Ask Plundering Picaroons

[Aden Archer]

'Break and Engage'. "Acknowledged" Bravebird said. That's all that Aden needed to hear. Now then, Aden and his astromech droid would then start Peregrine to life from it's low power state, it's engine would be revving up. The captain of the Carryall for his part, knowing what was going down, would turn the ship to be facing away from the pirates (lend cover to it's passenger while he disembarks) and would then open the cargo bay door, a ray shield at the end.

Now the Peregrine would lift off and then, Aden would take this moment to switch on his ship's deflector shield, start to warm up the weapons, and begin accelerating forward outside the ship's hangar. And one more thing, he would put his helmet's visor down and then press a button on his helmet to switch on it's recorder.

Now firmly outside the hangar, he would bank to turn in the direction of the pirate fighters, more specifically to flank them from (their) right side. He would advance with speed. Although the Peregrine is a good craft, it wouldn't be very smart to charge straight into the pirates, that's what the Yossk and Rancor Squadron brought their own forces for right? Instead Aden would attack at one of their sides and work from there.

Shields are up, weapons are hot. There's already streaks of laser cannon fire flying. This will make good footage to sell to the Hyperlane Herald.

Aden would pick his target, ready to fire at will. He would keep his eyes peeled for bogeys in the surroundings and sensors be ready to maneuver as needed. His astromech droid onboard will also be on the lookout.

@AutoFox @Darasuum @Tic @Olwin

 

[Kellan Solari]

Inside the Super Kobra’s inert and darkened cockpit, Kellan studied his fingernails with an impending sense of regret. Chewed to nubs. Misgivings about the task at hand had shadowed him from the instant he had volunteered and trailed him into orbit. What was he doing here? He was an officer in the Imperial Air Corps for crying out loud! What business did he have in the Outer Rim fighting a bunch of star-vermin on behalf of a would-be entrepreneur like some common hired gun?

The Kobra’s comms crackled to life.

“All ships! Break and engage! Repeat, break and engage!”

All lingering anxieties were washed aside in an adrenal wave of activity as he brought the starfighter to life and sent it screaming from the one of Trandoshan fleets dummy freighters. The familiar spackle of starscape yawned out before him and he felt the customary sense of disorientation as he swung his starfighter towards the pirate flotilla.

A trio of ships approached at the vanguard of the patchwork fleet. A Razor-Class fighter flanked by a set of Preybird-Class fighters. Solari allowed himself an eager grin behind his helmet's visor.

“All too easy.” he muttered to himself, slamming forward the throttle control. Nothing the pirates had on offer would match the loadout and speed of the AFC-X1 Super Kobra. Still, as a seasoned TIE fighter pilot, being on the opposite end of swarm tactics would require presence of mind and vigilance. He queued his comms. “Copy that Whitetail. Engaging those Preybirds!”

His fingers slid across the Power Distribution Panel, diverting all available systems to the Kobra’s forward shields. The Preybird on the Razor’s left lit up in his HUD and he sent a pair of concussion missiles streaking toward it before banking right and unleashing a salvo of cannon fire at its companion.

@AutoFox @Olwin @The Good Doctor @Darasuum

 

[Yossk]

Spoiler: Music Track

The massive hull of the Division Bell kept on moving forward at its sluggish pace for a moment, before inside something sprang to life. Engines roared, power conduits revived themselves from suspended animation, and Trandoshan pilots rapidly spilled out. Twenty-four Z-95 Headhunters and a further thirty Cutlass-9 Starfighters clawed their way to be the first out, with those others guarding the convoy already joining into the fray. They flew as a swarm of murderous hornets, striking fast and hard before preforming evasive tactics. They were constantly swapping targets, rotating from one to the next to the next to confuse the pirates and to create a massive stall on their assault. They were all constantly drilled for this so the entire formation looked like dancing ballerinas, swirling and twirling for all to see.

Those fighters that were not caught by the defending forces were met with swift retaliation. The VCX-820 Escort Freighters formed a defensive formation around the flank of the bigger haulers that the fighters appeared over and unleashed hellfire upon their foes that were not torn out of the void by friendly fighters. The Lancer went one step further and lived up to its name as it too entered the fray. The tractor beams held the enemy fighters it could aim at in place before either its own forward laser cannons or a friendly fighter could pop them like a balloon. The turret alone turned around and independently tracked other fighters swarming around it, spewing laser cannon bolts out like flakk. This aggression meant the ship was quickly racking up minor damage, but it seemed the crew cared not for themselves. They cared to keep the freighters safe.

