SHANTIPOLE: Episode IV: Running the Gauntlet

[GreyWolfVT]

Gavin not entirely sure how to take the Frigate down from his station just thinks logically and aims at the power relay conduits or the engines and fires away. Hoping the force will by some act of luck let his shots break through the shields of the Frigate and blast a hole in their engines. So that the forces of good and get away.

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn swings the fighter into action; while the calmness is still permeating him, he flies evasively, working to get a lock on the power relay conduits with his proton torpedos.

[crazy ski 1701]

A raspy voice comes over the com net, the tone of someone obviously in command. As Jackson listens, he cups the mic boom with his fingers to muffle it, turning to Farak, whispering, "who is this?"

The transmission ends, and Jackson shares a nod of understanding with his new crew mates. he keys the com, "escape flight copies."

glancing at the sensor scope, Jackson opens the com again, low power, directional. "shuttle to freighter, if you can't get your shields back up, tuck in nice and tight behind us, ill use our shields to protect us both."

Descending to put some team building skills into practice, Jackson offers suggestions, not commands.
"storm... if you can't penetrate the relays themselves, try shooting at the anti fighter guns. even if you don't damage them, your blasts might cloud the sensor screens or blind the optics." (OOC, not even sure that would work in the game macanics, but it sounds cool! )

"Farak, please keep working your evasion magic, and ill angle the shields best i can till we get into firing range. I think we should each work a gun, as the target is Huge, but tough. Though if you aren't confident in your gunnerys skills Farak, then transfer the forward guns to my station please."

( ooc, to clarify, i'll be doing nothing but shields this turn, unless we are already in range, then ill split shields and guns. Farak should evade till in range, if in range now, i think he should concentrate on gunnery with the forward guns. on playing the numbers, its better to not evade with the standard difficulty and scale difference, then a partial evade. )

[kipper]

"Thanks," Clark comments to Zinn.

After Akbar's message: "So, anyone want to tell me what the power relay whatchamathingies look like so I know where to aim?" Clark rumbles.

[GreyWolfVT]

I forgot to mention Gavin is still making his shooting sounds for no really known reason.

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn replies over a tight-beam comm. "No sweat. As for the power relay conduits, my targeting computer is getting a lock on them now. When they do, I'll send my telemetry, and you can just home in on that."

[crazy ski 1701]

"they are the electromagnetic coils wrapped in super cool fluid between the #1 and #2 primary and secondary...." Jackson starts to explain over his shoulder... but then sees the blank look on Storms face...

"the big twisted pipes by the engine nozzles... just shoot at what we're shooting at!" he snaps.

[max_vale]

The rag-tag squadron of a prototype Star Fighter, a modified assault-landing Shuttle and a souped-up Light Freighter made their way through the edge of the Roche Asteroid field; watching as a couple of Turbolaser blasts smashed into Asteroids or narrowly missed the small craft as they maneuvered to get behind the Imperial Capital ship doing the firing.

Breaking free from the asteroids and darting in towards the rear of the Frigate; the Rebel craft begin their attack; the size of the vessel giving all of them a bit of pause and an increase in sweat, blood-pressure and stomach butterflies...




Taking a deep breath; Zinn Valimar bravely points the B-Wing at the power conduit relays running between the thruster ports and fires up the engine; accelerating the lumbering fighter to its top-speed and using his targeting computer to set up a shot for his Proton Torpedoes while yelling out for the others to open fire to get the Shields down as fast as they can. He fires a Torpedo as he does so and watches it streak out and slam into the invisible shields of the Imperial warship; and with a quick glance at his sensor scope; he can tell the Shields have been weakened; but are still quite strong. He then yanks the stick over hard and manages to just barely avoid getting drilled by a Turbolaser Bolt; but he cannot avoid one of the Anti-Starfighter laser turrets and he curses as the last of his Fighter's Shields are drained by the hit....

