for 50... no, make it 45 standard time parts." He didn't have to look at the display to interpret the warbled acknowledgement from R2-BR behind him. Instead, Trent stretched out and adjusted his seat so he could lean back, close his eyes, and get some rest before the action started.

[Aruetii]

Kavik took the time to focus on the X-Wing's performance, anything that could have been missed while they were doing the check-ups in the hanger. If there was going to be something that'd affect the dogfight he wanted to know now, before everything went to hell.

[DoctorFaust]

Tia spends the first few minutes of hyperspace looking at a chart of the system they're jumping to before closing it in Annoyance. She then opens up a private comms channel with Kavik. "One, this is Five. You've got command so I figure you have better charts than I do. Do you see anything like asteroid clusters that we could ride in close to the station to give ourselves more protection from the turbolasers?"

[MechaMaestro]

The timers on your dashboards steadily count down until you are 1 minute to target. Over the comms, you can hear the voice of Captain Rile, "All ships prepare to exit hyperspace!"

You grip your throttles and control sticks and count the seconds down.

"Three...two...one...MARK!"

Your computers disengage your hyperdrives, the blue void slows down and eventually the long streaks of light shrink back into individual stars as you exit hyperspace.

https://i.imgur.com/tKSqzkS.png

In the distance, you can see the Imperial Supply station. The large cylindrical station is ringed by four large turbolasers, just as expected.

https://i.imgur.com/84JVLFl.png

"Savior to Nova Squadron, we're watching the comms, move into attack formation and get after those guns!"

ROLL INITIATIVE

[RandomLunatic]

"Roger," Trent acknowledged, locking his targeting system onto the nearest turbolaser platform.

(([roll0]

Designating Turbolaser 4 as my prime target.))

[Thundercracker]

Arik Faynor

"Nova 7, targeting Turbolaser #3," Arik said, trying to keep the chatter to a minimum.

initiative: [roll0]
10 skill mod + 6 vehicle dex -5 vehicle size, let me know if I did this correctly

[Aruetii]

Kavik had looked over the layout they had been given before responding to Five. "Unfortunately looks the same as the briefing. No major space hazards that we can use to our advantage here. We'll just have to be clever."

When it came time to disengage the hyperdrives, Kavik did so and quickly scanned the scene. Looked like everything was as they expected so far. If it managed to stay like that he'd be surprised. "Nova 1, focusing Turbolaser 2."

Init: [roll0]
14 Skill Mod + 6 Vehicle Dex - 5 Size.

[samduke]

A9- running the sensors to determine shielding status around the turbolaser batteries [roll0]

Initiative [roll1] <- this number should be 2 less - Edited
10 Skill Mod + 6 Vehicle Dex - 5 Size.

[DoctorFaust]

Tia sighs. "Well, sithspit. I don't like having to be more clever than someone manning a turbolaser."

When they return to realspace, she locks her S-Foils to attack position and starts making a beeline towards the station. "Five and Six have Turbolaser 4."

[roll0]

[MechaMaestro]

Turbolasers [roll0]
Station [roll1]
Tilld [roll2]

Kavik - 30
Tia - 30
Loronar - 30
Faynor - 23
Ribov - 21
Tiild - 21
Turbolasers
Allied NPC's
Station

Here is our Turn Order. Post your actions!

[samduke]

Turbolasers [roll0]
Station [roll1]
Tilld [roll2]

Kavik - 30
Tia - 30
Loronar - 28
Faynor - 23
Ribov - 21
Tiild - 21
Turbolasers
Allied NPC's
Station

Here is our Turn Order. Post your actions!

did my R2-A9 use computer check for shielding status around the turbolaser batteries (1d20+13)[23] get any result?


Cora and Wingman will drop in heading for TL Battery 3

(rolled in ooc
R2-A9 aids piloting
Full action to use all-out movement.
Taking a free action to Increase Speed (1d20+18)[32] pilot +15 dex +6 ship size -5 R2 aid +2
28 squares towards turbo laser #3)


long range for proton torpedos is 16-30 squares in starship scale. 7-15 is medium, 4-6 is short, and 0-3 is point-blank. Laser cannons are 6-10 squares, 3-5 squares, 2 squares, and 0-1 square for the same categories.

(30 squares) max range proton torpedos +7 9d10x2 4 square splash [roll0] : damage [roll1]

(4 squares) medium range laser cannons (+2 autofire) 6d10x2 [roll2] : damage [roll3]

(6 squares) short range proton torpedos +7 9d10x2 4 square splash [roll4] : damage [roll5]

[RandomLunatic]

"Nova 3, making a run on turbolaser 4," Trent reported.

"Alright 4, let's close and hose. Go buster." Keeping the S-foils in the closed position to reduce his target profile, Trent pushed the throttle all the way to the stops, and shunted all discretionary power to the engines, causing the fighter to surge forwards towards the base.

((R2 aids piloting, auto-success.

Full action to use all-out movement.

Taking a free action to [roll0]. +3 speed.

Move 28 squares straight ahead.))

[Thundercracker]

Arik Londar

“Burn it up, close that distance to get into firing range,” Arik said to his wingman, “R2, increase engine power.”
Arik followed Nova 3’s example and shunted all power to the engines, accelerating towards turbo laser #3.

full round action all out movement:
Increase speed: pilot15 +6 dex -5 size +2 R2 aid: [roll0]
(+1 speed, 20 squares towards turbo laser #3)

[DoctorFaust]

"Six, move all diversionary power to thrusters. Nines, do the same for us." Tia commands. She turns her throttle all the way up and starts to make a bee-line for the target designated Turbolaser #4.

Full-round action to do All Out Movement. I'm not quite confident enough to want to take the free Increase Vehicle Speed action, so it's just 16 squares towards the station.

[Aruetii]

Kavik locked his S-Foils into attack once they dropped back into realspace. There was a lot of ground to cover before they were going to be in range properly of the Turbolasers. The less time he spent getting shot at by them the better. "Nova 1, burning towards Turbolaser 2." When he was done broadcasting to the others he turned his attention to his astromech. "Help me out with the thrusters, don't want to be scrap out here."

Gonna be boring and do the same thing everyone else is! [roll0] 14 Use the Force + 6 Vehicle Dex -5 Size + 2 R2 unit.

[MechaMaestro]

Dice Rolls

Turbolaser 2 fires against Kavik's Element [roll0]
[roll1]x5

Turbolaser 4 Fires against Ribov's Element [roll2]
[roll3]x5