Ask Broken Down

[Soren Rel]

Space - En Route to Endor​

Soren Rel stood on the bridge of the Little Wing as they moved through hyperspace. They were leading a convoy of ships to Endor to establish a Jedi Base there. Most of the cargo space had been taken up by supplies they would need for the new base but they had brought along several fighters in case of emergencies.[/URL]

Another round of reports had just come in. Things seemed to be progressing smoothly but the Jedi Knight still stood vigilant. This had been his largest task given to date and he was determined to see the mission be successful. A chill ran down his spine as he looked up. For a brief second, there was nothing except the subtle humming of the hyperdrive and the chatter on the bridge. Then all hell broke loose as the ship shook violently and lost power. The bridge crew was thrown in different directions as alarms blared throughout the ship.

Soren stood, helping a communications officer who had fallen on him up. "What just happened?" he asked, looking out the viewport. "I'm not sure, sir. Backup systems seem operational but the hyperdrive is down." the officer replied. Outside the viewport was a large asteroid field, a distant blue star in the background.

The Jedi Knight listened as damage reports came in. "Sir." one of the bridge crew cut in. "We have multiple contacts emerging from the asteroid field." the woman announced. "Weapons?" Soren asked, but was only met with a shake of the weapons officer's head. "Launch our fighters. How long is the hyperdrive going to take to get back online," he asked anyone in the room who could give him an answer. "Maybe 10 minutes. Longer if we take any more damage." the engineer replied.

Soren raised a comm link with the launching fighters. "You're going to be outmatched, but we need you to hold them off for as long as possible while repairs are completed." he said.

The entire mission hinged on these pilots now.

@Forsythe Crowholde @Nefieslab

 

[Crix Aran]

Hanging around on a ship like Little Wing wasn't as cool as it sounded - Crix had been shooed away by the engineers so he couldn't watch them working on the engine or any of the other components. They seemed to think that he was just some dumb kid, even if he probably had more formal training in engineering than some of them. But, well, actual experience as engineers on ships probably trumped his classroom experience but still!

He just wanted to watch them work and try and lend a hand - but he'd been rebuffed so he had gone to the cargo hold to workout. Some of the crew had been distracted by his workout at different times but he did his best not to pay any attention to them.

The ship shaking jostled him and some of the crew around enough that the only reason one of the techs didn't fall flat on her fact was that Crix had grabbed her shoulder to keep her upright. Smiling at her thanks, the shirtless Padawan recalled his lightsaber and armored clothing to him with the Force. As he was hastily throwing his gear on, he listened in and heard the call come down from the bridge.

...

Kaaaaaaaaaark.

Flying? Nobody said anything about needing to go out and fly!

He swallowed his frustrations and breathed them out into the Force as he went to collect a helmet and flightsuit. As he did so he spoke to the Knight over his person com unit.

"Knight Rel, this is Padawan Aran. Requesting permission to attempt to fix the weapons systems and use them rather than the fighter." he said, very officially before adding, "... I'm terrible at flying."

Understatement.

@Raydo @Forsythe Crowholde

 

[Arctus Friers]

There were times Arctus found adjusting to his new life as a Padawan of the Jedi Order to be a little... difficult. The many voices of the Dark Side of the Force – even if they were mostly reduced to whispers – were ever present in an attempt to discourage him from keeping to the path of the Jedi. But the former smuggler was a stubborn man, and despite having bowed and broken by the voices in the past he refused to cowed any longer.

He was intent to keep this new life that was offered to him, Maker be damned.

"Ho, kriff, aren't you too old to be a Padawan?" joked one of the pilots, friendlily slapping a hand on Arctus's arm. The former smuggler, for his part, shot the male Pamarthen a look of mock hurt before laughing sheepishly.

"Hey now, I thought the Order doesn't give a kark anymore about age restrictions and all that jazz?" Arctus joked back, earning grins and snickers from the trio of pilots who were watching a member of the maintenance crew give one of the docked E-7 E-Wings a once over. Despite being a decent pilot himself, he had a bad habit of calling himself subpar even when compared to those who knew next to none about flying.

Arctus would soon find that he should dump that mindset aside if he wanted to help save lives.

The hairs on the back of his neck rose from a nonexistent chill. Seconds later the Little Wing shook rather violently before losing power. Things happened too quickly for Arctus to even think and he found himself supporting the pilot nearest to him out of pure instict, one arm looped around the woman's waist. The others were trying to wake the maintenance crew who had fallen from the fighter's wing, and soon enough the unconscious being was being whisked away to the infirmary.

Reports of multiple contacts emerging from the asteroid field soon erupted within the hangar and, without really thinking, Arctus hurried to gear up in a flightsuit and helmet before boarding the E-Wing the injured maintenance crew had been inspecting. Only when both pilot and R2 astromech were preparing for launching did Arctus snap out of autopilot and realized what he was doing.

The fighter streaked out of the Little Wing and into the asteroid field, maneuvering past space rocks and further closing in to engage the hostiles.

"We're just gonna hold them off, yeah?" spoke Arctus to the astromech, grip tightening on the controls. "Think we could stay alive the whole time and make it back to the corvette without incident?"

The droid beeped grumpily at him, alerting Arctus of the danger approaching and surrounding them.

"Keep my eyes peeled for hostiles and the asteroids, got it," he repeated. "I got ya, little dude–" another grumpy series of beeps, this time a correction "–I mean, boss ma'am. You're very pretty today for an astromech, sweetheart. I'll make sure to bring you back home to safety, little lady."

