SCAVENGER HUNT: Episode Six: Desperate Showdown

[max_vale]

Onboard the Light Freighter Nova Kestrel somewhere in Deep Space along the hyperlanes to the Imperial Base on Coronar


After setting a course to a good spot in the middle of nowhere along the hyperlane route to the Coronar system where the Elusive was headed and where the Imperials would most likely be able to break the captured Alliance coded files; Cal reluctantly turned control of his ship over to Kit and Vale as he headed back to the Power Core where Spilfer was hooking up the Gravity Well Projector with Jackson's supervision. Zuul and Professor Clark sat in the lounge, relaxing for the last little bit of time before the action started....

Between Spilfer's rapid-fire talk and plugging in THIS to THAT and Crodowski's more methodical and logic-following-like-a-GOOD-Engineer; Cal was able to understand how it was going to work....but he was concerned about the possible power fluctuation issues this was going to cause with his ship. The -Kestrel simply was NOT meant to operate equipment with this kind of output....but it SHOULDN'T have to power it for very long.....so, the Pilot figured it was worth the risk....

Gathering the crew in the lounge after getting the Generator hooked up, they went over the plan one final time. They'd power up the generator when the Elusive was due to pass them (in just a few minutes); they'd yank the Imperial vessel out of hyperspace, forcing it to have to make some emergency repairs to its hyperdrive, which should give them somewhere around 20-30 minutes minimum to destroy the ship. The Gozanti class Freighter had tough armor, a Twin Medium Laser Cannon Turret and a Heavy Laser Cannon Turret and would almost certainly have a quartet of TIE fighters on its underside rack. This would NOT be an easy fight....

Their own vessel had the Heavy Laser Cannon Turret that Professor Clark would be manning while Cal and Jackson would sit in the cockpit with the Forward Twin Light Laser Cannons (unlikely to be able to do much to the Elusive, but effective against the TIEs) and the Proton Torpedo Tube with 3 remaining Torps the Alliance had installed onboard before the mission started at their disposal. Also, the duo of Cal and Jackson were easily the best qualified to handle the controls for the recharged Shields and the Sensors and Comms. Kit would be standing by in the Medical Bay while Spilfer operated the Projector and Vale and Zuul 'stoody ready' to lend support to anyone who needed it. It may not have been the BEST plan....but it was the best plan they could come up with.....

After everyone took their positions, Cal called out for Spilfer that it was time and with an ominous hum that seemed to be FELT by everyone on the ship as much as heard....the Projector was activated. In the cockpit, Cal and Jackson saw that their sensors were suddenly indicating there was a planetoid where there hadn't been one a second ago.....though of course, the inky black space that filled the cockpit didn't change one bit. Down in the Gun Well, Professor Clark anxiously checked and rechecked his targeting sensors....but so far, there was nothing to shoot at. The hum continued to fill the ship and Kit felt her fur stand a bit on end and she growled a bit in annoyance in the Med Bay. In the lounge, Zuul and Vale both glanced at each other as the latter began to sweat the former felt comfort as the temperature began to rise.....

Then, everyone snapped to attention as the Cockpit view AND the various Sensors suddenly screamed at them that they were no longer alone in this quiet little corner of nowhere. An Imperial Gozanti class Transport whose ID beacons identified as the Elusive was slammed back into 'real-space' in front of them at Long Range and immediately Jackson could see on his scope that she was raising Shields, powering up weapons and the Mag-Release clamps on the TIE fighter rack was being powered up. The dance had started.....

The Elusive:

Elusive_1.png (422.79 KiB) Viewed 1452 times

[Monsieur Rose]

Zuul

The hum resonated with Zuul, filling him with a warmth he has been lacking since he entered space. It reminded him of the hot baths back home, a happy place.

The irritating sound of the sensors blaring interrupted his jacooz time, much to his disappointment. "What now?! Oh. Then it worked? Unexpected."

Zuul starts racing around the ship, offering help to anyone.

