ECHOES FROM HOTH: Episode Four: Fleet, Fuel, Firestorm

[ybn1197]

((You're right!))

Jackson will fire on the troopers if a shot presents itself, otherwise he will guide the Y-Wing out of the hangar bay.

[Starbeard]

At the sight of Neyreese being shot in the back, Vale lets out one of those anguished cries that only young Jedi can make: "Nyoooooo!"

Vale rushes to put himself between her and the stormtroopers and continues to parry blaster fire, while shouting for one of the crewmen to come back and drag her to safety. If any stormtroopers get within melee range, he will cut them down.

[Solo4114]

Cal raced for the Outrunner, hitting the button to close the ramp to the Cargo-Bay as soon as the last of the Rebel Fleet crewman took the Coaxium needed for the Resolve and leaving a couple of crates for the Frigate: Liberty's Flame. He then quickly raced up the stair to the Cockpit, strapping himself in and firing up the engines. It was only then that he remembered there was a THIRD Alliance Capital ship, the Corvette Nova Blast. What was the plan for her the young Smuggler-turned-Rebel thought....

((OOC: Hey, Max, can you explain what you mean here? My read is that, after we dropped off the coaxium to two of the ships, I remembered there was a third that needed some, but I wanted to make sure before I acted here.))

[max_vale]

Rebel Alliance Rendezvous Point; Deep Space and Hangar Bay of Bulk Cruiser Resolve



With roars that assault the ears of those still in the hangar bay of the Rebel Cruiser Resolve, the Y-Wing fighter holding Jackson and Clark lifts off and rapidly accelerates out into the battlefield that raged in space all around the Alliance Capital Ship, followed closely by the freighter Outrunner....

The young Jedi Vale Starcloud didn't notice the sound though as he rushed over to the fallen Rebel Lieutenant, swatting a blaster bolt to the side with his Blue Lightsaber as he did so. Unfortunately, Vale discovered that there was little he could do though as the poor woman had been hit fatally with a blaster bolt....

The big Barabel Zuul Ksska fired off the second barrel of his Flechette launcher, grinning savagely when he saw his canister explode into a cloud of razor-sharp darts that utterly shredded one Imperial Stormtrooper and dropped another to the deck, writhing in pain with an arm that was barely still connected to his torso. A trio of blaster bolts came flying Zuul's way, two of which missed narrowly, but the last hit him hard in the chest, but luckily the Barabel's Blast Vest absorbed the shot. Dropping down to the deck, Zuul broke open his launcher and loaded up his last 2 canisters....

Kitkatarra the albino Wookie opened up on a pair of Stormtroopers, grunting angrily as she JUST missed the first, but then letting out a bark of triumph at hitting the second right in the face plate of his helmet and dropping him un-moving to the deck. Kit then let out a howl of pain when the Imperial she missed managed to put a shot into her side that burned along her ribs*....

5 imperial Stormtroopers remained in the fight, while a sixth was on the deck with a badly shot-up arm facing off against the trio of Rebel Agents.....


Out in space; Jackson and Professor Clark in the Y-Wing soon saw the Frigate Liberty's Flame and Crodowski quickly pulled them onto the Capital Ship's heading while also flipping on the Shields and keeping his head on a swivel for Imperial Fighters nearby. The Rebel Frigate was blazing away at the bigger Imperial Interdictor Cruiser with its Ion Cannons, while the bigger Cruiser fired back with Turbolasers that were visibly overloading the Frigate's shields. While Jackson was puzzled for a moment the rationale behind the strategy quickly became clear when the small but fast Rebel Corvette Nova Blast, which had been sheltering behind the Frigate, suddenly accelerated rapidly on a direct course for the Imperial ship with the gravity-well projectors that was keeping the Alliance ships from escaping....

In the rear seat of the Y-Wing, Professor Clark was doing his best to figure out the Sensors and Comms stations, but he figured out the Ion Cannon controls easily. He noticed the Rebel plan by watching the Sensors scope at about the same time that Jackson did....the Corvette was going to be a suicide ram to take out the Interdictor. The Professor closed his eyes quickly at realizing the courage the crew of the Nova Blast had to undertake such a thing to allow their fellows to escape. His eyes quickly popped back open though when a call from the Frigate came over the Comms to his Y-wing and the following Outrunner. "This is the Liberty's Flame; if you have the Coaxium, we're gonna need it fast!" As Clark heard Cal answer the call, he noticed the blinking lights on his Sensors flashing and he quickly saw that a quartet of Imperial fighters were coming their way quickly. Taking a quick look, he saw that two were a type of Imperial TIE fighter he had never seen before, but remembered hearing about from some Rebel Briefings. They were called 'TIE Interceptors'; and were supposedly faster and more maneuverable than standard TIE fighters and were armed with a quartet of laser cannons vice the standard pair of cannons. The other pair were slow but deadly TIE Bombers, which tended to carry Proton Torpedoes in space combat and which were right now plotting an intercept course for the mostly shield-less Liberty's Flame while the Interceptors were angling towards the Outrunner. He let Jackson know about this and Crodowski turned the fighter and accelerated toward the Interceptors.....reasoning that the Frigate had its own protective weaponry while the Coaxium on theOutrunner was the most vulnerable and precious part of the battle right now....

