Space Conquerors

[Drace Solus]

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Atmosphere over Kessel, 300 km up
???? Local Time​

It was a damn ugly planet, even from orbit. Drace couldn't help but look at Kessel, laid out before them in all its (lack of) splendor. His badger was in his lap and clearly couldn't care less for the view, not that Drace could blame her. He petted Dinii absent-mindedly, hands off the controls of his MM9 Ficus, its thrusters off. It was standard issue and only given to him for the mission, really, since piloting had never been his passion. They'd been staking out for the better part of an hour now, and had turned the engines off as soon as they'd stopped, to preserve fuel and ensure maximum stealth.

They didn't get a view like this at home. Mandalore and Concord Dawn, were beautiful, and uncorrupted by the Imperial war machine—or so it seemed from orbit. He was all too used to the harsh reality, but it was easy to pretend Mandalore hadn't suffered for centuries when looking at its lush landscape from the comfort of a ship.

Off in the distance, a vessel slowly exited the orbit, and Drace spoke for the first time in about an hour.

"Target spotted. Prepare to engage."

Drace snapped out of his sight-seeing session and turned the thrusters on. The Mandalorian ensured all systems were online before nudging Dinii. She rose off his lap and maneuevered through the cramped space, laying herself down in a small compartment at his side. It had been meant to be used for belongings, but Drace didn't have many, and Dinii claimed it first either way.

He began cruising, hands on the controls. "Engaging target."

It had been about a day since the HoloNet system had crashed, and it showed no sign of improvement. Drace had been there yesterday, at ground zero, inciting riots to ensure there would be no changes anytime soon.

The ship lurched forward, pressing him into his seat and earning a grumble from Dinii. Drace had strapped in at the last moment, not that the damage would have been too grave if he hadn't; even in the starfighter, he was in full beskar'gam—nothing could hurt him. Kad Ha'rangir watched over his warriors.

After a quick look to Koil's ship in the distance, he fired the first shot, the vessel about 400 meters away. The bolt whizzed through empty space, then hit the ship, being dissipated by its shield.

Show time.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

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THEME​

Space was dark and cold. It was harsh, unforgiving and simple. Inside his personal ship, Koil's Klaw as it had been dubbed, was moving far slower than it needed to. He was essentially trotting a champion race horse. But he was fine for the time being until they made contact with the enemy. The quietness of the void soothed him. It was morbid and only a few centimeters separated him from death. Koil flew one of the fastest ships in the galaxy because he needed that rush and superiority. He not only wanted to be strong, but stronger than his enemies. Today those enemies were smugglers moving coaxium for the Empire.

Drace's voice came in over the closed ship to ship communication. Koil nodded in his personal Beviinir armor. It was better suited for space combat than his normal beskar'gam. No point in having scatterweave covered plates when inside the confines of a cockpit. The Al'Verde responded in mando'a as well. <"Roger, moving."> He replied.

Engaging his engines to maximum thrust he felt his body press into the seat of the starfighter. At the moment he could move a full thirty five MGLT faster than Drace's ship and would come into range of the smugglers far sooner than his wing mate's. One of the perks of having a starfighter that was essentially worth the price of a corvette he supposed. His ground sweep light cannon descended from the undercarriage of the high performance ship. The moment they were in range he began firing.

@vamp​

 

[Drace Solus]

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Koil had a rather fancy ship, but at least it was equipped for combat. Drace's stock starfighter—which he'd probably give back after the mission—was good enough for him. So long as it had thrusters and a gun, he was happy enough. Kriff, this one even had missiles. Between Koil and Drace, they'd probably destroy the enemy ship rather quickly.

Within the smuggler ship, pandemonium had broken out, each of them running to their position in various stages of dress. Twi'lek dancers had accompanied them off planet, and the men hadn't expected opposition this early on—good. The sooner they could take out the ship and fly back home, the better.