[Rex]

Kit

Kit waits and grumbles in the medical bay, listening in on the com in case she is needed.

[kipper]

"So, what should I be aiming for here?" Clark asks no-one in particular but still hoping for an answer!

[Starbeard]

Calm as ever, Vale helps in the only way he can at the moment. He slips into his mind's eye and farseeing the possibilities of the battle that might give his comrades even the slightest edge, lending them advice as he pictures them in his mind.

[ybn1197]

Jackson raises shields on the Kestrel and preps the proton torpedo for firing.

[max_vale]

Onboard the Light Freighter Nova Kestrel somewhere in Deep Space along the hyperlanes to the Imperial Base on Coronar


In a quiet section of deep space along the hyperlanes towards the Imperial Base on Coronar, a battle between the small Rebel Ghtroc Freighter Nova Kestrel carrying a jury-rigged Gravity Projector and the larger, heavily armored and armed Imperial Gozanti class Freighter Elusive and its four TIE fighters began in earnest.....

In the cockpit at the Piloting controls, Cal bored in towards the Imperial Ship, juking this way and that in an attempt to throw off the aim of the gunners on board the larger vessel while calling out to his co-pilot seated next to him; "I'm gonna try and get us in close for you to use those Proton Torps on that big mother's engines." Flipping a button on the comms, he called back to Professor Clark in the gun-well, "Look sharp Prof! We've got a flight of four TIE fighters coming our way, do your best to take care of them permanently!" The pilot never noticed the beads of sweat starting to break out on his brow as he managed to evade the first few shots fired by the Elusive's two turrets, one a Heavy Laser Turret just like the one Clark was manning on their own ship and the other a Twin Medium Laser Turret. Tak Dornan smiled for a moment as the range dropped to Medium and they were yet to be touched, but the thought that something was wrong kept nagging his brain. After a moment, he realized what it was....the humming from the Gravity Projector had not stopped, even though they had accomplished what they meant to do with it, namely ensure the Elusive was stuck here with them. "Turn that thing off Spilfer!", he called over the Intcom. The Squib's voice came back quickly; "Whatcha think I been trying to do Tall hair-less one? It don't wanna be shutting off....hmm....let me try something, you bet!" The sound of a thud and then a hiss of pain was heard immediately after before the comm line went quiet*....

Sitting next to Cal in the cockpit, Jackson ensured the Shields were up and evened out and the Proton Torpedo Tube was loaded and ready to go. He kept a close eye on the scope, watching as the range dropped to to Medium, ALMOST close enough to fire a Torp. The ship buffeted a bit as the Laser Blasts from the imperials got close, but so far they hadn't been hit. Four fast moving triangles caught his attention and he lifted his head from the computer screen to see the four TIEs detach from their Magnetic rails and accelerate towards them, beginning to fan out in the process. Jackson knew he could try to get a shot off with the Twin Light Laser Cannons mounted right above the cockpit while they were still in the weapon's arc; or he could keep his focus on the Shields and/or the Torpedo tube**.....

In the Gun Well of the Heavy Laser Cannon Turret, Professor Clark could see four smaller triangles detach from the big dot on his screen, letting the Academic turned Rebel know that the Imperial Freighter had launched the four TIE fighters and as he kept his eye on the targeting screen, he could tell they were now in Medium range of his weapon. While no one replied to his query, he remembered from their first encounter with the vessel that his weapon had a SLIGHT chance to do some damage to the big Armored ship, but it was far more likely that the serious threat to a ship that size was the Proton Torpedos they had been rigged to fire. His weapon WAS however their best defense against the TIEs**....

Zuul found himself trying to make himself useful by first moving into the Med Bay, seeing and hearing Kit rumble/roar something at him with a confused look in her eyes and after a Barabel shrug, he moved towards the Engineering section which was QUITE warm and filled with a bass hum that pleasantly resonated in his scaled while the little Squib Spilfer seemed to be doing his best to push buttons here and there and then yank out coords and a few sparks flashed here and there and then the little blue-furred alien KICKED the spherical projector, which just led to him hopping on one foot while cradling the other foot in his hands and hissing in pain......

