Desert Lightning

[Eisa Swan]

​

“morning, Star Eight and Eleven" the holographic form of the ashen haired pilot spoke as it shimmered into life within the briefing room of the Druckenwell military Force's forward command post. "I hope you've rested up from your travel to Druckenwell? " Eisa continued before pausing slightly, as her attention was pulled off to the side as a deck hand crept into the corner of the projection and handed the female a flight helmet emblazened with the sigil of a Swan with three stars beside it.

"I'm not going to sugar coat this, this mission is going to be a full on frag fest! So keep your eyes and your comm links open! The Druckenwell military forces will be launching a major offencive to push back the pirates attempts to assault this planet. Your mission is to protect the convoy, remove all blockades take out any heavy armaments and swat down any pirate fighters that attempt to hinder the convoy getting to the front lines" The figure resumed as her attention moved towards the photo receptor she was addressing, her hands fidgetting with the straps of her flight helmet as it hung infront of her. . "The convoy will be carrying heavy ion weaponry to incapacitate the vehicle capabilities of the Pirates landing Forces. Needless to say these are vital assets, do all that you can to protect it." Eisa continued before a frown formed on her features before pausing momentarily. "Lethal Force is authorised" she soberingly added, before she pulled her flight helmet up and over onto her head.

Shaking her head from side to side whilst adjusting the fit of the helmet around her head, Eisa's gaze returned back towards the screen as she fastened the straps under her chin. "The ground crews will have your fighters primed and ready for your sortie, the convoy leaves in five minutes, make your selves ready and get those birds up in the skies.... Keep an eye out on those scanners, if you see a weakness in the pirates lines, punch through it, the less hostile the route you can take the safer the convoy will be”

With a dutiful nod, the ashen haired Jedi master took a step back away from the camera half turning towards a ladder that was hung from the fuselage of a starfighter. ,“remember... Eyes on your read outs, strike hard and fast. But most of all come back safe! ” she added, before stepping up onto the ladder to her own fighter, as the encrypted transmission faded out. Leaving the two pilots in the briefing room to make thier final preparations.

 

[Kyi Wavestrider]

Kyi was anxious but also eager to get the ball rolling on this mission - he wasn't as experienced with piloting starfighters but had his fair share of flying land and airspeeders, he was confident he'd fair well with this. The freckle-faced Padawan listened intently to the Jedi Master's holorecording and after the transmission was complete, he headed toward his Malla-class starfighter; equipped with his flight suit, lightsaber clipped to his belt and holding his helmet against his left hip. Kyi climbed the ladder and into his starfighter, buckling firmly into the cockpit, he strapped his helmet on to his dark dreaded hair.

He flicked the buttons on the console of his starfighter; the lights flickered on as he activated them which caused the ship's engine to roar to life. The starfighter began to lift off from the ground and Kyi pulled his visor down, ready to fly. As the starfighter took flight, Kyi followed closely by as the convoy had set off to its destination. The Padawan closed his eyes and hoped the Force would guide his flying on this mission, he then opened them rearing to go and spoke into his comlink:

"This is Star Eleven standing by." he said with a childlike smirk, going all the way to his right ear.

@Darius

 

[Jarrefre Tresti]

Jarrefre was excited about this mission, it had been many a moon since he had seen a proper desert, and in some ways being deployed to one was like going home after a long vacation. The padawan was much more comfortable now that he had seen some real action not too many weeks before, it may have not been pretty, but he learned so much about hunting with a partner, and relying on someone else to have his back; This was very difficult for Jarrefre, it was not the way of his people, but if he wanted to be of use to the Alliance and the Jedi he would have to learn.

The mission to Jarrefre reminded him of protecting his caravan back on Danteel, this happening was rare but they did have dry seasons and this made the mostly passive nomads more cut cutthroat the again was not to kill but to make sure that the cargo that was so sought after was not taken by the enemy, this mission would be no different. Jarrefre zipped up his flight suit and grabbed his helmet, it was old at it was clear it had been through a few users, and perhaps a lost dogfight; Jarrefre made a mental note to check on the order for his new one. The walk to the hanger was as motivating as always, there were many moving parts to keep a fighter wing going, everyone from the refuelers to the droid repair teams had to work together. Jarrefre climbed the ladder to his cockpit and once he was in the bowed his head. Jarrefre took the time to remember his family and the many people he had met and lost during to long journey he had set himself on, today he was fighting for them. Activating his engines began to hover in place.

