Log:When the Green Rain Falls

Tionese Rebel fly out to prevent an orbital bombardment.

OOC Date: May 24, 2022
Location: Tion 2, Tion System
Participants: Spice Runners, Ektor, Amallia Madine, Hadrix Kora, Valeska Kora, Lofty, Black Krrsantan, Lilly, Poe Dameron

The riots in Pazarot City and the damage inflicted on the unwelcome occupiers had led to a full withdrawal of Arcantael forces and assets from Tion 2. While this would have seemed like a victory, thanks to the slicing work of certain individuals it had been learned that a vengeful communique was sent to the First Order-aligned Lianna Defense Force, calling in an orbital bombardment to punish Pazarot City. The Vindicator-class heavy cruiser *Hegemony* was en route through hyperspace to the Tion System.

Such a ship was far, far beyond the capability of the Tionese to defeat, and a desperate scramble was underway to evacuate districts of Pazarot City. Meanwhile, every ship in the system was either leaving in haste, lying low and hoping not to be noticed, or in the case of a few desperate, brave, and/or stupid types, assembling to put up a fight. Theyâ??d had a scant few hours to prepare.

A single squadron of 11 mismatched fighters- either native pirates or visiting do gooders- were in the black at the edge of orbit, along with a half dozen civilian light freighters. One freighter (a Nestt class) wasn't even armed, but had joined the defense with the intention of rescuing any downed pilots and giving the attackers one more target to shoot at. Any larger ships had fled out of the system or gone to ground on Tion 1; it would be suicide to stand in range of a heavy cruiser.

In the cockpit of an old reconnaissance bomber, Ektor gives a long, lazy exhale. <<Arright. So.. one lil scrap of good news: when Smash and Nooka was looting the Arcantael magazine- oh, sorry, when they was *liberating* the magazine, they turned up a mag-pulse missile. Had to clear out my proton torpedoes, but we got a shot, at least. Look, all we can do is slow these Hutt-suckers down, yeah? So don't nobody go all hero on us and get blowed up trying to win the war, yeah? Just.. keep the fighters offa me long as you can. Anybody starts getting lit up, you get the rekk out.>> Truly, an inspiring speech to stir the heart. A sardonic female voice quips, <<You really are drek at motivation, yeah?>>

The pirate's pragmatism resonates sharply in the instant that their antagonist arrives: the ominous, dagger shaped hull of the *Hegemony* streaks abruptly into realspace looming very near the gravity well of Tion 2. Just under half the size of an old Imperial-class Star Destroyer, it otherwise closely resembles its larger cousin with dozens of linked turbolaser batteries and point defense cannons. Pale grey, trimmed in the royal blue of the Lianna fleet, squadrons of TIE/fo fighters immediately launch from its belly. Targeting computers identify these as Crown and Scepter squadrons. The precise, refined Imperial accent of the vesselâ??s commanding officer is broadcast: <<Terrorist elements: lower your shields and disperse at once, or you will be destroyed. There will be no further warnings.>>

<<"You know... you can always let me get the Shukalar close enough for us to clamp... I can do a little space-walk... Open up a hole with my can opener.">> there's a low, slow, exhale as if every pleasure center in Hadrix's brain was firing off at the idea of clamping onto the side of an enemy cruiser and just rekking -invading-. <<"There's three Mandalorians in this old heap... Figure a full compliment crew, I like those odds.">>

The old predecessor to the Z-95 and later the original T-65 X-Wing rumbled along, s-foils open, systems prepared and the big man in the modified command couch, leaving Valeska and Mir in the back turret seats.

<"Hadrhix..."> <"Mir?"> <"You've flown this before, yes?"> <"Few times."> shaking his head, a series of blips and bwats come from Heiyuu who seems to be chastising the big man. <"Hush you, they never got through shields and I splashed three."> BWAPBT!!!

The nigh seventy year fighter, based on Mandalorian designs, bobs while moving into formation before he flicks comms back to 'squad' band, <<"But Ka'Shukalar, ready on your word.">>

Tucked into the gunner seat nestled in the aft of the ARC 'Ka'Skukalar', Valeska is inspecting the small screen and readouts around her. Her helmet is off because 1) it's not going to save her if this thing explodes and 2) she doesn't need to combat against two different modes of targetting systems. She'll just have to choice this ship decades-old technology and the flying capabailities of its pilot.