Still, even as they rushed to their station, the smuggler captain was barking orders into the comms. He called for the pilots, who were already getting suited up. The ship Drace and Koil were attacking was a Balaen-class heavy freighter, and it was unique in the sense that it allowed other ships to dock on it, a trivial fact that was very unfortunate for the two Mandalorians.

Two RX-3 Starfighters took off, barreling directly toward the Mandalorians. Koil was their main target, on account of his fancy ship and the fact that he was the closest, which gave Drace some time to maneuver and provide backup.

He flew until he was about 75 meters away, a relatively safe distance, and then fired onto one of the starfighters. The shots whizzed past the moving vehicle, except for one, which clipped it in the wing, not doing too much damage. The fighter returned fire, nearly hitting Drace—he lifted the joystick and flew up until he had done a loop, the bolts whizzing over his head.

Hopefully, Koil was having better luck.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

____________

When Koil would look back on this engagement there would be parts he would ignore, trivial details that were unimportant to the immediate danger. The droid brain built inside the custom Bitol IRV-15 had a data stream on one screen giving him constant updates even in the moments before they engaged the enemy. There were things that the Echani would remember precisely and even comment on in the inevitable debriefing. But now there was no time for retrospection. There was barely enough time to avoid getting shot when he was hurtling at break neck speeds towards and enemy that was also opening fire on him.

Flying in a dark ship had its perks. It limited the ability for people to spot him with the naked eye. However most ships did not use just visible spectrum to locate a target and lock on. A stream of shots began shooting past him but got closer as they were dragging into his line of movement. Hauling on the control's he moved upwards slightly, rolling before returning to the same level as before. this manuever had him pass the medium laser cannon fire the RX/3 starfighers were using.

The mandalorian pilot did not stop firing his light laser cannon as he made this maneuver. His own evasive manuevers made it difficult to have any consistent firing on the craft. Both his own speed and the enemy starfighter speed moving towards one another made them nearly miss one another but the ground sweeper light laser cannon had better tracking as a turret and faster rotation speed. He only landed two shots on the wing of one enemy starfighter before they shot passed one another.

It made sense for the enemy to have a starfighter compliment. The models they were using were better than the RX/5 that had hyperdrives of their own. That would have been redundant and the medium laser cannons the RX/3s had were more suited for dog fight. That meant that Drace's starfighter was the slowest but also the only one with any shields.

@vamp​

 

[Drace Solus]

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Drace had picked this starfighter for a reason. Slow as it was, clunky as it was, it had shields. And it was a hell of a lot easier to shoot someone that was shooting you if their bolts didn't affect you, but yours hurt them.

The ship that was in front of him had begun to turn, so the Mandalorian tailed it, trying to remain behind it and avoid being shot at again. He fired on it as he flew, his bolts missing except for about 2, which hit it in one of the thrusters and it's right wing, which had been struck earlier. It was hard to tell from the distance, but the durasteel was slowly succumbing to the shots.

Drace, feeling confident, fired a missile, aiming it toward the ship's center mass. Best case scenario, it would hit the thrusters and blow the entire craft up. The Mandalorian got something sort of in the middle; the missile hit the left wing at the base. A small explosion ensued, ripping the wing off and causing the craft to start flying awry. The cockpit had almost been breached too, the glass cracked and nearly shattered.

He started firing bolts again, aiming to shatter it and take the ship out of the fight before the freighter got away.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

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It was hard to tell speed when there was nothing to relate it too nearby. The planet was too far and the stars remained where they were. But the two enemy ships moving against them were moving in opposing directions almost doubling the speed in which they appeared.

People tried turning at full speed but that was never an effecient manuever. The trick was actually to slow down on the turn to get a better course correction. The Klaw did just that with his guidance. The turret on Koil's ship had three hundred and sixty degree shooting capability and was able to track the enemy the whole time through the turn. By the time he came out of the turn he had sent a flurry of shots at the tail of the star fighter he had nicked earlier. They were still trying to draw a bead on him though. Their forward facing weapons were limited compared to his even if they did more damage. It did not matter how hard they hit if they could not land a shot.