"Star Eight staging, let us go hunting Eleven." Jarrefre laughed in the comms as he motions for the two to get moving.

@AfroBandit20

 

[Kyi Wavestrider]

Kyi and Jerrefre followed closely behind the convoy, it was smooth sailing so far - giving Kyi the opportunity to collect his thoughts. He'd noticed that his starfighter was flying a lot smoother than before, most likely thanks to the help of his newly-found crush Thyrza whom he had met on Tatooine. This led him to think of another new person he had recently met, Jarrefre, Kyi had met Jarrefre upon arrival on Druckenwell, Kyi hadn't had an opinion on his fellow Padawan yet but he seemed respectable and was happy to have a fellow Jedi accompanying him on this mission, he had no doubt the two would get to know each other better through this mission.

Returning his focus back to the mission at hand, Kyi turned his gaze outside the cockpit and looked toward the horizon - still no sign of pirate activity for now. "Star Eleven to Star Seven. Seems a little quiet huh?" he asked his partner flying beside him with a tone of suspicion, "I sense an ambush." he added. Suddenly, as if right on queue, the Padawan heard blaster shots from out of nowhere. Kyi tilted his flight stick to the right causing the starfighter follow-suit and tilt right in the air, he now had a better view of the ground beneath him - the Padawan saw three pirates on speeder bikes shooting at the convoy.

"We've got company!" Kyi yelled into his comm as he began smacking away at the starfighter's control console, readying it for attack.

Spoiler

OOC: Rolled dice on three enemies attacking the convoy.

 

[Jarrefre Tresti]

Jarrefre could not help but agree with his fellow pilot, they had been on a mission for a good amount of time and they still have not had contact, and top of that they were fastly approaching the area the mission report indicated as the most likely ambush point. "Star Eight to Star Eleven. Now that you mention it....yes it does seem to be going far too well." Jarrefre replied over the comms there was no denying the feeling that something bad was about to happen. "Yes, I feel it too." Jarrefre barked as he began to activate his combat systems and his targeting his computer. "Break right eleven and I will follow you, try and get low for your first pass, we can take one of them out and kick up some dust, make it harder for them to make out the convoy."


Jarrefre tilted his stick to the right and waited for Kyi to begin he attack run, he also kept his eye out for any more pirates. It was very unlikely that the leadership of the pirates would spend three attackers for a shipment as important as this, they were well aware of Star Squadron at this point, and if they planned to survive they would have to adjust. Jarrefre kept an eye out to his left trying to see if he could find and fighters out in the distance, in the light dust of this particular desert it would make it easy for smaller ships to stay hidden. Jarrefre began to position himself for weapons lock on the speeder bike, he knew once the fight really picked up that it would be hard to see the enemy without sensors or through the force, one was mentally taxing the other was a keystroke, the padawans knew which to choose first. Once he got a solid lock Jarrefre's computer started to spit out target information, and what the padawan was looking ta was troubling. "Star Eight to Eleven, our quarry has the equipment to cut through the transports, They will steal what they can before they destroy them, we have to keep them away." Jarrefre barked as he looked back up at his HUD.

@AfroBandit20

 

[Kyi Wavestrider]

Kyi obliged with Jarrefre's suggestion, he banked his starfigther right with his fellow squadron member following closely behind and descended lower to the ground in order to get a better firing range on the speeder bikes. He kept a fair distance behind the speeder bikes, they seemed to completely ignore the two Padawans and focused their efforts on gunning down the convoy - he would need to act fast, as he lined up his shot Jarrefre called out to him through his com; "Star Eight to Eleven, our quarry has the equipment to cut through the transports, They will steal what they can before they destroy them, we have to keep them away."