"Ori'vod, who are these people that called us in, anyways? Friends of yours?" She didn't really intend to get mixed up in any kind of reveolutions, but there is always that small part of her that seemed genetically prone to getting drawn into them. Seems she has since given up on fighting the urge.

Then comes the swarm of TIE fighters and the command for shields to be lowered. Which merits the curious pondering aloud: "Does this thing have shields?"

Poe is in the control cabin of the Ghost after the brief speech and sudden arrival of the Stardestroyer. It was not the first time he had stared down a Star Destroyer, and Poe wagered it would hardly be the last. <<"This is Ghost; -- Well boys and girls, this drek ain't gonna do itself. Follow me in, and let's get this over with..">> Inching the throttle forward, Poe makes the engines of the Ghost purr as her shields shimmer into place. Bones is settling into the ion cannon, and Poe tapped the boom mic of his head set before asking, <"Santos, you settled in the back, big time?"> Poe's new nickname for the massive Wookiee.

Angling toward the joust, Poe squares up the bow cannons, flipping a series of switches ahead of him to trigger the advanced combat systems to include the sub-space disruptor. It looked like a comet was coming right for the fighters. <<"I've got your approach, Xer. Make it count, buddy.">>

Amallia Madine is normally such a talker. Whether it's at the bar, on her ship, or grabbing noodles at the Meltdown, it's normally difficult to get the woman to shut up. But within the cockpit of a fighter, she's a different woman. She's run over the various flaps and slat checks a handful of times, throttled her repulsorlifts in neutral and even run through a mock jump in hyperdrive. All systems are looking clear, but she checks them again. One through twenty, just like they taught her in flight school. <<"I copy, loud and clear. Channel's clean, Xer. That's some serious firepower, too.">> Mollie's voice is a little gravely over vocoder. Normally bright and bubbly and maybe a -touch- raspy, it sounds different through the channel linking the fighters scrambling to intercept the Hegemony. The sudden appearance of the massive ship makes Mollie turn her head up in her cockpit beneath the shadow it cast, tongue briefly licking out to wet her lips as she rolls her fingers across the top control panel to her right. Shields up. Weapons hot.

<<"Oiiii, look at 'em all! They're happy to see us!" Mollie laughs, tipping her head to the side and craning her head up to see the Ghost coast above her port side. Poe's voice echoes through comms, and Mollie navigates to a spot just beside and a touch behind.

She reaches down and pushes the throttle all the way up, her X-Wing's red engines glowing bright and brilliant in the dark of space.

<<"On your wing, Ghost. Following you in.">>

In the back of Ghost, Poe and company can hear a large Wookiee's growl, <"I'm set. Guns hot and ready to burn."> It's a combination of wail, warble, snarl and rumble at various points to those who don't understand Shyriiwook. Black Krrsantan has crammed his huge bulk into the Ghost's dorsal gun turret bubble and swings the gimbled chair around, doing a few last checks of his targeting systems. No armor, no suit against vacuum but lots of hair. We dare you to find that boom mike he's strapped on somewhere over his thick skull - but a tiny arm and bead stick out near to his mouth.

<<You wanna invade a heavy cruiser, that's a level of crazy I gotta respect, yeah?>> Ektor cackles to Hadrix. "Hey, Rocket: how many shellheads on a heavy cruiser?" A long, lazy exhale follows the arrival of the *Hegemony*. <<Arright. Let's wreck some face.>> The Longprobe's nacelles flare orange and the bomber accelerates at full speed toward the looming capital ship...

<<"Copy that, Ghost. Moving in - targeting that squadron leader for...">> a moment to check data being fed to his bionic, mirrored on the ship and his helmet's HUD. <<"Crown... kriff me to farkling Gand.">> chuckling to himself and throwing the throttle full, switching to ship comms, <"Going to be lining up some shots... hope you have your dampers dialed up...">

Heiyuu tweedles woefully and then gives a -ScrrrEEEEEEEEE- when the craft that they called a -recon- fighter back in the Clone Wars twists and swings in a raking pattern that launches heavy blaster fire in a scythe across the leading Crown TIE's fuselage, making shields grow further and further opaque before they collapse all together and elongating spikes of flash melted durasteel stretch into the ether.