All of this coordination was not some miracle or even a previously arranged plan but instead the work of Powerslave and her crew. The scrambling was lowered as the battle was launched to mostly stop passive scans, and as Yossk knew all sensors would be pointed away from him and to the counter-ambush the massive Carrack hiding between space debris would be safe. The former-Jedi allowed the force to flow in and through him. It guided his thoughts and guided his directions to guide his ships to victory. He waved his claw around the battle map ahead of him and drew lines flowing with his movements to indicate where the fighters should fly. This then was projected to the heads up display in each cockpit which allowed each pilot to move on their course. And fly they did.

 

[Helen Holcomb]

The pirate formation - if formation it could have been called - was in no way prepared to face fighter opposition, let alone on such a massive scale. As the defenders swarmed out to engage the attackers, the few unarmed ships in the convoy jumped to hyperspace, neatly removing non-combatants from the field. Those that remained swung out weapons and began maneuvering to engage, forming up on one-another to form overlapping fields of fire like heavy bombers during the Galactic Civil War. In the opening moments of the engagement, 3 of the pirates - 2 X-TIEs and a War Baby - strayed into said defensive fire, destroying 2 outright and sending the third shrieking away on a tail of fire.

Helen, meanwhile, had already picked her target. As Kellan bore in on one of the escorting Preybirds, the Lepi fell in beside him.

"Whitetail, hm?" She replied, grinning to herself inside her cockpit. "Okay, take 'im! I'm on the leader!"

Helen swooped away, angling in on the high-gloss Razor whose pilot had announced the attack. The other starfighter might have looked sharp, but it was a serious step down in performance compared to Helen's nimble interceptor, and was also a much larger target. The Lepi mashed on the firing stud for her twin laser cannons, the bolts splashing off raised shields before one got through, causing a detonation on the enemy fighter's wing. To Helen's surprise, however, the other ship didn't try to run; as she bore down, it turned into her, wingtip lasers and nose-mounted ion cannons winking and causing the Lepi to bank out of the way. The pirate shot past at high speed.

Meanwhile, Kellan's target turned into his attack as well; the pilot of the heavy fighter evidently knew its limitations, and decided they would take their chances with a frontal assault. The heavy cannons spoke once, before the wild card - a pair of concussion missiles - plowed into it; the first hit collapsed the shields, while the second struck the fuselage just aft of the cockpit. The second target, meanwhile, was struck by cannon fire; it stumbled, but its shields held, and it too began turning to meet its opponent, the twin heavy cannons beginning their reciprocating rhythm as thick green bolts flashed out at the attacking Super Kobra.

Meanwhile, as the Division Bell's compliment of fighters swarmed out to join the fray, they found an enemy scarcely able to respond. 3 more X-TIEs and a TYE were accounted for in short order, fully half the force which had initially flown against the convoy; the Lancer accounted for 1 more, a Half-X being caught in the vessel's single tractor beam, subsequently picked apart by its quad laser turrets. The 5 remaining members of the pirate squadron, plus the 2 remaining members of the commander's flight, broadcast mayday messages on their own channel.

"It's a trap! Send reinforcements, they're tearing us apart!"

Deeper in the debris field, engines flared to life. The other pirates berated the survivors for their clumsiness, but they seemed to have at least a little professionalism; the entire resident pirate fleet - 3 Boxer-class light carriers, 2 Dodonna-class armed transports, 3 Gozanti-class bulk cruisers and the ominous bulk of a single Vengeance-class frigate began moving. Fighters boiled from 2 of the carriers; squadrons of mostly Uglies of the same type that had been seen before.

 

[Hauron Solus]

"doo...duinarbulon..." Hauron muttered the name to himself idly as he heard the relayed transmission from the pirates and friendly forces. It was an interesting name and fun if not a bit of a mouthful to say.

Just as predicted, the picaroons approached the disguised convoy acting as bait. A trio of enemy contacts would be reinforced by a squadron of similar though inferior small ships. The hidden starfighters and transports broke their previous formation as the first trap was sprung.