With broad, herky-jerky motions, Borsk La'Reth SOMEWHAT manages to keep the Out Runner on the far side of the Imperial Shuttle holding Gavin, Jackson, Farak, Suskafoo and co.; and he even manages to 'raise' the ship 'above' the Shuttle to give Clark some room to fire the Turret at the Imperial Ship. Clark isn't sure if his shots would have hit the Power relay conduits or not as they are deflected by the Capital Ship's Shields, but the Shields ARE slightly weakened from his efforts. He also can't help but flinch as a Laser Bolt from the second of the Nebulon-B's anti-starfighter lasers narrowly misses the Out Runner and the Professor sends a quick prayer to the stars that the Bothan's 'learning-to-fly-on-the-fly' continues to keep them alive...

Farak 'Mister Calamari' turns the Shuttle to face the rear engines of the Frigate and he opens up with a quad blast from the four fire-linked laser cannons fixed forward on the Shuttle and is happy to relate that while they were Deflected from the Imperial escort-vessel's shields; those same Shields had been reduce to less than Half-Strength. They were reduced even more as Gavin Storm; inexplicably yelling out 'laser blast' noises; rained shots from one of the Top Turrets into the Shields as well. However, all happiness was instantly turned to fear and concern as the entire Shuttle suddenly rocked violently when a Turbolaser Bolt slammed into it.

Jackson had been watching the scopes and watching the Shield controls and he just KNEW the enemy was going to target them with one of the Turbolasers. Concentrating intently, he timed it just right and managed to angle the Deflector screens JUST right; but unlike with Fighter scale weaponry; the massive power of the Turbolaser was STILL powerful enough to rock and rattle the Shuttle and reduce the Shield Strength by half....but on the other hand; they almost CERTAINLY would have become crippled or destroyed if he hadn't done what he just did when he did it*....



*Shuttle's Shields are down to 1D+2; I made a great Shields roll for you and normally this only lowers Shields a pip vice a Die; but with the difference in scale; I'm going to say that Turbolasers either auto-drain a Shield (if no angling is attempted) or lower by 1D if an Angle roll works.

[crazy ski 1701]

with a sudden sensation of pain, Jackson realised he had been clenching his teeth as the green turbo-laser fire had come up to greet them. with a soft gasp he forced himself to open his jaw, before he grounded his molers flat.

a nervous smile spread across his face as he glanced across the statis board, he HAD, angled the shields correctly. then the smile faded as he saw that the raw power of the capital ship cannon still drained the shoulds by more than a third.

"ok,, we can take, one, maybe two more hits like that, even if i angle the shields correctly." he calls out in a warning. "soooo, i'll be focusing on thaaaat" he sad in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"i say keep the fire up, so we can pop those shields as soon as possible so that fighter can use its torpedoes to do damage to the real target. storm, any way you can shoot both turrets from your station?"

(OOC, getting a -1d for both shots, but you still have a +4d because of size)

[GreyWolfVT]

Gavin "Continuing to fire. Over." acting all official and serious over the comm. then back to firing like hell at the imperial ship praying that they manage to survive this. Still making sounds like blasters shooting and at one point someone swears they heard him say "Game over!." in a deeper than normal tone.

[kipper]

Clark continues to blast the frigate's shields every chance he gets.

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn curses under his breath as he takes the fighter through a series of loops and twirls, dodging any fire that might be coming from the frigate as he gets ready to line up for another strafing run. "That's it, boys! Keep hammering their shields; my torps can't get through 'em, but once they're down, I ought to be able to do some serious damage. We HAVE to buy enough time for the others to get outta here."

((OOC: Is the B-wing's shield generator fried, or does it simply have to build up enough energy to reestablish shields on the fighter?))

[max_vale]

The battle in space continues to rage as the 3 Rebel craft zigged and zagged across the aft end of the Imperial Nebulon-B Frigate and laser fire criss-crossed in both directions as they fired upon each other....