<"Mir?"> One of the turrets opens up with much huffing and grumbling at the sight of spiraling shots going wide of the target, the old man turning off internal comms to look over his shoulder at Valeska, "He's a blhoody maniac, yhou know?" that particular accent of his adding Hs to his speech where there would be none.

Into the action, Valeska switches from casual chatter to completely focused kill mode. A target has been selected by the man up front and Valeska is swivelling around like mad trying to follow it. <"Copy that, Ori'vod."> Or so she is trying. Crown Leader didn't get his captain's bars from lolligagging and so it is proven as they juke Mir's follow-up.

But they fail to juke Valeska's shot and she finishes what Hadrix started in a glorious explosion in the orbit of Tion 2. She swivels back around, looking up from her screen over to the older man nearby with a grin. "Sometimes, yeah? I'm just glad we're inside here rather than on the receiving in, eh, ba'buir?"

A flick of her comms announces to the small fleet: <<"Ka'Shukalar, splash one, yeah? You guys always have this kinda fun?">>

Poe pushes the engines toward 'All Ahead, Full', keeping them charging forward as they found the right attack vector to engage. Poe initial blasts are intended for Scepter leader, but the TIE pilot is exquisitely good, and moves their agile craft away from both the blasts from Bones and Poe.

Poe chuckles, leading the large freighter through a tight spin that encourages the TIE/fo's to get out from his path. <"Bones, you seem to be shooting better today.">

<"THIS UNIT'S PROGRAMMING INDICATES THAT IT IS IN A BETTER MOOD, PRETTY GIRL. MURDER IS CAUSE FOR EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS.">

<"Well, you still missed, buddy...">

<"RECALCULATING.">

Poe chuckles, glancing over to check their distance toward the capital ship.

Fight's on.

Mollie follows Poe, Krrsantan and the Ghost towards one of the streams of TIE fighters pouring out from beneath the massive ship's belly. She tips her head up as a few begin to scream atop overhead and swivels it around as she begins to bank back around. <<"I've got one.">> Mollie says, taking a nice and steady arc through inky black to keep her speed up and her nose pointed aggressively forward. She watches the targeting reticle at the center of her cockpit swivel around while keeping her own head up and alert. <"There you are... there you are..."> she murmurs, watching the TIE drift in front and begin taking shots. A soft tip of her wing and a press forward of her joystick drops the nose into position and she squeezes the trigger.

Red bolts of hot plasma rip through the ship's shields, sending sparks flying up from the cabin as multiple systems sputter and fail to keep up with the damage. <<"Confirmed hit on one bogey. Chasing. Nice shootin' up there.">> That last bit for Valeska and Hadrix.

Not entirely aware of what the drek is going on out there, or up in his own ship's cockpit for that matter while Poe is acting like ... Poe, the big Wookiee stuffed into a tiny turret bubble eyes the starry dark all around them. Santos's shifting computerized display marks out and tracks various craft marking them hostile or not as he dials through different settings.

Oooh, but wait. Here comes a TIE fighter as Poe manuvers Ghost around to cause one of the enemy ships to slew along their dorsal view. Black Krrsantan bares his sharp pointy teeth in anticipation, the TIE out far enough away that he has time to sling his turret around to track and lead it very slightly.

In a breath he has tone and starts firing away. Blasts of coherent plasma burn forth through the darkness, hitting the TIE and causing it to at once start to spin erradically, debris trailing in it's wake.

The Wook roars in his bubble, <"SUCK THAT FILTH!">

Lofty's Wookiee gunboat blinks into space late, but it has a pretty slow hyperdrive motivator. "<< Snowball join fight.>>" He flips some switches while his co-pilot Stebbs the Sullustan gibbers in Sullustese, "<<Gúcucuâ guku ya,>>" Loosely translated it means 'the rainstorm is here.' Lofty the Talz locks on to a TIE fighter and lights up a stream of fast PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK blasts from the Sureggi twin laser cannons.