This just got a lot more difficult, "Got it!" he responded, Kyi quickly closed his eyes and began to focus his concentration on the Living Force - he preferred to let the Force guide his hand rather than his ship's lock-on weapon systems. Kyi pressed his thumb on the top of his flight stick, activating his two light laser cannons, the blaster bolts created huge dust clouds as they hit the ground, treading its way to one of the speeder bikes. Kyi's aim hit true as he managed to destroy one of them - which resulted in the Padawan howling with excitement. Kyi proceeded to shift his flight stick hard to the right, doing a barrel roll out of the way of Jarrefre to give his fellow Padawan a better shot of the remaining two speeder bikes. "Star Eight, this is you!" he called out over his comm.

Spoiler

Successful attack from dice roll

@Darius

 

[Jarrefre Tresti]

Jarrefre fell into a fast roll to the right following Kyi into the first contact of the day, he waited behind him to get his own shot as was the protocol of Star Squadron. Many independent pilots would fight for kills and the prestige of being a fighter pilot, but Star squadron had culled all thinking like that out of their ranks., and it was not about recognition but the mission. Jarrefre waited patiently and as soon as his wingman cleared his line of sight he opened fire on the bikes that were now way to close to the transport. Jarrefre raked across both of their centers destroying them and kicking up dust all around them, the dust was picked up on the exhaust of the transports which created a cloud that made it impossible to see the transports and the area around them. "I just kicked up a lot of dust Eleven, I think we need to climb to get a better look at what is coming. I'm quite sure those were just scouts." Jarrefre said as he pulled back on his flight stick, quickly gaining altitude.

Jarrefre looked over the landscape and tried to get even a hint of where the rest of the pirates were. With the sun glaring in his eyes he peered out on the horizon, at this distance he would likely only see the glare from metal in the sun, or perhaps even a dust cloud moving in their direction. Jarrefre used what his father taught him when it came to searching out objects in identical cover. The eyes of all people were trained to read in a certain direction dictated by their language, and when you looked around you were more likely to miss something if you were searching in the direction you read, Jarrefre read to him the left; so now as he searched for pirates he looked to his right. All he could hope for was that the dust around the transport cleared befoe the fighting started back up again.

@AfroBandit20

 

[Kyi Wavestrider]

Kyi quickly followed-suit, pulling his stick to increase his altitude and get a better view of the convoy. The dust was taking a while to clear but he could barely make out how the convoy was doing, this would be interrupted however as when Kyi returned his gaze to the horizon in front of him and noticed six black figures approaching the Squadron members at high speed. He squinted to get a better view of them before widening his eyes in shock, six Trench-class starfighters were rapidly approaching.

"Blast! Star Eight, I'll meet them head on, you stay back and take out the stragglers! We can't let them get a shot of that convoy!" he barked over his comm, Kyi felt a little guilty for yelling at Jarrefre like that but they both knew the importance of keeping the convoy protected, hopefully he'd understand. Kyi forced his flight stick forward and accelerated ahead to meet the Trench starfighters head on, he noticed three of them break away from the formation and fly straight passed Kyi, Jerrefre would have to deal with them. The Padawan clicked the top of his flight stick once more, activating his two light laser cannons and aiming for the middle fighter which he guessed was the lead pilot - although the Trench starfighter narrowly performed a barrel roll to evade Kyi's attack, from the corner of his eye the Padawan noticed the fighter on the left take the opportunity to perform an overshot at him. Kyi responded to the attack with a quick high yo-yo defence manoeuvre but one of the shots clipped his wing, knocking the Padawan slightly off-course.

Kyi circled around them once more, may the Force guide his next movements.

Spoiler

OOC: dice rolled three enemy ships and mild fail on first attack

 

[Jarrefre Tresti]

"Roger, Star Eight breaking off." Jarrefre was already on his way to intercept as soon as he could see the other break off, shutting off his engines he went cold and feel out of the sky, and once he was facing the right way he reignited his engines and made a mad dash at the three fighters. The padawan had learned when you are running behind(or flying) someone the best way to make up ground was to chase at a good angle of pursuit. Jarrefre had achieved the proper angle, now he needed to make his shot count. Instead of simply firing on the fighters with his blasters, Jarrefre used one of his missiles. Targeting an outcrop of stone ahead of them he fired is payload pasty the attackers, making dealy shrapnel in the process, The mostly flimsy trench class was not meant to deal with threats like falling rock, and the three ships burst into three fireballs that rolled across the ground, ironically being flattened by the weighty convoy. "Stragglers are dealt with Eleven, swinging around to give you some help."