Borsk and Clark weaved the Out Runner 'up above' the captured Shuttle they were using as cover and the good Professor put a well-placed blast from the twin laser turret and managed to sap the strength of the Capital vessel's shields a bit more; but in return, one of the Anti-Fighter laser cannon managed to tag the Light Freighter with a bolt that caused the vessel to shake violently for a moment and to lurch a bit wildly out of control before Borsk La'Reth managed to wrest some semblance of control over its course again...*

The crew on the procured Imperial Shuttle experience a bit of good luck/bad luck in a handful of seconds as Gavin Storm opens up with a pair of blasts from one of the turrets while making 'pew pew' sounds the whole time and smiles as he watches the readout of the Frigate's shields lower to a third of full strength. However, he then experiences a moment of panic as Jackson lets out an expletive as he realizes he's not going to be able to angle the Shields correctly for the next Turbolaser blast from the Frigate and a long moment of dread seems to over take the crew of the Shuttle. Farak had apparently made a predictable evasive move and the next Turbolaser blast caught the Shuttle square and blew off part of the starboard 'wing' and the power flickered for a moment throughout the vessel, the lights flicking on and off and everyone barely managing to stay in their seats. After a long moment, Jackson was able to check the readouts and he could quickly tell that the Shuttle had suffered serious damage and that the Shield generators were off-line and there was no-more energy field protecting their ship. Another hit like that would probably be the end of the Shuttle and everyone on board**....

Zinn Valimar in the B-Wing, managed to just barely maneuver the sluggish B-Wing out of the path of the Turbolaser bolt that came his way; but was unable to avoid the Anti-Fighter laser blast that was fired at him. Luckily for him; the laser did little more than graze his port S-foil and strip off some surface paint and material. His Fire-Control computer was blinking and beeping to get his attention as he realized he had a solid lock on the Power Conduits and a quick look at his scope showed that the Frigate's shields were down to a third of their full strength. His Proton Torpedoes were far and away the best weapon to take down those shields and do enough damage to get through the thick armor protecting the Conduits...

*The Out Runner has suffered Light Damage; it is at -1D for all associated Ship Codes; which in this case, pretty much means the Ship isn't giving any bonuses for anything (i.e. Fire Control, Maneuverability, etc.). It's pretty much just Character's Skills now

**The Shuttle has suffered Serious Damage....it's basically just barely moving and in addition the Special Damage resulted in the Shield Generators have been knocked off-line. The Shuttle is now Shield-less and as per above; no more bonuses for Fire Control or Maneuverability codes, etc. Down to Character Skill only

[GreyWolfVT]

Gavin fires at the imperial ship three more times from his turret. "Best hightail it outta here if we can, that or pray." using my last force point.

[Jedi Skyler]

Zinn's eyes narrow as his targeting computer locks on to his target. Reaching again for that calm he'd felt during his last attack run, he starts firing proton torpedoes at the power conduit relays on the fighter-killing frigate...

((OOC: Spending that last Force point; if there's time, Zinn will empty the whole magazine into those power conduit relays. This ship HAS to go down, and NOW.))

[max_vale]

OOC: With a Gunnery Skill of 4D (MECH Attribute rating); reduced to 3D due to being Wounded; +2D for the Fire Control with Targeting system on, +1D for the Aiming last round and +3D for a Force Point; this totals 9D. You can fire a maximum of 9 of the remaining 11 torpedoes; with 1D spent on each attack roll.

However, the Difficulty in hitting the conduit is 15 vice the 5 needed to just hit the Shields/Ship. WIth this in mind; I'd recommend something like; Evasion plus 3 torps (giving 5D for each roll) or Evasion plus 4 torps (giving 4D for each roll). The Evasion because with the Imperials gaining +1D to hit you for the Targeting System and with you having no more Shields; I think I'd prefer a roll over the default 10 Difficulty number; and firing 3 or 4 torps tops to give good odds of hitting with most or all of them. However, this is most definitely your call. I'm just laying out the mechanics of the rolls I'll be making. Keep in mind that Gavin and Clark are spending their Force Points this round as well (per Greywolf's earlier reply and Kipper's message in the OOC thread). So what's your call amigo?