Lofty's Wookiee gunboat blinks into space late, but it has a pretty slow hyperdrive motivator. "<< Snowball join fight.>>" He flips some switches while his co-pilot Stebbs the Sullustan gibbers in Sullustese, "<<Gúcucuâ guku ya,>>" Loosely translated it means 'the rainstorm is here.' Lofty the Talz locks on to a TIE fighter and lights up a stream of fast PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK-PENK blasts from the Sureggi twin laser cannons.

The sudden battle spirals swiftly into chaos, with one of the lead TIEs annihilated in the opening joust. Calls and cries of hits are cacophonous, as civilian pilots panic. On the side of the invaders, numerous TIEs take shield damage, one is destroyed and another floats powerless in space. Of the defenders, none are yet destroyed, but numerous ships are damaged; an HLAF loses hull plating, a BR-23 Courier is strafed heavily, and an old Barloz has picked up a determined pair of tormentors.

Meanwhile, Ektor is weaving among turret fire from the *Hegemony*, only narrowly escaping multiple hits. << I'm in range.. got a lock, I'm going in low.>>

Controls sticking for a moment, the old ship jukes but stalls when one of the pair of pursuing TIEs sweeps across the port side arc of the Ka'Shukalar. One over compensating for the crafts movements and the other tracking to stitch fire across shields, making them become solid light over much of the craft before the fighter is past. <<"Copy, Shaak. Pursuing fighter screen.">>

<"Kriffing..."> head jerking to follow the fighters and using blink commands on his HUD to focus targeting brackets before the heavy craft rotates ninety degrees and banks into a hard turn to pursue, twin cannons speaking again, forcing Crown 2 into heacy evasive action, swinging just clear of the main guns and then looping away from Mir's turret; escape avenues are narrowing though, with so much fire being cast around them.

<"Heiyuu. Work on those damned shields."> a tweedling blip preceding text, <"I don't know, just get the power to them before we take another hit like that!"> Hadrix snarls at the droid.

The hit to their ship throws Valeska to the side, clanging her in the shoulder and nearly knocking her out when her head hits the side. "Ow! Farking, crankin' hutt-suckers!" She grabs her helmet and plunks it onto her head with a growl. <"Not a word, old man."> Okay, lesson learned! Wear the damn helmet even in vehicle combat.

She gets a lock onto the fekkin' ship that put holes into their shields, following it with the end of her turret's barrel and opening all manner of unholy, Datooine wrath. She pings Crown 2's shields but doesn't knock them down. Still, maybe she made them wet their pantaloons a little.

<"You two okay?">

Poe departs from Xer as he makes his bombing run on the cruiser; even though he didn't need to salute, he does, <<"Good luck, Tion. Going to help the crew out.">> The Ghost breaks off from the bombing run and arrives in the vicinity of the fast-as-rekk HLAF, who has taken some hard hits from their tail. <<"Zap, fly toward Ghost, I'll pick them off.">>

Poe is a man of his word, both he and Bones having a moment where both targeting computers sync and they fire. Both double heavies and the ion cannon transform the TIE/fo into slag, freeing Zappa up to go evasive. <<"Get home and go find cover! We got this!">> Poe takes the Ghost through a wide loop, tipping her wing to give Santos some vantage to fire, too. <"Light em up, Santos!"> Poe watches the shields shimmer from a hit, but BB-8 is already managing the energy output, raising them back up by ten percent.

Amallia keeps her nose pointed at the TIE fighter she'd first engaged, but when Ektor's voice crackles over comms that he's got a lock and he's beginning his run, Mollie rolls hard and pulls up. <<"Forming up on your six, Xer. You've got one bogey moving to intercept.">> Mollie rolls again, pulling up on the joystick and drawing the nose of her X-wing through the TIEs flight path. She squeezes the trigger, slicing through its trajectory in an arc. Pulling through the TIE like that, she doesn't see those red blasts rip through its shields and hull, but she does see one target signature disappear off of her Heads Up Display.

<<"Splash one. Let's deliver our Life Day gift and get the rekk out of here.">> Banshee Bird takes another tight arc through the air and Mollie squeezes the muscles of her thighs to keep the blood in her core. A soft shake of her head stabilizes the liquid in her inner ear and stops the world from spinning just as she settles up behind Addict Shaak in escort.