Cal sat in the pilot's chair of the Outrunner, doing his best to run the engines at their maximum setting, flipping the Shields on and following the Y-Wing fighter in front of him while keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of danger. He quickly saw it with a pair of the new Interceptors he had heard about from other Rebel pilots recently coming his way. He was happy to see that Jackson and Clark saw them too and they were moving to try and take them out before they could reach him; but just in case, he powered up the twin laser cannon on the Outrunner as well. The controls from the cockpit for the cannon were pathetic in comparison to the controls on the actual weapon; but it was better than nothing....



*Kit is Wounded and will be at -1D for all actions until treated.

-There are 5 up and in the fight Stormtroopers remaining and another badly wounded one on the deck.

-For the Ship crews....there are 2 TIE Interceptors just coming into long range now from the Y-Wing with the Y-Wing inbetween the Imperials and the Outrunner. There are also 2 TIE Bombers at long range from both the Y-wing and the Outrunner headed for the Alliance Frigate you're taking the Coaxium too.

[Starbeard]

Vale has to take a deep breath and steady his mind, letting go of the desire to lash out in vengeance against the stormtroopers. Instead, he quickly runs up to the nearest able-bodied trooper to duel with him in a fair fight.

[Solo4114]

Cal

Will continue to fly towards the Liberty's Flame to drop off the remaining coaxium. Cal will use the twin lasers on the Outrunner to try to take out the TIE Interceptors or at least to force them to veer off tactically.

"Liberty's Flame, this is the Outrunner headed your way with a load of coaxium! We've got two of those new TIE Interceptors on our tail. We'll try to hold 'em off, but any assistance you can offer would be appreciated. Keep your landing bay clear if you can. We're coming in hot! Jackson, if you can the Professor can keep me covered, I'll try to land this bird. I'll do my best to drive the fighters into your line of fire if I can't take 'em out myself."

[Rex]

Kit

Kit roars in pain and anger and tries to spray the standing stormtroopers with her blaster carbine.

Kit will spend a force point.

[kipper]

"Copy" Clark replies succinctly to Cal, as he begins opening up the Ion Cannons onto the approaching Interceptors.

[Monsieur Rose]

Zuul

As he ducks down to reload, Zuul catches the running form of Vale racing towards the melee. "Ok. Time to switch it up." Unable to risk explosives with his friend in range, Zuul pulls his carbine and fires off two shots at two troopers.

[ybn1197]

Jackson pilots the rebel ship trying to cover the Outrunner while at the same time making sure the way is clear. He will attempt to angle the Y-WIng so that Clark can fire the turret guns at the Intercepters and Jackson can fire the forward lasers at the bombers. If not, he will fire at whatever best target he has.

[max_vale]

Rebel Alliance Rendezvous Point; Deep Space and Hangar Bay of Bulk Cruiser Resolve


The battle in the hangar bay of the Alliance Bulk Cruiser Resolve between a trio of Rebel Agents and half-a-dozen Imperial Stormtroopers came to a fiercely fought climax....

The albino Wookie Kit'katarra, wounded and angry, roared in defiance and feeling as if time slowed down for a moment, she lurched forward and towards a pair of white armor clad Imperial Stormtroopers and opened up with the Blaster Carbine she clutched in her paws. Two rapid shots were snapped precisely from her, and a split second later one of the Imperials took a hit to the face-mask and fell straight back like a tree being felled by a lumberjack, while the second Imperial took a hit to the upper left chest and with a half-spin, fell in a clatter to the deck, never to move again.....

The human male Jedi, Vale Starcloud, his humming blue lightsaber held tightly, rushed forward towards a Stormtrooper and the Imperial tried to back-pedal out of the way, but was unable to avoid the deadly weapon's crackling arc, but he did managed to curl his finger around the trigger as he fell to the deck in two pieces and Vale staggered back, his side burning from the blaster bolt that had hit him there from the defeated Imperial*....

Zuul Ksska switched out his Flechette launcher for his Blaster Carbine and he popped out to face down the last 2 standing Stormtroopers. One of them managed to tag him in the hip with a blaster bolt that drew a hiss of pain and anger from the Barabel, but Zuul's two shots drilled the Stormtroopers center mass and they both fell to the deck to never rise again....

