Pull a U

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Credits.

Credits were hard to come by when you were a Jedi slash freedom fighter. Not many jobs you could hold down and most of them asked for references. Answering that he was a former Sith now rebel and Jedi Padawan? Well that was just asking for trouble.

Not to mention it would absolutely shred any idea of operational security and he was certain that he would be raked over the hot coals for it. But there was one thing that you could always count on to get credits; killing.

Oh sure, it could be dressed up however you liked but in the end the bounty he was going for today was for killing some local pirates. They were hardly good people but people they were all the same and he was going to accept credits for their deaths. He was partaking in the oldest sentient activity - the killing of other sentient life - for credits.

He took solace in the fact that they were terrible people who likely deserved it. Taking a breath, he readied himself behind the controls of his improved shuttle. They were up against a starfighter squadron who flew ahead of the main pirate force.

They should be here any minute.

"All wings, check in." he called out over the coms to his Alliance ally and the neutral man they'd gotten assistance from, "White Wing calling in."

@Korvo @Malon

 

[Greybok]

One was in a shuttle. The other in a freighter. The rest were in starfighters. It was one of the oddest squadrons Greybok had ever seen assembled, but he wasn't about to ditch his prized ship to fit in. She was modified heavily enough to work in a combat scenario like this. He made sure his deflector shields were powered up and that all weapon-systems were running just fine. Then he switched on his comm and opened a channel to Castor's shuttle. Twobee translated his Shyriiwook to Castor for him.

"White One, checking in." Greybok killed the channel and brought his ship into the proper formation. Twobee, however, didn't take the closed channel as an indication to shut up at all. "Why is he in a shuttle, Greybok? Of all the ships to fight pirates in — a shuttle?"

The Wookiee actually couldn't disagree with the protocol droid's logic, but initial scans of Castor's craft indicated that it was at least somewhat modified. A Sith model too. Interesting choice. The Wookiee decided that he was interested in seeing what the other pilot could do with the craft. Rebels tended to be an opportunistic lot, who took what they could get, but sometimes their odd choices had a reason behind them.

Either way, he was eager to get to the part where they started to make things explode. Ever since the battle above Nar Shaddaa, he had been itching for another dogfight. Perhaps these pirates would entertain him almost as much as those Imperial pilots had. @Nefieslab

 

[Uhtred Wardruna]

There was just something about the controls of a starship that always felt natural. The subtle vibrations of the sublight engine, barely bypassing the ship's inertial dampeners. The sporadic beeping of the navicomputer and guidance system, even the barely-audible humming of the power conduits running through the ship. To most, these noises were considered a negative, the best ships were always dead-silent. But Uhtred loved it.

"White Two, standing by", Uhtred said, being brought back to reality by the buzzing of the com systems. "Jörðineyðinga auga, hver kemur upp með þessum nöfnum?" Uhtred murmured, smiling slightly.

Much as flying was a pastime for him, on this day it was just business. Today was a day of hunting, like his father used to do, a pirate leader that, for one reason or another, chose a shuttle as his refuge. There was probably a logic behind it; there usually always was, but from Uhtred's perspective, it just made him all the more appealing of a target.

@Nefieslab @Malon

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Ah Castor was at home behind the controls of his shuttle.

Sure, it wasn't the prettiest of things and it might look a bit odd to come to a fight in a shuttle, but Castor wasn't about to give much of a damn it has to be said. He probably could have come in a fighter but he was still largely un-trusted by the Galactic Alliance and had very limited funds so buying his own wasn't really an option and taking an Alliance fighter on anything but a fully sanctioned Alliance mission would likely be viewed with a lot of scepticism.

There wasn't much leeway for a former Sith.

The first members of the enemy squadron arrived - five of the fighters.

"Good hunting."

Castor highlighted two on the left side of the formation, allowing his allies HUDs to sync up so that they would be able to tell that they were what he was going for. It would help them target different targets. Flying forwards, he pulled the triggers, blasting one of the two fighters to pieces before it even got a chance to attack him. The second fell in behind and started hammering away at him, causing Castor to mutter under his breath as his shields were all greatly diminised before his quad cannon turret clipped the fighter's wing, causing it to madly spin out.