Being up in a dorsal turret bubble does mean the Wookiee is turning this way and that, watching out for targets. Some of the TIEs zip past way too fast or close for him to have a chance to shoot at them. Some are too far out of his range or the angle is too extreme to get a target lock on them before they are gone again.

Santos rumbles, keeping alert anyway. And then Poe angles Ghost around in such a way that he can get a good look at the TIEs harassing Lilly's ship. The Wook has no clue who's ship it is, only that it's getting shot at by the TIE fighters. So Santos opens up with the turret and tries to pick one of them of.

Or at least distract them and make them think twice about presenting themselves to fire from other sources.

Lilly is still there flying among the others who are fighting the tie fighters. She takes aim at one of them and she still can not seem to land a shot on the tie fighter what so ever.

Lofty's four eyes make it easier to monitor is sensor readouts. He spots an old Barloz freighter with two TIEs on it. "<<Two squint, Snowball go.>>" All of the WHORRWAARR's laser cannons light up with a blinding YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP-YEEP that causes Lofty the Talz to shut his lower set of eyes. His Sullustan gunner Stebbs nails the pursuing TIE right in the engine manifold. "<<Thabari njega na Jehrnâmu! ha ha ha!>>" Loosely translated from Sullustese, he says 'bon voyage to HELL.'

Several civilian vessels have begun to peel off of the fight, a Broadstar and a YT-2000. The BR-23 isn't fast enough and comes apart under TIE cannons. When the unarmed Nestt moves to rescue an escape pod, the Scepter TIE turns its lasers on the Nestt. Zap answers Poe, << I hear you, Pretty Boy. I owe you one, rekk em up rough.>>Ektor's old Y-wing slices through the deflector field of the cruiser at a dangerously steep angle, only bary pulling up in time to avoid cratering on the surface. Kimming low to the hill with a dumb grin, the pirate mutters, <<Here she goes..>> launching the modified mag-pulse into the *Hegemony* with a visible crackle.

Yet the nature of triumph is to remain short-lived. No sooner has the blocky, thrumming magpulse missile embedded itself in the hull and weapon systems of the *Hegemony*, abruptly silencing the cascades od emerald energy being fired into the void, than a half-squadron launches from the ventral hangar bay: a trio of special forces TIEs escorting three Starwing assault bombers move in tight formation to enter the atmosphere of the moon.

<"Yeah I'm fine."> Hadrix rumbles in response to Val's question and Mir's hand raises to gives a thumb up to answer before his turret swings after target that is coming about on the six of the Ka'Shukalar. Looking to make good their second chance on the 'recon fighter' stabbing into the night.

<<"Oh you didn't shoot that green drek at me...">> broadband speaking and glaring at rear sensor images the agility of such a hefty craft is put on display for all, Al'Verde Kora slams a foot down on one pedal for the portside maneuvering thrusters at the same time he kills main engines, casting the fighter on inertia alone and pushing it into a starboard swinging spin <"Hold onto your shebs.">

A momentary warning that draws a "HRNK!" from Mir who clenches and is cast backward with the sudden return of the main engine thrust pushing the fighter to full speed, leaving the TIE blasts without target, and the fighter looking at the six new craft entering the fray. <"Val, Mir... Priority targets..."> all of the Starwings being highlighted and the Star Conqueror (the Ka'Shukalar) hurtles forward.

<<"Ka'Shukalar, squadron - XG-1s, gun those down - Ghost hate to tell you your job, but you should follow me in.">> cannons opening fire, unable to get around the defending TIE whose shields absorb the heavy guns and Mir's turret, causing ethereal tears in the energy field.

Another lessoned learned about keeping her helmet on in combat: the targets lighting up in her HUD that her gunner screen can only handle so much of. <"What in the rekk are those?"> Targets. The answer is targets.

The TIEs manages to keep themselves in the way, and so Valeska follows Hadrix and Mir's leads in spinning her gun around and opening fire. The three-pronged attack shatters the shields where they have focused their fire, yet Valeska grumbles. <<"Blow up, you cowards!">>

Poe, content in knowing Zap was on her way back safely, adjusts his flight patter in time to see the successful run on the cruiser. The contingency plan of bombers coming out with TIE/sf escorts draws Poe's attention and he squares up toward a group, increasing his speed to charge right at them.