Jarrefre put on the speed to try and make to Kyi's side, tracking wildly through the remaining stone outcroppings he could feel himself getting closer, he could only hope he got there in enough time.

@AfroBandit20

 

[Kyi Wavestrider]

Jerrefre had dealt with the stragglers and was on his way to take some heat off of Kyi, he was relieved at this, "Thanks for having my back, Eight" he said over the comm, you could hear the relief in his voice. Kyi focused his attention on the lead starfighter while Jerrefre was dealing with the other two - The lead starfighter had broken away from the other fighters and began making its way toward the convoy, Kyi followed in hot pursuit. The lead fighter began shooting at the convoy, acting fast, Kyi hovered his finger over the missile-launcher, considering using it but elected to save it for when he really needed it.

Kyi launched a barrage of laser cannons at the engine of the lead starfighter which caused it to fall out of the sky. As the fighter descended to the ground below, about to land on the convoy, the Padawan aimed his cannons below and shot at the starfighter and destroyed it before it could land on the convoy. A large explosion resulted from the fighter's distruction, the Padawan hoped the debris didn't land on the convoy.

Kyi exhaled before speaking into his comm, "How're you doing, Eight?" Kyi asked, preparing his flight stick just in case he would have to provide some assistance to Jarrefre.

@Darius

 

[Jarrefre Tresti]

"Well, playing with my food right now." Jarrefre jested as he all but had the two fighters dead to rights, they had overextended themselves as he had once done Protecting the transport in his first mission. Most times a move like that would not get you killed, but if you were too stubborn or too ignorant of your shortcomings, something like this would put you in the dirt fast; and Jarrfre would teach them this lesson. Putting himself into a position Jarrefre sent a couple of blaster shots to the first fighters left, and then it's right, Jarrefre got the normal response of panic as the pirate realized he was in a bad way. Everything for Jarrefre fell silent, the only thing he could see was himself and the fighter, to focused like this until he was ready to fire and then he let loose his barrage turning one of the fighters to cinders, he crashed as he was passing into his partners Flightline. The last fighter tried to adjust for his missing flight stabilizer but it was no use, as he was falling he let fly a rocket of his own, only this one zoomed right past Jarrefre and headed straight for the convoy.

"Eleven this is Eight, The last one got a missile off, bring it down!" Jarrefre did all he could to turn and face the deadly payload, but again he was not expecting such a quick response, it would be up to Star Eleven to set this right.

@AfroBandit20

 

[Kyi Wavestrider]

Kyi saw the rocket flying his way and it zoomed straight passed him. Kyi clamped his hands onto his flight stick and pulled it toward him hard, performing an Immelmann turn and followed the missile intensely. He adjusted his weapon systems, there was no time to wait for the lock-on, he called out to the Force to help guide his aim and closed his eyes before he made the shot.

Kyi blasted the missile with his laser cannon which created a large explosion, he felt relief but it quickly turned to dread when he saw the debris from the missile fall onto the convoy. "No..." he said quietly. He could see the convoy was severely damaged from the missile's debris as well as the lead fighter's earlier attacks. Kyi quickly spoke into his comm "This is Star Eleven to transport, are you all alright?" he asked with urgency and concern. The driver responded back with "We're good, Star Eleven. But the convoy's in critical condition - one more hit like that and we're finished."

Kyi let out an deep exhale, he was hysterical, the Padawan began kicking himself as if he was just a bit faster he could have stopped the missile's debris from hitting the convoy. "I'm so sorry." he responded, he meant it to both Jarrafre and the people operating the convoy. They made it passed the first checkpoint however, Kyi prayed things would be smooth sailing from here.