From the carrier's detailed holoporjections, Hauron watched Yossk's forces move towards the D.N.L. starfighters. <"There are more pirate forces arriving, group leader."> The sensor specialist reported though the image would be displayed in the next moment on the projection table. <"That's our signal. Begin flanking maneuver. Let's clothesline these bastards."> At his command, Rancor Squadron in its entirety ignited their engines.

The four capital ships moved out of the shadow of Brancar and into the sunlight at high speed. While Rancor Squadron came within range of the pirate craft they would reduce speed slightly and allow for energy distribution through ship systems to equalize with the turrets, shields and engines without straining them. They moved in a line, with one raider class corvette taking the lead and focusing its shields forward. The other two raider corvettes followed directly behind at a few hundred meters spacing. Last but not least was the Dralaalar who focused their shields on their aft.

The plan was to perform a version of the Ackbar Slash directly through the enemy ship formation and keeping behind the mass drivers of the Vengeance class Frigate. Once the Mandalorian capital ship guns were in range of the fringe pirate capital vessels they would open fire with light ion and turbo laser cannons. Concussion missiles would prioritize starfighters and fire salvos of warheads that chased after nimble craft along the hulls and through the void until they exploded in clouds of debris and fire.

Meanwhile the hangar bays of the Rancor Squadron ships would open and let lose a swarm of deadly fang interceptors eager to join the fray. These small ships were superior to the pirate starifighters in virtually every way and were bolstered by a handful of Kom'rk starfighters. Any small ships that escorted the enemy Picaroon fleets would tangle with the Mandalorian fighter pilots while the larger ships pinched the pirates from behind.

@AutoFox @The Good Doctor @Tic @Olwin

 

[Kellan Solari]

A plume of saffron-colored flame belched forth from the Preybird’s frame as the missile found its mark. Solari loosed a savage grin. Neo-Lancers. He snorted. Pathetic, scavenging filth that preyed upon the decent and the civilized. He had dealt with their kind as far back as his youth on Ryloth. Men of weak moral fiber, content to fatten themselves on the suffering of others. The same type of brutish thugs who survived through violence and thievery. The same type his own father had died fighting. Kellan was only dimly aware of his quickening pulse. Of the instincts that began to supersede thought. How his hands found controls of their own accord.

“Kill ‘em all.” he gasped.

He bolstered his forward shields and swung his guns to bear on the now defenseless Preybird. Ignoring the bolts of laserfire refracting off his own shields, he punched the trigger and watched the Kobra’s four cannons unleash a salvo down the pirate’s fuselage. He swung the Kobra sideways and aimed for the space between the approaching pirates. As they flew by he routed power to his engines and opened the throttle, inertia sinking him into the cockpit’s seat.

Preybirds were capable, though unremarkable, starfighters. The Super Kobra had them outmatched by nearly every available measure. Such odds left it up to the pilot and in his estimation, they flew like garbage scow operators. Pulling back on the yoke, he brought his ship into a loop. With any luck, he thought as he watched the stars bleed into a miasmic haze, he’d exit the vertical roll before the Preybirds could turn around, giving him the advantage.

@Olwin @Mr. Teatime @AutoFox @The Good Doctor @Darasuum

 

[Aden Archer]

Aden continued his flight at the pirate fighter group's flank, still approaching with speed. It looks like the pirate forces are focused on the battle upfront they didn't see the Peregrine to the side. It's a chaotic battle and Aden would take it in view on the approach. The ugly fighters were easy prey and were dwindling fast as it was.

Now in a good position, he would slow down and adjust the point of his ship as he would target the second Preybird fighter, the one that took some damage to it's shields but wasn't as crippled as the other one. As the Preybird was openning cannon fire at the Super Kobra, Bravebird would launch a volley of medium laser cannon fire as well as light ion cannon fire at it. Should the barrage land, and the fire is unlikely to miss given the Preybird pilot is pre-occupied, it should destroy the second Preybird. And given that Aden is flanking it and shots to poised to hit it at it's side after Kallen would pass it by, missed shots will not hit his own partners.