The charge is so defiant and crazy that Poe manages to scare the TIE/sf escort away, opening a path to the Starwing bomber. Volley after volley release from the Ghost, lighting up space in a spectacular light-show display. The cannons shatter the vessel's shields, then begin chewing on the thick armor plating, obliterating its ability to bring back its shields.

<<"I got one of the starwings limping here.. moving to the next!">> The Ghost breaks off in a lazy spin, her engines glowing BRIGHT gold as it set its path toward the others.

It's due to Poe's remarkable flying that they dodge TIE fighters left and right, zipping and whipping the Ghost in and out like a dancer in the void. The Wookiee in the Ghost's dorsal turret sees a target of opportunity arise that is /way/ more interesting to Krrsantan than a simple TIE fighter.

The Wookiee Bounty Hunter doesn't roar. Instead, Santos does his best to 'stalk' the Starwing they are coming up on from it's starboard side ventral region as it starts to turn to evade the shots being fired upon it. Which only presents an even broader target for to tempt the Wookiee. Their speeds aren't relative and the Ghost is flashing past quickly. Santos only as a split second as it comes into range.

The Ghost's dorsal turret guns pound away, firing bolts of plasma that chase the enemy ship - but alas they are gone and past almost at once. Space /is/ vast and the speeds so very fast. Santos snarls in the turrel bubble and slams a great big hairy fist against the consule with a BANG of frustration.

Thankfully for Poe, he doesn't break anything. Yet.

Amallia Madine watches Ektor stuff the torpedo down into into the massive ship above. A little 'wooo!' can be heard crackling over comms. But that celebration doesn't last long, as soon enough Mollie's head is swiveling back up again to visually confirm the new signatures on her heads up display. <<"It couldn't be that easy, could it?">> She breaks away from Ektor and moves to pursue. By the time she's completely swung around, that bomber has made some strides in gaining distance, but she has the advantage of speed. The advantage of speed as well as the distinct privilege of watching who some might call the best pilot in the galaxy compose his symphony.

Mollie is no slouch, mind. But the Ghost's maneuvering and laser-focus on the tail of that ship is the stuff of legends. She's inspired. Her hand drops to the throttle and she pushes it all the way forward, lining herself up on a collision course with that TIE escort that Poe had shook on his route to the bomber. <<"You afraid to die, mate?">> Mollie wonders out loud. She can see the TIE pilot's face when he pulls up and away, and Mollie lets loose a long burst along the side of that bomber's hull, punching hole after hole after hole and scattering bodies into the cold vacuum of space. She screams by and, a few moments later, the ship crunches inward and then rapidly outwards.

<<"Starwing is down. Need you to teach me that trick.">>

Lilly is still focusing on trying to hit one of the tie fighters as they zoom by. At least she is starting to get a nit of a hang of flying the combat ship since mainly she flies frieghters, transporting goods. The guns might take a tad longer to time just right

As Sword Squadron dives into the upper atmosphere, and many of the defenders dive after them, a handful of TIE/fo follow suit, in a great aerial chain of animosity and cannon fire. Some of the few TIEs remaining behind look to score an easy kill of the Nestt as it begins rescue operations, but a blast from a stubborn Barloz draws it's attention and ire.

Ektor joins the diving fightercraft in screaming through atmosphere, shields glowing visibly at rapid re-entry. His aim at a Starwing is blocked, and he hammers the shields of a TIE/sf, while his own rear shields are hit in turn. One Starwing is destroyed, but two more.. <<They got locks- they got locks! Some body jam them, quick!>>

<"It's a Civil War model, Starwing, two configurations. Enough guns to knock down entire squadrons of fighters. Enough missile and torpedo tubes to level a city sector individually."> Hadrix growls out, <"I got a chance to pilot one once."> watching the missile boat and the special forces TIE coming in after,

<"Don't you fire that blasted..."> growling and twisting the yolk and hauling back at the same time, <"Everybody, brace."> little late for that - a stomp and the ethereal rudder slews to turn the beginning of a suicide climb into a spiraling Z turn to slip between main gun and following turret chatter chasing after the aft end of the ARC craft. <"Forget the TIEs, focus on the bombers.">

Slewing side to side, twisting on axis and jinking past the XG-1's escort with a quick fake to port that turns into a snaproll into a downward half loop, inverting and S turning beneath to get a shot lined up, <<"Ka'Shukalar, Starwing shields are dropping, someone wanna put that damned thing down?">> cannon fire from turret and main guns raking across shields and sending sparks through atmosphere. <<"Anyone feeling fwitty...">>

Lock! They got a lock!