Spoiler

Dice rolled major fail on convoy's status

@Darius

 

[Jarrefre Tresti]

And they were doing so well. Jarrefre looked in shock as he watched the debris slam into the convoy, this was definitely a group failure. "Shake it off Eleven, they are still kicking and we are still alive, but we have to tighten up. This is Star Squadron and we just got embarrassed from the grave. Forget about that one and let's punch these guys through this last checkpoint."Jarrefre said calmly knowing that if Kyi was anything like him, he was beating himself up about this. "lets scout ahead and see what we are dealing with, form up." Jarrefre led on over the dune and down into the dry basin that was the final checkpoint, looking out on the horizon he could see shining in the sun hastily build blockades, "We can deal with those bloc....WOAH!" Jarrefre's fighter pulled up and to the right as he was taken by the wind off of what had to have been a large cow-sized shell. " I'm seeing two tanks on my HUD Eleven, let's prioritize them as our transports are loaded for max away, and something tells me these guys aren't exactly the Arda Breaux of the galaxy."


Jarrefre sped on directly at the tanks, as he flew closer the switched to what looked like a blaster cannon hardpoint on the turret, Jarrefre pushed through the fire then swung around behind him, this turned the auto blasters to him, which would give his wingman an easier avenue of approach than he had. Pressing on the trigger of his flight stick Jarrefre unloaded a flurry of blaster fire into the fuel cells of the tank, while it did not blow up there was fire coming from every orifice and people jumping and rolling out the vehicle. Jarrefre smiled as he watched the turret shit down. "I think I just earned one of those tank stickers." Jarrefre laughed as he swung around again and joined Kyi on his wing.

@AfroBandit20

 

[Kyi Wavestrider]

Kyi tried his best to shake it off but his failure was gnawing at the back of his mind, he felt this was all his fault despite Jarrefre's reassurance - he appreciated the attempt though, he did feel slightly better and he was right, they had to keep focus. Kyi returned his concentration to the mission at hand and flew to his wingman's side. They were approaching the final checkpoint but...there was a damn blockade, of course there was, two tanks stood in between the convoy and the final checkpoint. Kyi would be damned if he let the convoy take more damage.

Kyi allowed Jarrefre to lead, he followed closely behind his starfighter and watched as he sped toward the tanks and evaded its fire, giving Kyi an easier approach of the other tank. As the other two tanks focused their fire on his wingman, Kyi prepared his missile launcher on the second tank - as he watched Jarrefre evade their fire, he was impressed with his piloting skills, whether it be the Force or natural skill. Kyi pressed the button on the console in front of him which launched the missile on his starfighter. It was a clean and direct hit, the missile exploded into the second tank, destroying it instantly.

"I think I just earned one of those tank stickers." Jarrefre playfully said as he swung around next to Kyi again. This made Kyi chuckle and he retorted back "As long as you mention me in your acceptance speech." he jested to his fellow Squadron member. Jarrefre was beginning to grow on Kyi.

@Darius

 

[Jarrefre Tresti]

"Alright they are almost clear, let's bring this home," Jarrefre said flying at Kyi's side. There were only the blockades left, shabby structures that were meant more to trip the transports up than actually destroy them, Jarrefre planned to simply weaken them, then they would be little more than stacked chairs and tables. "Cover me Eleven, I'm heading for the first blockade." Jarrefre broke left then lined himself up with the blockade. Jarrefre gave the blockade a full three-second pull of his main cannons, then broke left again to get a look at what he had done. The dust had once again flared up so the padawan activated his comms. "Transport this is Star Eight, confirm the destruction of the barricade," Jarrefre ordered sternly, there was a tens second pause before he got his answer. "Star Eight this is transport, No effect on target you will have to hit it again." Jarrefre sighed, then began activating his missile systems. "Roger that transport, coming in for another pass."

Jarrefre completed his full turn around a boulder then shot quickly toward the blockade, as he got a tone from his targeting computer he jumped seeing a man on the blockade with some sort of rocket launcher. Jarrefre fired before the man could and broke right so quickly he almost passed out, the missiles stuck each other just as the pirate on the blockade fired, the resulting explosion completely cleared out the first blockade, Jarrefre watched as the transport rumbled over the ashes and he could hear people cheering on the comms, not it was up to Star Eleven, one last series of shots and they would be in the clear for a good while.

@AfroBandit20

 

[Kyi Wavestrider]

Spoiler

Seeing as this takes place when Kyi is still a Padawan, I'll keep referring to him as one

Kyi watched the whole thing as he provided cover for his wingman, Jarrefre had successfully took out the first blockade. The Padawan let out a goofy grin as everyone celebrated over the comms, "Nice shot, Eight!" he said in a congratulatory tone, thank the Force Jarrefre was there, he was a great pilot. Kyi began to feel confident again and took the reigns for the next blockade - "Alright, I'll handle the next one. Watch my six." he requested.