There would be no chance for his target to escape the light laser cannon shots. Their hits striking the feusalage and causing it to explode. Near the explosion came a second one from the one Drace had been targeting. He smiled and called over to his fellow clan mate. <"If you're finished let's move to the big fish. Use any torpedos you have left the moment its in range. Keep in mind its loaded with coaxium." The day would not end well if they managed to destroy the smuggler's shipment but themselves along with it.

@vamp​

 

[Drace Solus]

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Drace's shots hit home, blowing up the glass and finishing off what was left of the thrusters, causing a satisfying explosion.

"Roger that," he replied to Koil, steering his ship toward the freighter. Once in range, he shot one of the missiles—it hit the side of the freighter and clearly knocked something important, because the ship's speed considerably decreased. Good. Koil would find it much easier to land attacks that way.

Letting loose a volley of light cannon fire, he preserved his last missile. His bolts sprayed the side of the freighter, denting the metal, and shattered a window—likely the one to the kitchen, judging by the pots and pans that were sucked out. Koil could probably finish the ship off, but if there were any problems, Drace would use his missile.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

____________

Koil had studdied up on this misssion. He knew what kind of ship they were up against and its armaments. It was far from an easy kill. While it lacked the speed and manueverability of many light freighters it also knew that sometimes it was a slow target with sharp claws that was more dangerous than a fast one with dull horns. The ship had light laser cannon turret on its keel, capable of shooting anything in its lower arc of fire. On the top it had a heavy laser cannon turret. While more damaging it had a slower rate of fire and tracked slower. Either way Koil's Klaw had no shields at this point in time and risked either side. But he had speed as his ally.

Opting for attacking the dorsal side of the ship he fired his light laser cannon in time with Drace's shots. It looked like a military craft, one the Empire may have produced but the smugglers on board only had a medium shield array, one that he was targeting. The ship was as good as stationary even before Drace hampered its thrusters. With their combined laser cannon fire there were no shields to speak of left and numerous tears.

The two of them were still quite close though. "fire your last missile on it. Don't be close when it blows. It's full of coaxium remember." He said and zig zagged his ship as heavy laser cannon fire continued to occupy the space where his ship had been moments earlier. He had his droid recording the whole dog fight during this and would hold onto it for later analysis later. But for now they needed to take the smuggler ship once and for all, and not just hanging in the depths of the mealstrom.

@vamp​

 

[Drace Solus]

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Drace was aware of his shields, and he resolved to make things easier for the other Mandalorians by tanking any damage. After the turret fired at Koil, Drace sped forward, directly toward the freighter. He let loose his final missile, and it struck the thrusters full on. At first, nothing happened. The turret sent a bolt flying toward the Mandalorian's starfighter, but he spiraled, barely avoiding it.

Then, the damage from the thrusters seemed to cause them to overheat, because the freighter exploded in a brutal chain reaction. Shrapnel was sent flying in every direction, though Drace avoided it with the skill of an intermediate pilot, then slowed down as the coast was clear.

"That was fun," he said. "I still prefer ground combat though." Hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Then again, it was hard to teach anyone to pilot. Only someone with experience could actually enjoy putting their life on the line to unknown factors. You could analyze and debrief and plan as much as you want, but once in the ship, there's too much that could go wrong to properly predict much.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

____________

Koil had a hail of shots tracing after him. He was focused simply on avoiding getting hit at this point. It was not too difficult, he probably could have returned fire on the large freighter but he did not want to risk it. The droid brain inside the Bitol made a comment in droid-speak on the readout in reaction to something. Then the incoming laser fire ceased. Koil banked and saw the eventual explosion as the ship's insides burst and then the reaction of the coaxium. The man's eyes squinted a little at the brightness but his ship's cockpit polarized slightly.

"Good job. Let's get out of here." He said in response to Drace's comment. They did not need to linger when there was still possible imperial forces around. They were meant to meet the smuggler ships anyways. Angling his ship back towards the path through the maelstrom they would head back out into open space in a few minutes and be as good as gone with their enemy's forces non the wiser.

♠End Thread♠​

@vamp​