Valeska's stomach drops, but that could also be from the G-force of enterting the atmosphere as they give chase to the Starwings. <<"I can barely jam my toast in the morning, yeah? Hopefully someone else out there can do it!">> And she says that with pure sincerity. Having no clue who they are fighting for or why there are riots, all she knows is that an orbital bombardment on civilians is up there on her 'Rekk You' list.

'Brace!' comes through and Valeska manages to do so, clutching to her gun and clenching her.... thighs. Her thighs, yes. Then it's a lurch and a whirl around to follow their next target. The one she's getting a crash course about. <"Nifty thing. Pity we gotta blow it up.... fast!">

<<"Sorry, buddy (Hadrix), I'm with you now though! Let's do this!">> The Ghost begins to tremble from the gravitational pull and entry into the atmosphere of Tion 2. When his view port clears, Poe watches the fighters take on new weight and drag, and he smirks. "Big mistake, boys. You're on my turf now."

<<"Hey guys.. jammers coming on, and I'm gonna lock this guy up in my tractor beam to run him aground. Let's take these guys out!">>

Poe reaches over to the sensor station and pulls down the large switch -- ka-THUNK --, a sharp pitched whine follows as the sensor package lights up within the cockpit. All comms turn to static, and all locks become obsolete as tracking and targeting cuts out.

Piloting the Ghost to intercept the stronger of the two Starwings, Poe eyeballs the line up before triggering the tractor beam. Laughing, he points and glances back.. "DID YOU SEE--" No one is in there with him. Right. Snatched in his grasp, Poe tilts his ship down and increases the speed to prepare to run them into the dirt far below.

Lilly is slowly getting used to combat piloting, this time her shot is so close to hitting the escort. She keeps up presuit with the others she is flying with.

Ektor rocks in his seat as his Y-wing shields are hit in cutting past a special forces TIE, the nose cannons of the recon bomber loosing a fusillade of laser fire that finishes the work the ARC had begun on the last of the unbound Starwings. Mercifully, comms are jammed, and no one needs to hear anything he says.

Poe keeps the enemy starwing ensnared with the tractor beam, denying them any escape from a long plummet toward the ground. Morals and conscience played into it a bit given the time it took to cross the distance of air to ground, but Poe reasoned these pilots intended to blow up civilian targets. Following orders or not, they earned this.

The Ghost begins to tilt up, breaking the sound barrier by going super-sonic; its cargo, unable to make the flight adjustments, impacts the ground in a spectacular tower of dirt and debris before a mushroomed cloud explosion stretched skyward from its crater.

The Ghost had managed to correct its flight pattern in a death defying display, repulsors firing as the pilot inside is having to slam throttles back and forth to manage to stay alive. As Poe pulls away, its to the concert of TIEs tailing him, smacking his shield and making him pay for his heroics.

Comms return and Poe's voice cuts over the comms. <<"Last bomber's down. We did it! Now clean up these Huttsuckers and let's call it a day.">>

"BEE BEE EIGHT, STOP GAFFING IT OFF BACK THERE AND GET ME SOME DAMN SHIELDS!"

A distant warble answers..

Starwings are famously durable and deadly craft, yet the trio of assault fighters are felled before a bombardment of Pazarot City can be executed. Although one Tionese farmer feels the ground shake, sees a droid tip over, and stares in disbelief at the wreckage that just plowed into his fields, the largest population center on Tion 2 is spared annihilation.. but not wholly spared harm.

One by one, before peeling off to rave back to their homeship, the three TIE/sf escort fighters blind fire a concussion missile at Pazarot City. They will land, they will do damage, and the captain of the *Hegemony* will claim that they successfully carried out the order to bombard Pazarot City.