Kyi pushed his stick forward, increasing the speed of his starfighter and readied his missiles - he had forgot that he had two more earlier, hopefully he wouldn't waste this one. Kyi flew through the cloud and over the wreckage of the first blockade that his wingman had beautifully took out earlier on. The second blockade was in his sights, he noticed it was equipped with an ion cannon and saw more of the pirates now - probably as a reaction to what had just transpired. They unloaded their blasters on Kyi, he hoped Jerrafre would keep them off of him while he was readying his missile launcher.

Kyi has pressed the button on his console to activate his missile launcher, suddenly, he clocked an ion blast heading his way. "Incoming!" he shouted urgently through his comms, he launched the missile as he performed a barrel roll in an attempt to avoid the hit, hoping Jarrefre would do the same. Although, his attempt was moot, the blast hit him and disabled his starfighter. The starfighter began its descent to the ground below, the Padawan scrambled to get his systems back online - after a few seconds of frantically hitting buttons, his systems returned and Kyi managed to get his ship back on course before crashing into the ground below.

Kyi exhaled deeply, that was a close one. He returned to the altitude he was at before he was blasted, he saw that his missile had managed to weaken the blockade, he felt relief. "Star Eleven to convoy, you're good to go. Eight, let's take out the remaining pirates so the convoy can get through safely." he said, sounding out of breath from the intensity of almost crashing his starfighter.

@Darius

 

[Jarrefre Tresti]

"Let's send them home." Jarrefre said as he was already lining up on the next group of pirates that had seemingly sprung out of nowhere. Ther padawan pressed his trigger and watched them disappear in a cloud of dust and light, he swung back around as quickly as he could to try and catch a group that was not too far away from his former target. surprisingly he found the men he had just shot to the force to be still there, that made no sense, these were not shock troop Mandalorians, this was just a ragtag group of pirates; how could they afford shield tec that advanced? Jarrefre reached out in the force, his eyes clearly did not have the answer to this problem, straining as much as he could he began to feel it, like veins just under the skin he could feel people in tunnels, lots of tunnels honeycombed all over this area. "Star Eleven there are everywhere, and I mean everywhere, they have tunnels all over this basin, I'm going to put a missile down the closest entry point and see what happens."

Jarrefre used his targeting computer to find any sort of metal or composite that he could lock onto, once he found his mark he sent is missile through the trap door and into the wall of a bend in the tunnels, the resulting explosion sent a ripple effect as tunnels collapsed all over that area. Jarrefre was motivated in the knowledge that this would show them that their reign of terror was over, this would show them Star Squadron was not here to play a child's game, but to earn the trust of men. "good effect on target."

@AfroBandit20

 

[Kyi Wavestrider]

"Nice shot, Eight! You gotta show me how you do it!" the Padawan exclaimed gleefully, Kyi circled back around and hovered above the convoy. Speaking through his comm to the convoy, "How're you guys doing?" he asked, to which the folks operating the convoy responded "All good, Star Eleven. We're still in bad condition but we'll make it. Thank you both." Kyi smiled as the he and his wingman had successfully completed their mission and helped out towards the operation as a whole. Kyi and Jarrefre continued escorting the convoy to its final checkpoint with no issues. "Thanks, Eight--Jarrefre, I don't know what I'd have done without you buddy." he said thankfully to his partner.

SOMETIME LATER
​

After the convoy had arrived at its destination, the two pilots landed their starfighters and exited their cockpits. It took a moment to get adjusted to using his legs after being in the cockpit for so long, Kyi and Jerrefre watched as the ion weaponry was unloaded from the cargo before transmitting a holomessage to Lieutenant Swan (@Plebometer). Kyi and Jerrefre stood next to each other as he relayed the outcome of the mission, "Lieutenant Swan, this is Wavestrider. The convoy took a few hits but it was an overall success thanks to Tresti over here" he said as he positioned his hands pointing at Jarrefre, "Awaiting further instructions in the meantime."

END THREAD​

@Darius