Aden would be alerted by his astromech droid's beeping that larger ships are now starting to show themselves in the debris field, and he would look out his viewport that direction. As he would bank to turn that way, and then he would accelerate forward, now moving full throttle, he would also see that the Mandalorian ships have also entered the fray as well. That's where the biggest fighting is now. "Moving to engage the pirate capital ships now" he said on the comms as he would be maneuvering through it.

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[Yossk]

Division Bell looked towards the opposing capital ships and pointed her prow towards them. Four small streams erupted from her cannons as each turbolaser tracked its mark. It was less of a specific vessel being targeted and more of a covering fire as to draw attention to itself and away from the battle plan forming. Cutlass-9 Starfighters were forming the brunt of the assault to take on the newly released uglies and rip them from the void and to turn them into scrap. Scrap that could be melted down and sold or even just rebuilt. Either way future profit. The VCX-820s and the Lancer turned their attention away from the now depleted first wave and began to launch their laser cannons into the second. Laser bolts and homing missiles began to fill the void towards the fighters as it was clear they would fight tooth and nail to eliminate their opponents.

Z-95s assisted the Cutlasses for a time until they were allowed to launch on their real mission. They broke away from the Cutlasses and sped towards the enemy capital ships with an express purpose. They were like darts as they launched towards enemy anti-fighter weaponry and fired upon them with extreme prejudice with missiles and lasers alike. To disable was not enough. The only acceptable way to leave them was for their laser cannons to be totally inoperable. This would be a dangerous task of course, and it would take two or three fighters to take one down. One or two would act as distractions while the third would neutralize the weapon itself. This would result in plenty of casualties to secure these weapons were offline, but if they were successful this would be a major boon to the Mandalorians and Trandoshans.

Suddenly, as if a ghost army possessed their communication systems, anyone using any open channels or most of the pirate's would find their messages drowned out. First it was a chant, where a lead would speak something in a rather reptilian language before a choir repeated. Then they joined in unison, repeating the same words over and over, before they simply began screaming. Endless screaming. Layered with more and more voices. Of pain. Of fear. Of death. Of horror. Of rage. Of violence and hunger and the need to shed life from its foes. All echoing in each and every pirate's ears. It was clear a that a banshee was among them as she reared her sneering, judgemental face towards her foes.

Spoiler: Now parry this, you filthy Pirates

Powerslave slowly turned its engines on and slowly began to poke its head out from the asteroids artificially placed around it and scanned the battle field. There it was, the enemy. Her reactor-heart beat madly, she wanted combat against worthy foes. The Vengence would be it. She lept at the for like a wild cougar hungry for her meal. Her front was freshly repainted, staring through the bridge of her nose judgingly as she knew she was better than the opposition. She pressed her assault as the cannons of her prey would begin to turn towards her. But by the time they could get their bearings it would be to late. The T was crossed. Between the Vengence Frigate and the Gozanti Bulk Cruisers and powered up all of her weapons. Each side let off all it could: five heavy turbolasers, ten dual medium lasers, and ten medium ion cannons. All aimed at weapon systems or other vital targets. Both broadsides plastered the targets with surprising speed and accuracy, testimony to her crew's skill.

Chunks of durasteel and quadanium and duranium flew off like confetti, red hot and peeled away from the chassis. The initial bombardment, combined with the cacophony sent through all the channels the pirates would use, would be a lethal combination. But the crew nor the vessel or even Yossk could help savor this perfectly executed plan. Instead they had to keep this momentum going or else they would be shredded. The Powerslave kept running at her full speed as she angled down, softly rocking to one side after a stretch before turning to the opposite side. She moved like a surfboard through the galactic void, cutting her curve as if she was cutting through a wave. Her next motion was going to be a doozy for the pirates, which certainly would keep their eyes on her, as Powerslave was going to go above the formation and unload on then again.

@Darasuum @Tic @AutoFox @Mr. Teatime @The Good Doctor

 

[Helen Holcomb]

The pirates, in general, were taking a long time to adjust to the changing situation; not really surprising, given that their combat experience up to that point had largely been jumping unarmed or poorly protected ships that strayed into their territory, or carrying out raids on similarly weak minor systems. Few had faced anything better than a few third-hand TIEs some enterprising merchants had docked to their old bulk cruisers.

They had rallied, but it was doing little good.

"Hold still you kark!"