A moment later, all three wounded Rebels noticed that there were no standing Imperials....the one who's arm has been torn up by Zuul's canister lay on the deck, moaning softly in pain, but offering no resistance....


In space, a battle between the other three members of the Rebel Agent Team began with two of them in a Y-Wing Starfighter while the other piloted a Freighter carrying a precious load of Coaxium; the hyperspace fuel; to a desperate Rebel Frigate....

In the cockpit of the Y-wing, Jackson Crodowski angled his fighter towards the two incoming TIE Interceptors and at long range, he pulled the trigger to send a double-barreled laser blast from the Y-wing's main cannons at one of the new Imperial craft. His shot JUST missed, but caused a violent series of jinks and maneuvers from the Imperial fighter that made Jackson's eyes pop open wide as he realized that the rumors were RIGHT....this new Imperial TIE fighter was INSANELY maneuverable! A quick glance at his scope also showed him that they were even faster than the already fast TIE fighters as the range had dropped to medium in the blink of an eye....

In the backseat of the Y-wing fighter, Professor Clark had gotten the hang of manipulating the controls for the Twin Light Ion Cannon turret that was mounted right above him on the top of the Cockpit and at long range, he lined up one of the new, dagger-winged Imperial TIE Interceptors and he cut loose a blast from the cannons. The blueish-white bolts lanced into the fighter, causing electrical arcs to flash among the fighter for a couple of seconds and a quick glance at his scope told him that the Fighter had just lost speed as the Ion Cannon's had just shorted out some of the accelerators on the Imperial craft.....

Meanwhile, in the cockpit of the light freighter Outrunner, Cal Take Dornan set his course for the Frigate Liberty's Flame while also rotating the Twin Laser Cannon mounted on the bottom of the ship towards the Imperial Interceptors that Jackson and Clark were engaging. The range was Long and the accuracy of the cannons when fired from the cockpit was terrible, so it wasn't much of a surprise to the Smuggler that his shots didn't really come close to hitting the Imperial fighters. He noticed the range to the Alliance ship had dropped to Medium and he also noticed that almost on a parallel course to his ship were the two Imperial TIE Bombers. An anti-fighter laser cannon on the Rebel ship fired at the Bombers, but it missed and in return both Bombers increased speed to get into range to fire their Proton Torpedoes at the Capital Ship....


*Vale is Wounded.
*Zuul is Wounded.
There are NO more Imperials in the hangar bay, save for an Incapacitated Stormtrooper who will probably bleed out from what is left of his arm shortly with no treatment....

[Rex]

Kit

Kit will use a MedPak on herself, then Zuul and Vale.

[kipper]

Clark continues firing the Ion Cannons, targeting the Tie Fighters which are nearest to the Outrunner.

[Solo4114]

Cal angles the Outrunner's turret and fires on the TIE Bombers, hoping to catch them before they loose their deadly payload.

[ybn1197]

Jackson targets the Tie Bomber opposite Clark's target.

Will use a force point for my attack.

[Monsieur Rose]

Zuul

Zuul looks around and smiles. "That wass fun. Thankss for the help Vale." He graciously accepts the help and congratulates the group. "Nice shooting Kit! Now what?"

[Starbeard]

Vale Starcloud

Seeing no more immediate threats around them, Vale sees if he can help the armless stormtrooper while waiting for first aid. He lifts the helmet so the trooper can breathe more easily, and drags him through the hangar bay door, shouting at whomever happens to be running by the corridor: "The hangar is secure! We have a wounded prisoner here! He needs medical attention immediately!"

After handing the trooper off, he returns to Kit and gratefully accepts his own first aid. "I suppose there's not much to do now but wait, and hope that Cal returns with the Outrunner."

[max_vale]

Rebel Alliance Rendezvous Point; Deep Space and Hangar Bay of Bulk Cruiser Resolve


Out in deep space, a battle between an Alliance Task Force and a squadron of Imperial ships blazed with an intensity that could be felt by its participants among the stars....

Cal Tak Dornan, sitting at the controls of the Light Freighter Outrunner, did his best to stay on course towards the hangar bay of the Rebel Frigate, Liberty's Flame, while also directing shots at a pair of TIE Bombers making an attack run on the Frigate at the same time. His red colored laser botls fired from the ventral twin laser turret streaked one of the pair of Bombers, but none connected, causing the young Smuggler-turned-Reble to curse in frustration. A quick glance at his scopes showed that he was now at Short Range to the Frigate's Hangar Bay, but that also meant the Imperial attack fighters were now in Proton Torpedo range as well....