[crazy ski 1701]

With the adrenaline pumping, Jackson doesn't realise he's yelling, "shields breached, JINK, JINK!" his eyes scroll across the panels. "Shields are, Gone, fire control is, Gone, primary attitude control is, Gone, that new shuttle smell isssss, Gone.... and Someone get that Fire out!" he finishes by yelling over his shoulder into the cargo area.

he flips up the controls for the other turret. ( you said firing the forward guns from the aft station while in full evasion was a auto miss, right? ) he calls upon every scrap of luck and good dead he ever did, and flipped the weapon select to rapid fire, and pressed the firing studs hard.
(uses force point, fires 6 times. Gunnery skill of 5D, +4D for force point, right? -1D for ever shot after the 1st. )

[max_vale]

OOC: +3D for the Force Point and yes, if Farak is Full Evading (which he most definitely IS); the forward guns are useless, so the Turret will be needed. Shooting 6 times will net you a final Dice roll of 3D for each shot....difficulty 5 to just hit the Shields/Ship; 15 to hit the Conduit.

[Jedi Skyler]

No worries; thanks for spelling it out more clearly. I'll go with the evade and 3 torps.

[max_vale]

The battle in space suddenly increased in tempo dramatically as a firestorm of laser bolts suddenly poured out of the 3 Rebel craft....

First, Clark opened up with a pair of blasts from the Out Runner's twin laser turret, weakening the remaining shields of the Imperial Frigate to a bare minimum of protective energy; though Clark's smile faded when the return blast from the anti-fighter Laser Turret winged the Rebel craft in reply despite La'Reth frantic evasive maneuvers. Luckily for the two of them; the laser blast did little more than score a deep burn line across the starboard wing; leaving the craft in its lightly damaged state...

Farak threw the badly damaged Imperial Shuttle into a series of rapid up-down-side-to-side-to-DOWN maneuvers that threw off the Imperial gunners' aim; as well as almost causing the numerous passengers on board to lose control of their bodily functions. They served their purpose however as the Turbolaser blast that had been fired at them missed its mark. In reply; Gavin and Jackson cut loose no fewer than NINE laser shots at the Frigate, with all but one of them finding their mark. The Imperial Frigate's shields were completely drained and several of the shots impacted the hull of the Capital ship; doing little more than causing some carbon scoring on the outer hull; with the exception of one blast that put a crack in the power conduits they had been told by Ackbar to aim for....

Zinn slowly shifted the B-Wing's frame in a clockwise motion all around the gyroscopic stabilized cockpit while lining up his shot and was therefore jarred a bit when the laser blast from the Anti-Fighter turret completely severed the Port S-foil from the main body of his prototype fighter and the resulting jolt caused the first Proton Torpedo he fired to sail off into space, well away from the Imperial vessel. With a snarl, he quickly brought his damaged fighter back on target and fired two more torpedoes that streaked towards the ship in an unerring arc that had them impact the cracked conduit one right after the other. The resulting explosions shattered the casing and caused electric-blue sparks to dance all along the Frigate's Engine housing. With a visible shudder; the massive Capital Ship's lights dim and the vessel begins to drift in a straight line as the engine thrusters all go-out momentarily.

A few seconds later; the back-up power generators begin to kick on; and some of the lights begin to return; but the guns of the ship are silent; as are its engines. The Verpine fleet takes the opportunity to flee for open-space and begin to power up their hyperdrive engines. Ackbar's voice comes over the the comm units of all three Rebel ships and he states; "Nice shooting Strike Team! We all owe you our lives. Now please come dock in the hangar bay and we'll get out of here before the rest of the Imperial Blockade ships get here!"

The Rebel craft touch down in the hangar bay of the largest Verpine Transport; the badly damaged Shuttle and lightly damaged B-Wing prototype doing so very gracefully; the Out Runner...not so much....

However, as the Rebel craft are pulling into the Hangar Bay, another voice fills their comm units, a cold voice full of rage. "Savor your victory while you may Rebel scum. Remember the name Commander Bane Nothos for one day I shall find you and make you all pay DEARLY for what you've done". If there's more; you don't hear it; for as soon as you have all touched down; the transport leaps into hyperspace....