Helen had to admit, she was impressed by the pirate flight lead's skill, and she wondered how a pilot of their caliber had wound up flying for a bunch of scum. Not that it made her want to cut them any slack; falling in behind the enemy craft, she jinked and rolled to try and match its evasive maneuvers, spattering a few laser bolts against its rear shields, which finally collapsed with a crackle of energy discharge.

Meanwhile, Kellan's opponent was faring even less well. The last burst from the Super Kobra's guns had shredded the enemy's shields as well, and without them, the heavy starfighter was essentially helpless. As the Imperial went into his turn, the Preybird had no real hope of matching him; there was a puff of atmosphere as, anticipating Kellan's finishing attack, the enemy pilot popped his canopy and ejected.

Meanwhile, Division Bell's fighters began their attack, and had a great deal of success. The gunners aboard the pirate warships had even less experience with direct combat than their starfighter counterparts, and the accuracy of their defensive fire was woeful, to say the least. They would not quite have a chance to complete their task, though; evidently, someone in the pirate CIC was awake, and redirected 1 of the 2 new pirate squadrons to defend; they began engaging the attacking craft, and were just beginning to do so when Rancor Squadron arrived, their corvettes ramming through the loose pirate fleet formation like a railspeeder through a fruit stand. Those few pirate ships with functioning weapons returned fire, but one of the Boxer carriers was destroyed outright, along with a Gozanti which had been escorting it...

 

[Kellan Solari]

The Super Kobra, for all its ballistic bluster, was surprisingly nimble and as Kellan reached the loop’s summit he rolled the fighter over and pressed it into a dive. As hoped, he had completed his maneuver before the remaining Preybird had come out of its own stubborn turn. The pirate’s craft was positioned nearly perpendicular to the faster, more powerful fighter, the length of its fuselage naked and vulnerable in the hairs of his targeting reticule. A sitting Porg! As the Imperial slipped his gloved thumbs over the trigger, a flurry of laserfire erupted from his left, streaking towards the Preybird, fracturing its shields.

The blade-like figure of The Peregrine tore through the space before him before banking hard in the direction of the pirate fleets capital ships.

“‘ppeciate the assist Bravebird.” he said. The targeting system trilled happily and Solari opened fire on the prone Preybird, eliciting flames and sparks up its exterior. He watched giddily as the hapless pirate pulled the ejector and joined his comrade in the cold indifference of space. The Preybird crackled, popped and then came apart altogether in a scarlet eruption that plastered a smile to Kellan’s face.

He studied his sensors for a moment before swinging the Kobra around. Helen’s starfighter, the ever reliable Antipode Interceptor, danced and bounced like a toy on a string behind the pirate lead’s ship. He punched the throttle.

“Coming in on your three Whitetail!” he called, setting course to intercept the fleeing corsair. As he lined up his shot, one of the Lepi’s volleys sent her prey’s shields into their plasmatic deathroes. The joyful cry on the targeting system once more. Kellan grimaced.

“Bad form.” he muttered. Never steal a hunter’s quarry when they’ve got the scent.

He sent his own burst of cannon fire streaking across the pirates bow.

“He’s all yours Boss!”

@The Good Doctor @AutoFox @Darasuum @Olwin

 

[Aden Archer]

"Don't mention it" he said while smiling. Thanks to the fast speed of his own starfighter, Bravebird would quickly find himself being mixed in where the capital ships are battling at. Trails of laser cannon fire, explosions in space, and explosions of ships.

Aden would pick a target, seeing as the Vengence class Frigate's being battered by the Powerslave, he opted against flying against it. He would instead be flying towards one of the Dodonna-classes. Approaching with speed, approaching on a higher plane than it, while maneuvering to make sure he's avoiding any cannon fire that might be heading towards him deliberately or otherwise.

Once he finishes the approach, he would enter the ship's shield bubble on the Dodonna's top side. From this position none of it's laser cannons can fire at the fast fighter, and the turbolasers... aren't very good at point defense. Aden would then fly along the hull pointing right to the ship's protruding exposed bridge/command center. Target in his crosshairs, he would fire two high explosive missiles along with a barrage of laser cannon fire at it.

If the bridge is destroyed, then the ship is as good as gone, and then he would disengage, flying upwards banking away and hunt for his next target.