@Korvo @Malon

 

[Greybok]

Greybok wasn't about to let these scrubs hog all of the fun. He dropped the groundsweeper cannon from its hidden flap along the ventral hull of the Starbird and, in the cockpit, his main display began to paint boxes around enemy starfighters. The Wookiee squeezed on his trigger and red bolts of heated gasses and plasma flew from his ship's underbelly. There was nothing quite like the satisfaction he got watching starfighters explode into similar balls of gas and flames. But the sudden explosion of the three of their fighters, two from Castor and one from Grey, sent the remaining two scattering, which was also highly satisfying to watch.

Grey pulled up on the Starbird's steering yoke, bringing the light freighter up and into a spin as it came fully around to trail on one of the fleeing fighters. The Wookiee switched his main display over to proton torpedo controls, waited for the HUD to paint a red box around the enemy fighter, and then pulled the trigger. A small ball of blue flame raced out of the torpedo tube along the front of the freighter and smashed into the fleeing fighter's engines. Grey roared in victory as the Starbird sliced through the explosion.

He then raised White Two on his ship's comm system. Twobee translated his speech: "This is White One! The last one is all yours, White Two!"

Of course, Greybok highly doubted this would be the end of their fun for the day. He was eager to get to round two because he was just getting warmed up. @Nefieslab @Korvo

 

[Uhtred Wardruna]

This was... different. In recent times, Uhtred was always among the first into battle. Among the first make a kill. In fact, the sentiment was even part of a common Deucalian expression, 'fyrst að blæða'. But now, almost all the fighters were gone, destroyed. And Uhtred hadn't even made his attack run yet.

"Oohh, you're a greedy lot, you are!", Uhtred said humorously, setting up his approach to the final enemy fighter.

It was a strange feeling, but in all frankness, Uhtred loved the sport of battle, even if all he had to glean was the scraps. After all, if it was a choice between scraps and nothing, there was-no choice. As Uhtred closed in toward the last enemy fighter in the immediate vicinity, it was obvious that the enemy pilot was in a kind of panic. His flight trajectory was off, but not effectively enough in that he was attempting some evasive maneuvers. Uhtred's smile almost fainted and began breaking into a sneer, but it was something he accepted long ago; not all embrace death through battle with open arms, as his people did. But all the same, any that walk into the battlefield fearing for their lives have already lost it.

Without hesitation, Uhtred fired a volley of laser fire as soon as the enemy fighter was in range, shearing the enemy fighter apart as it exploded in a muted array of chemically-affected fire. Some slight hints of blue and green, but it had been all but snuffed out by the void of space.

"This is White Two; enemy fighter is down. Don't suppose there's any more sport nearby?"

@Nefieslab @Malon

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

Well well well.

It seemed that their motley crew had done well enough for themselves so far and the first fighters that had initially appeared were done for. However, it appeared that the remaining seven fighters of the squadron took exception to that and began their approach. They were angry, he could feel that much through the Force even as far away as they still were.

"You have your wish, Uhtred!" he declared with a smirk, "We have seven more fighters heading our way. Were these people anything but murdering, thieving, pirates? I'd feel sorry for them."

Pushing his shuttle forwards towards the onslaught, Castor relied heavily on the Force to guide him in turning and spinning to avoid the incoming fire while blasting away in return. Castor's shuttle passed through the enemy squadron's formation - by punching a hole in the formation by blasting apart two of the seven fighters within the formation.

So far Castor had to admit he was loving the fact that his ship was doing so well.

"I think I'm probably going to have to name this ship if it keeps performing this well!"

@Korvo @Malon

 

[Uhtred Wardruna]

Uhtred had learned long ago to trust his instincts. That feeling that welled up in his gut, that itched his mind, telling him something was right or was about to go terribly wrong. It was like electricity in the veins, born from experience and natural aptitude. They called it the 'æði'... the fervor. Whether a warning of his ancestors among the Vladir, a simple battle instinct or just happenstance, Uhtred felt the cold chill... and smiled.