@Raydo @Nefieslab @The Steel Stag

 

[Vahn Berand]

Vahn Berand fanned his gloved hands out, fingers interlaced with one another and cracked his knuckles. From a distance the Jedi seemed almost bored, reclined below one of the wings of his starfighter, his trusty old X-wing. Truth was, he was seeking the shade of his fighter to shield his eyes from the glaring lights of the hangar while still remaining near enough to his fighter for an emergency. His particular brand of hyperspace sickness, a mixture of his force sensitivity and some errant biology was The pills he had taken were blunting the worst of it, but his face was twisted in a display of gross discomfort. He clutched his stomach as it did flips in tune with the cycles of the Little Wing’s hyperdrive. His brow was faintly dotted with a sheen of perspiration. In the droid plug of the fighter above him, his BG unit Ralta twittered down at him.

“Run the… urgh, run the diagnostic again Ralta. I could have sworn my air breaks were sticking on our last mission,” Vahn said, fighting back a retch as simply speaking caused a wave of sickness to creep from his belly. The sooner he was out of hyperspace, the better.

Then, suddenly the waves of nausea and light sensitivity started to clear. He cracked one eye open a moment before the world broke as the Little Wing lurched out of hyperspace. If he hadn’t been laying on his back, there was a good chance as the sudden shaking of the ship could have taken his feet out from under him. Power flickered in the hangar, before emergency lighting kicked on. Vahn sat up, looking around himself at the crew of mechanics and pilots gathered in the hangar. They weren’t in hyperspace any longer.

Vahn quickly rolled out from under the wing of his fighter onto his feet.

“What the hell is going on? Does anyone have a line to the bridge?” he asked as the flight crew scrambled to adjust to these new events, already moving to hoist himself up into the cockpit of his X-wing where he had stashed the majority of his gear. He switched his comms on as he kitted up into his basic flight suit, fitting the sealed helmet over his head as he settled into the cockpit. It didn’t take long for him to catch up on what the Little Wing’s sensors were picking up. Multiple incoming starcraft, wonderful. Was this all a trap?

“Little Wing, have you tried hailing them? No joy?” Vahn clucked his tongue. Pirates, definitely. Vahn switched over to the channel reserved for the Jedi and the pilots on this mission.

“Soren, Arctus, Crix. I’m taking off. We’re outnumbered, but I don’t think they expected to run into a bunch of pissed-off Jedi,” Vahn said as his fighter’s canopy sealed around him. The X-wing slowly hovered, the gentle hum of repulsors comforting to the Knight as he turned the fighter towards the stars and out of the Little Wing, cutting sharply into an intercept trajectory.

@Nefieslab @Forsythe Crowholde @Raydo

 

[Crix Aran]

KARK.

Okay so no further orders from on high and he was sitting around with his thumb up his arse because he was paranoid that his lack of skill as a pilot would come round and bite them all on the arse. It was then that he decided that he couldn't let that stop him - he was needed out there and he needed to get over it. Taking a deep breath, he suited up before hopping into one of the E-Wings.

He didn't have Scooter to ride along with him but he could deal.

"This is Crix." he opened the com line with a shakey breath, "Launching."

He knew... exactly what to do when it came to the technical aspects of flying so he just needed to relax and let the Force guide him right? Well seemed like the Force disapproved of him putting it all on the Force since it immediately decided to screw with him. Cursing loudly, he immediately had to gun the engines as a pair of enemy fighters started a strafing run along the side of the ship, aiming to keep fighters in the hanger.

Through either luck, nerves or the Force itself, he squeezed the triggers almost without meaning to, causing one of the fighters to explode and the other call off the attack run.

"Huh... okay... OKAY! We got this!"

Spoiler: ooc

Sorry for the delay guys - Crix rolled a 13 :P

@Forsythe Crowholde @The Steel Stag

 

[Arctus Friers]

The current objective was so simple when put into words, but turn those words into action and panic became an expectation turned reality.

At least Arctus wasn't panicking. Not yet. Life as a smuggler, and an unapologetic bastard at that, really did put him in a lot of life and death situations. Double-dealing? Seducing some rich bloke's daughter for the shits and giggles? The list would go on but he wasn't here to reminisce on the good (well, bad) old days.

"Beggin' your pardon, Master Berand, but, uh..." Arctus changed trajectory, dodging enemy fire and returning a volley of his own which clipped one enemy fighter's wing. "....kinda beat you to it?"

Instead of keeping close to the corvette, the former smuggler's fighter launched towards the approaching starships. Kind of like a suicidal move, but Arctus was far from desiring to see the whites of heaven's gates. Or any other representation of the afterlife, for that matter. A sharp, downward tug from the Force had the Padawan maneuvering the fighter into a nosedive. The astromech he decided to call Lady let out a string of warning beeps, prompting a wicked grin from the former smuggler. Five enemy fighters immediately tailed him, probably surprised at the audacity with which he chose to fool them into thinking that he was quite mad for charging head on in the enemy lines.

Well, why not prove them right?

Reckless pretty much summed up what Arctus did next, gunning straight for that same asteroid field the pirates emerged from. Dodging a hail of enemy fire would have been easier if there was only one fighter against him, but the Force seemed to smile kindly at the former smuggler today. Making a sharp turn to the left, the former smuggler's E-Wing dove straight for the field of floating space rocks, using the asteroids as cover both for enemy fire and sights.

Alright. Time to balance the advantages and the disadvantages in the situation he put himself into.

Spoiler: Dice

Rolled a 5 for how many fighters would be tailing Arctus.

@Nefieslab @The Steel Stag