@AutoFox @Darasuum @Tic @Olwin

 

[Yossk]

Her roar was heard across the battlefield as she never once stopped firing, her angles always aligned so something could take a shot at an opposing ship. Her frame twisted and turned and plowed on time dart around the void. It seemed she was as much trying to draw as much fire from the pirates as she was locked on the destruction of the rival frigate. Her screaming face howled into the void out of anger as their laser bolts made contact along her shields. She wanted vengence for these pitiful vessels who were trying to destroy her and their pitiful weapons. Her gunports were trained on the Vengence and kept singling it out for annihilation. And while that happened, the Trandoshan fighters would aim towards the Vengence as well, aiming for more weapon shots to bring the grand ship down. Through a death by a thousand cuts.

 

[Hauron Solus]

The stories to be told about this battle would be wonderous but in the moment Hauron Solus did not give any thought to celebration as the success of Rancor Squadron's maneuver paid off. A barrage on the flanks of the Vengeance class frigate assured its inevitable destruction with the Powerslave dealing the brunt of the damage. Other capital ships belonging to the pirates were swiftly taken out of commission with a relative few remaining.

The tip of the spear, that was the corvette taking point, banked to its starboard and carved out of the picaroon fleet formation. The nose of the dagger shaped ship inclined the ship towards the z axis. This kept them from coming across directly in front of the mighty Trandoshan fleet while also giving Rancor Squad in its entirety to make a secondary hit and run strike against the pirate fleet's rear formation. If the brigands tried to muster up a defense, chase down, or shoot after Rancor Squadron after the Ackbar slash, then that was a few less cannons firing on the other starships taking them out in addition to the starfighter support.

Several proton torpedoes fired from the same number of Fang class interceptors would target the remaining Gozanti, Dodonna, and Boxer ships respectively. The larger ships of Rancor Squadron decreased speed by ten percent while the retractile turrets on the dorsal sides of the Raider class corvettes revealed themselves. The bow mounted turbo laser and ion cannons were not as effective with the prow pointing away from the main pirate force. But any fast following starfighters would find the turrets capable of responding in kind. The ten quad laser cannons adorning the exterior of the Dralaalar sent red laser cannon fire harassing pirate starfighters on all sides.

@AutoFox @The Good Doctor @Olwin @Tic

 

[Helen Holcomb]

Helen, under normal circumstances, would not have thanked Kellan for staying his hand; in a real nekfight it seldom paid to hesitate when an enemy was in your sights, even if you were "stealing" a kill from a friend. In this situation though, the Lepi didn't mind; the pirates were disorganized and sloppy, she doubted her prey would get the upper hand.

"Obliged, Kellan! Now to-... hey, what's he doing?"

The Razor, jinking and rolling to try and escape its pursuers, had extended what looked like a comm antenna, a red light blinking steadily at its tip. Reaching down, Helen adjusted her comm frequency, blinking as she heard the rasp of omnisignal unicode on the pirate band. Shaking her head, she keyed back to the main channel.

"He's sending something encrypted! Weird."

The fighter ace thought no more of it. As the Razor tried to jink back across her field of fire, she gave it a burst with her lasers. The pirate went spinning away, burning and out of control.

Meanwhile, Bravebird took down another of the carriers. As he did, the remaining carrier and its Gozanti escort turned to try and escape; as they turned, however, a fusillade of missiles slammed into the Gozanti. The projectiles hammered the vessel's shields, collapsing them, at which point an enterprising friendly fighter delivered a couple of missiles from astern; with its engines blown out, the Gozanti drifted. Its charge, meanwhile, tanked several missile hits, and though it suffered some damage it kept going, its hyperdrive already spooled up by a cautious captain. With a blur it was gone, escaping into hyperspace.

It was the only pirate craft to do so.

As the last of the Dodannas blew up in spectacular fashion, the Vengeance began to take a pounding. Lacking shields, there was little it could do to resist the damage inflicted, although it was a damned durable ship; laser fire answered Rancor Squadron, and the lumbering warship turned to face its tormentors...

 

[Aden Archer]

And the ship Aden was targeting was destroyed and he managed to footage of the bridge's explosion. Boom. Spectacular kaboom. Aden would then turn his fighter around and then look for more targets, moving at full speed while doing so. The bird is on the prowl and on the hunt.