Jackson Crodowski adroitly flipped the Y-wing fighter over and accelerated towards the Outrunner and the pair of TIE Bombers about to make an attack run on the Alliance Frigate Liberty's Flame. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment, the veteran Rebel Agent trusted to the Force*, lined up a shot on one of the TIE Bombers, and pushed the firing buttons for the Y-Wing's front mounted twin laser cannon. A double blast of red bolts flashed out, drilled the Imperial craft perfectly and turned it into a short-lived fire-ball. Jackson's smile of victory didn't last long when his whole Fighter suddenly rocked and heaved and a quick glance at the scope showed that one of the Imperial TIE Interceptors had locked onto his tail, closed to short range and unleashed a hail of fire from its quartet of laser cannons and those green colored bolts had slammed into his Fighter. The shields had held; though they were now drained to barely a quarter strength**....

In the rear seat of the Y-Wing, Professor Clark had to deal with the sudden spinning change of view as Crodowski flipped the fighter onto a new heading, but the academic just rotated the twin Ion Cannon turret to face the pair of TIE Interceptors that were now on their tail; nodding with satisfaction that one of them fell back to medium range due to the effect his Ion Cannon hit from a moment ago had on its engines, slowing the supremely fast fighter. Clark lined up the untouched Interceptor and fired a blast from the Ion Cannons, but cursed when the Imperial pilot rolled the fighter over, revealing the extreme maneuverability of the Empire's newest Star Fighter; and then the Imperial pilot cut loose a quad cannon blast that slammed into the Y-Wing causing the entire Rebel fighter to shake and shimmy for a moment. As the fighter settled back down onto its current course, Clark glanced at the sensors and saw that the Y-Wing's shields were almost completely drained...

The last TIE Bomber dodged a blast from the Rebel Frigate's laser cannon and cut loose a pair of Proton Torpedoes that flashed out and quickly slammed into what remained of the Capital Ship's shields, overloading them completely and leaving the Frigate now protected only by its armor. The Imperial pilot angled towards the vulnerable power relay conduits; the same ones some of the Rebels remember aiming for way back on the Shantipole mission when they were in the B-Wing prototypes and had to knock out an Imperial Frigate.....

In a nearby area of the battle, the Alliance Corvette Nova Blast, locked at full speed on a collision course towards and Imperial Interdictor Cruiser; took hit after hit from Turbolasers, but ignored them all; and ablaze with damage, the Rebel ship lived up to its name as it plowed directly into the Empire's ship's center. A massive blast caused a temporary wave of bright orangeish-yellow to wash over anyone near a cockpit or viewport screen and then a moment later; the area of space was only occupied by massive hunks of hull and debris floating in every direction.....


Meanwhile, aboard the Alliance Bulk Cruiser Resolve's hangar bay; Kitkatarra the albino Wookie took a Medpac and carefully treated her own wound before coming over to her companion Zuul to treat his blaster wounds. As she was doing that; the young Jedi Vale Starcloud moved over to the last living Imperial Stormtrooper; who lay on the deck unconscious with a badly mauled arm. He took the man's helmet off, revealing a pale human male's face with a shaved head and numerous scars. The young man did what he could to bind the man's shredded arm to staunch the bleeding; but a moment later, Kit came over to treat her Alliance team-mate with a third medpac as Vale attempted to bellow out for someone to help treat the Stormtrooper. A few moments later, a couple of Alliance crewmen with a stretcher came over, along with a Security guard who kept his nervous hand on his blaster in case the Stormtrooper should come too at any moment....

At about the same time a voice came over the Intercom system throughout the ship. "This is Commander Kaalins, acting Captain.....the crew of the Nova Blast have succeeded in eliminating the Interdictor Cruiser at the cost of their ship and their lives. They will forever be remembered for making the ultimate sacrifice to save their fellow Alliance members. With our newly acquired Coaxium fuel in place, we are jumping to hyperspace. May the Force be with all of us.....alive or fallen..." With that joyful and solemn message at the same time, the Resolve jumped into hyperspace.....


*Jackson is out of Force Points; though Clark and Cal have some
**The Y-wing's shields have been drained to +1 (They started at +1D+1)

-There is 1 TIE Bomber at Short Range to the Frigate and short range from the Y-Wing and the Outrunner.
-There is 1 TIE Interceptor (untouched) at short range to the Y-Wing and the Outrunner
-There is 1 TIE Interceptor (slowed due to an Ion hit) at medium range from the Y-Wing and the Outrunner

[ybn1197]

Professor, we HAVE to keep that bomber away from the Flame. I'm going to try and fly by. I'll hit him with the laser cannons, you hit him with the ion cannons as we fly past.

[Rex]

Kit

Kit will head for the medical area and see if she can be of any help.