Following in the path opened by Castor's superb attack run, Uhtred charged forward in a corkscrew maneuver. It kept locks from being maintained, forcing enemy fighters attack in screens, hoping to land hits through sheer numerical attrition of laser fire. However, in his feverish excitement, Uhtred had neglected to reroute power to his forward shields. As the volley of laser fire sprayed around Castor's fighter, several laser blasts struck Uhtred's fighter, rupturing the starfighter's frame before Uhtred could maneuver out of the way.

Regaining his bearings, Uhtred examined his system status; while his armor was torn away in the places hit, fulfilling its purpose, one of the blasts ruptured a power conduit. Even though his shields hadn't been hit, the power he could route to them now has been considerably reduced. It was as if he'd taken multiple hits to his shields anyway, only now his armor was detrimentally affected as well. And in reponse, Uhtred simply smiled.

"Nú, eru hlutirnir loksins áhugavert!", Uhtred boisterously proclaimed.

Every fight should be fought like it was your last, and of course, Uhtred would try to win any battle. But if this fight was to be his last, he would have his end be such an end that Sáldœm would welcome-him and his warrior's death in the life-beyond.

@Nefieslab @Malon

 

[Greybok]

«That guy sure likes trouble,» Greybok hooted in Shyriiwook before spinning off after White Two. Cannon fire lanced out of the Starbird and blasted apart a single starfighter, one of the tiny crafts that chased White Two.

Four fighters remained, though, and his maneuver to save White Two from more cannon fire had exposed him to them. Only one of the fighters had a clear shot, though, and it took the shot indeed. A blast of green cannon fire struck the ventral hull of the ship, causing it to rock violently for a moment; but, fortunately, the shields on the Starbird were of a heavy military-grade and the shots barely drained the shields at all.

Greybok swung the Starbird hard to starboard, so that she was completely vertical, and sliced through the enemy formation before pulling hard on the yoke to swing her around again. He then primed one of his torpedoes. It was about time to end this. @Nefieslab @Korvo

 

[Castor Chumeda Volante]

"I think it's in his blood." he answered Greybok from his own ship, "The man has violence and chaos in his blood I swear."

Not exactly the worst thing to have in someone who was flying alongside you though. He would much rather fight alongside Uhtred than to fight against him - that would be an encounter that he would dread to see he had to admit. Beserkers were hardly the best people to fight against because they tended to not even care if they lived.

Swinging his ship round as the remainder of the enemy seemed to swarm up on Greybok from behind. He angled himself right before giving himself over to the Force. He opened himself up to the Galaxy even as he gripped the controls tighter and opened fire.

Coming in screaming from the side, the enemy pilots didn't stand a chance. Two of them didn't even get chance to react before he tore them apart with his weapons - the other two tried to break away but his angle of attack meant he never lost sight of them, so he never stopped pouring on the fire and they were soon exploding as well.

And just like that it was done.

"Great work everyone." he congratulated his allies as he prepped his ship with a jump, "Let's get out of here - first two rounds will be on me."

/Exit Thread
@Korvo @Malon

 

[Uhtred Wardruna]

There was just something so unsatisfying about the build up of events, the rush of adrenaline, the fervor of battle and impeding death or glory, all of them combined until it concluded in... nothing. In spite of Uhtred's reckless charge, or perhaps because of it, virtually every other enemy fighter in the vicinity was taken down before he could hunt them himself. All that tension, that massive well of anxiety and anticipation... and in the end, unsatisfied. Perhaps it was a good day he didn't die, then. There wasn't much glory he could have claimed this day, save for shooting down an enemy already running away.

"Huh... make it three", Uhtred said, concealing his dejected demeanor.

There were more battles out there, more enemies to fight, more opponents to kill. He just needed an opportunity and a target. But for the time being? He'd settle on a drink. Or three. At least three.

/Exit Thread
@Nefieslab @Malon