Looks like one of the ships managed to get away. Oh well.

There wouldn't be much left after looking through the viewport and nothing much other than friendly pings on the ship sensors. But there would still be the Vengeance frigate left standing. But to be frank, it's taking quite a beating. Vengeance classes have no shields but make for it with heavy armor, even to the detriment of it's speed and agility. It's four heavy mass driver cannons pack a punch though.

Fortunately for Aden though, the Vengeance has little means of point defense. The combined forces everyone has assembled here are more than enough to finish it off, but Aden would have his fun. Aden would then fly towards the rear of the ship that is still turning and fire all weapons, laser cannons, light ion cannon, and the remaining of two missiles into the ship's large engine on the bottom. If the barrage from the Peregrine lands, it should destroy the engine. Even for the ship's heavy armor, they are still a more venerable point. If the Vengenance had any chance of escaping, it would be much lesser if the salvo deals enough damage. It would also make it harder for it to bring it's fixed forward mass drivers on it's target.

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[Hauron Solus]

Several klaxons sounded and were silenced as target locks, shield strengths and enemy positions were all being tracked aboard the bridge of Hauron Solus's flagship. "Sir, their frigate is coming about." One of the deck officers reported to the Group Leader. "All capital ships cease fire and divert power to engines. Move deflector shields to starboard sides. Stay ahead of their nose and lets keep these pirates spinning."

The host of Rancor Squadron capital ships were fast but still sustained significant damage. Turbo laser turrets and laser cannon fire among other dangers and munitions had splashed against deflector screens and a few began to bleed through, scoring the armored hulls and burning paint. The return fire thus far from the pirates and been spread out through the capital ships but any of them taking a direct hit from a mass driver cannon, let alone multiple hits would be devastating. The large last remaining capital ship of the Duinarbulon pirate fleet was dead set on trying to take at least one of the Mandalorian ships out before their inevitable demise but Hauron would see to it that such efforts would be made in vain.

Rancor Squadron continued to move clock wise around the Vengeance class frigate. All large ships diverted energy to engines and shields to not strain their systems. The solo Frigate would be forced to sluggishly move its entire mass in order to line up a shot. Meanwhile, the vengance class would continue to take a beating from Yossk's fleet. The remaining Mandalorian interceptors were too small and nimble to be taken out by the frigates larger weapons and moved to fire the remaining proton torpedoes at their backs where their engines and hyperdrives resided presumably.

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[Yossk]

Powerslave glared at the void with disgust, hungry for more carnage as it swung by its prey and fired off its battery. But that hunger would not last long. A volley of return fire caught the craft as it pulled into a turn to exit its broadside, turbolaser fire clashing across her stern side, damaging weapon and hull and system alike. The major damage was to the engine systems, which gave off a huge puff of black smoke before Powerslave slowed to a crawl. The entire ship rocked, which paired with the high speed turn it was already taking caused the frame to twist and warp further. The external damage was quite obvious to any observers as the once rectangular ship now somewhat resembled a modern art sculpture, but the internal damage was a nightmare for only the crew to have to endure.

"Order an evacuation of all non-essential personnel." Rrodossk turned to one of the many officers of the bridge crew and spoke quickly and bluntly. It was clear he was not taking any chances with this. Fires were reported on three levels, two of which being rather close to the reactor, and several hallways were venting. This was not helped either as a massive jolt from the ship indicated its drive had all but failed and now was set adrift. Right into the firing arc of the Vengence. Other alarms were blaring in the bridge, as the Powerslave's sensors screamed that live weapons were aimed in their direction. "And make sure the shields are overclocked on that side, rotate the power from the opposite side."

The sounds of boots running across the decks and of the alarm blaring out were only interrupted by the occasional pops from bolts meant to hold the inner wall on flying off or screams and moaning from those who were injured. Various species ran through the halls: Trandoshans, Humans, and droids being the most common with a couple of dozen others being sprinkled in for good measure. Some rushed to grab their emergency posts but the vast majority ran to the escape pods to jettison. With one last bombardment, maybe the evacuation won't be needed. But it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Kellan Solari]

“Clean shooting Whitetail!”