<"HAH! Did you see that?"> one big mitt pointing at the captured fighter in the net of the Ghost's tractor beam - Heiyuu cutting out external comms before everyone is blasted by tone and jamming static. <"Kriff - can't even tell him..."> or can he? The ARC sideslips starboard and then rolls to turn the maneuver into an aileron roll that puts TIE fire within the corkscrew.

<"Rekk you..."> momentarily looking over his shoulder - trying to utilize the higher atmospheric speed and ducking when green daggers stitch 'solidified' points in the fighter shields, sparks spraying on him from an overloaded readout and Heiyuu wailing in panic. At least the R2 has enough sense to get to work on patching things up before holes start getting blasted through the hull. Watching the TIEs launch lesser ordinance at the city, Hadrix growls, teeth bared - and the idea of going womp-rat in a cruiser's ducts - moving bulkhead to bulkhead sounds more and more appealing by the second.

<"Light him up, Mir."> <"Thook the whurds out of my mind, Hadrix."> the elder man's voice filled with the sound of gritting teeth when the pair begin firing, blowing through shields and deforming a solar array wing. Molten metal and slagged plastics raining down and Heiyuu shrieking when they electrocute themselves in mock celebration of the TIE suffering heavy damage. <"Almost...">

Ever since she took those double cannon blasts on Mandalore, Valeska has had some kind of kinship with turrets. Perhaps it was some kind of christening. An annointment of the Turret Gods that blessed her with their divine powers of boom'n'pews. As if she were some kind of gunnery avatar.

No. She's just gotten hella lucky in this mad skirmish, and she's all the more grateful for it. Her head is still ringing from that wallop she took earlier on -- the lesson learned about wearing one's bucket. So when that last shot does go wide and she fails to finish off the poor bugger hobbled in their TIE, she almost feels bad. Almost. <"Did we win?"> It's difficult to tell. Plus she's backwards.

Poe observes the shields rising back up and has BB-8 to thank for that, but he's too busy flying low over the ground, scrambling the sensors of the TIE/fo he's stalking. Although he fires a volley of cannon fire, it's not nearly as accurate as Mister Bone's small ion blast. It was so cheeky, Poe glares down at the decking like that granted him some vision of seeing Bones beneath. <"WHERE WAS THAT THIS WHOLE TIME?">

<"RECALCULATIONS COMPLETE, PRETTY GIRL. BONES IS PRIMED FOR MURDER.">

The Ghost angles up, doing a fly-by of Pazarot City. <<"This is Ghost; Every body still good?">>

Banshee Bird is being tailed by three TIE fighters that are all jockeying to line her up in their crosshairs. She tips her head left and right to get a visual confirmation and, in one fluid motion, pulls up and rolls right, diving towards the ground in a sudden and desperate evasive maneuver. She inhales and exhales, squeezing the muscles of her thighs and tightening her core as the g's suck her back into her seat and threaten to wrench consciousness from her skull. For a moment, her ears even start to ring, but she pulls that ship left and levels out, the TIE's behind her scrambling to acquire new targets. Throttles up, Mollie lifts her chin to sight the TIE being attacked by Ka'Shukalar. Local comms are jammed, but she can see that the ship's taken critical damage from both fixed hardpoints and turrets. It's just a matter of drawing a line. She pushes her nose down across its flight trajectory and holds down the trigger.

There's something so much more -satisfying- about fighting in atmo. She can hear that super-heated plasma rip through her guns. She can smell it in the air. And, when that line she draws crashes into the hull of the TIE fighter, she can hear it's loooooong whine as it begins its deathroll towards the ground. And the -pop- when its engines breach and it explodes.

<<"How'd that taste?">>

Lilly again attempts to fire a shot at one of the tie fighters but again they are much to fast. She over all improved but is making mental notes on what she must improve if she is going to face space combat anytime in the future

Poe's flyover notes a few small plumes of smoke from points in the city where an unguided concussion missile had detonated. Minor damage in the calculus of war, and the slightest fraction of what would have resulted from a Starwing flight or an orbital turbolaser bombardment, but somewhere down there, a handful of lives were still ended. Their friends and family will grieve and rage.

Meanwhile, of the thirty starfighters which had flown out from the *Hegemony*, 22 survive to return, although two of those had required recovery. The Vindicator-class heavy cruiser will depart the system and claim a victory, but the fight for Tion is far from over.