The battlefield flared with exploding starships, bright flashpoints that sent shockwaves rippling through space. Lieutenant Solari, still wearing a grin from watching the pirate leader ignite and wheel off into the void, carved his way through these tides of energy like a grinning garida through water.

A short distance away, the capital ships of Rancor Squadron (@Darasuum) and the Trandoshan flagship Powerslave (@Olwin) circled the pirates’ Vengeance like a clutch of frisk sharks. Turbolaser batteries sang as the powerful vessels traded fire. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, the pirate frigate showed little sign of backing down. Even as he watched, it unleashed a fearsome volley that caught the Powerslave cleanly, buckling its hull. The severity of the damage was immediately apparent as despite a valiant effort to bolster its shields, the ship foundered and listed.

“The Powerslave’s taking damage!” he blurted out over comms. “We need to keep that frigate's gunners busy!”

Solari strained the Kobra’s engines to their breaking point as the elite starfighter screamed across the breadth of space towards the tangle of capital ships. He flipped his weapons systems over to concussion missiles and targeted one of The Vengeance’s turbolaser batteries. The Trandoshan flagship was a mangled length of destruction and even as he neared, Kellan could see the escape pods ejecting from it into the ebon blackness.

The Super Kobra corkscrewed toward the pirate vessel in an effort to avoid any lingering point defenses and launched a barrage of missiles towards the nearest cluster of cannons.

@AutoFox @The Good Doctor

 

[Helen Holcomb]

Helen, not for the first time, regretted her choice of a light interceptor rather than a proper starfighter as the battle shifted to the mopping up of the pirate capital ships. Without missiles or torpedoes, there was a limited amount she could accomplish; she did what she could, however, sending a few bolts at the surviving frigate's large engines.

The Vengeance, meanwhile, was having a difficult time of it. Her kind had been designed to attack in packs, or at least to have a few support ships along to cover its shortcomings; with those stripped away, it could do little more than clumsily swat at the smaller, nimbler vessels which harried it. Turbolaser fire lanced out from turrets - minus one, after Kellan's successful attack run - scoring the occasional glancing hit, but little more.

Rancor Squadron's torpedoes hit home, tearing the guts out of the frigate's already stuttering engines. Aboard the pirate warship, chaos reigned; as the assembled pirate hunters watched, escape pods began popping off at random, the crew of the now stricken vessel scrambling to save their own skins. The beast was dying, but it was not quite helpless yet.

The equally stricken Powerslave could do little to move out of even the Vengeance's limited field of fire, and as the pirate ship died, some surviving member of its gunnery crew saw one last opportunity. With a roar, the array of mass drivers belched forth their relativistic projectiles; the massive slugs mostly missed their target, streaking off to hit debris or hurtling on into open space, but one scored a hit. The slug tore into Powerslave's stern, mangling its engines and actually spinning the ship on its axis, although it did not cause the chain reaction of internal explosions that would have destroyed it.

 

[Aden Archer]

As tough as the Vengeance class frigate is, it can withstand the combined forces of the pirate hunters. Although Aden looked through the viewport and surprised that the Powerslave was taking major damage despite the best efforts of others, escape pods were ringing out of it. It was now spinning. One of those mass driver slugs must have hit a vital point. Out of missiles and being just a single fighter, Aden couldn't do anything to immediately help the onslaught the Powerslave is taking, especially with the thick armor of the Vengeance.

Aden would was still quick to maneuver and position his fighter to make an attack run on another of the ship's quad-turbo laser turrets, firing a continuous barrage of laser cannon and ion cannon fire. Turret armor wouldn't be as strong as the ships main chassis, then veering up and doing a U-turn.

At least the Vengeance has no chance at escaping now, it's destruction is inevitable. The pilot did see escape pods ringing out. He wondered if the Yossk's carrier or ships from Rancor Squadron would intercept them. If not, Aden would turn shoot them down to ensure their bounty on them is collected on, but if they are captured then that would be fine.

This was a fun sortie. Lots of hot plasma flew around, lots of pirate ships destroyed in space, lots of explosions. Everything Aden saw was being recorded on his helmet, and the combat footage would be uploaded to the holonet, maybe not shooting down the escape pods though.

@Darasuum @Olwin @AutoFox @Tic