Kitkatarra the Wookie was in Med Bay, doing her best to ignore the sudden heaves and shakes of the ship as it dodged incoming fire and the incessant humming echoing throughout the ship from the Gravity Well Projector and looked up as Zuul came into the room for a moment. Not seeing any obvious injuries, she asked if he was feeling okay before the big Reptilioid shrugged and left the room, leaving the Wookie Jedi Student wondering if maybe Zuul had a mild concussion....

Vale did his best to quiet his mind and open himself up to the Force to utilize his Farseeing again, but the sudden lurching to and fro of the ship and rising in volume humming from the Gravity Well Projector made that impossible. The young Jedi sighed and then something caused him to reach out with the Force again....he noted that Spilfer was suddenly feeling fear.....something he hadn't noticed in the Squib....or indeed in ANY of them before....


OOC: Okay, general situation for all: The Ship is now at Medium range to the Imperial Freighter Elusive and the 4 TIE fighters. Medium range is a 15 to hit (if they're not evading)......the Proton Torpedoes can only hit Targets at Short Range. Also everyone except Jackson and Kit has a Force Point.....Kit and Jackson have 2 each......just mentioning that fact.....

*Solo, I had no response from you, so I took the action of having you trying to get closer and Evade....I hope this is cool

**Jackson you have several options....you can do one or more of the following....you can fire the Twin Light Lasers that are fixed forward at the TIEs (or even at the Big Imperial Freighter if you want, but you're not likely to do much damage to THAT ship); you can try and use the Shields to "angle" to better deflect incoming fire; you can try to use the Sensors and/or Comms to jam the enemy transmissions and/or scanner scopes (the ship isn't built to do that very well, but it can be done); you can get up from your station to go somewhere else to do something, etc, etc.

***Clark, you are at Medium Range of all 4 TIEs and the Elusive; you can shoot at one ore more targets (keep in mind, shooting more than once means -1D for each shot after the first)....or wait until they are at Short Range.

Zuul you can tell that Spilfer is TRYING to do something with the Gravity Well Projector that is NOT working

[Rex]

Kit

Kit follows Zuul to see whats up.

[kipper]

Clark opens fire on the TIE fighters, targeting the closest one to us at the moment.

[Starbeard]

Vale opens his eyes and grips the back of the seat next to him. "Something's wrong, Spilfer's in trouble… I think we're all in trouble."

He rushes back to the Squib. "What's wrong? Can't you turn it off?!" Looking around, Vale realizes that the whole ship is probably doomed if they can't find a way to shut off the sphere. Thinking fast, he says, "If we can't turn it off we need to jettison it out into space. Will it fit in a torpedo tube? Maybe we can launch it at the Imperial cruiser."

[Monsieur Rose]

Zuul

The warm pleasant feeling he gets while close to the gravity well is a welcome reprieve from the harshness of space. Within a few moments, he knows something is wrong. "Thiss iss a problem. He never getss comfortable."

Zuul starts mimicking Spilfer and ripping out wires and such. When Vale arrives, he turns and shrugs. "Spilfer did it first." He starts looking for a way to move the projector.

"Maybe he should blow it up?" Zuul asks with a wide grin.

[Solo4114]

*no worries on assuming control of Cal. I'm fine with his actions*

To the extent possible, Cal will work to jam the Imperial freighter's comms, and look for weak spots while focusing on flying evasively to get within range to use the torpedoes. He tells Jackson to keep the lasers hot for those Imp fighters.

[max_vale]

Onboard the Light Freighter Nova Kestrel somewhere in Deep Space along the hyperlanes to the Imperial Base on Coronar


In the icy cold blackness of deep space, the battle between a small group of Rebels in their Light Freighter vs. an Imperial Light Cruiser and a Flight of TIE fighters raged on.....

In the cockpit, Cal Tak Dornan threw the ship this way and then that, avoiding the green hyphens of light coming their way from the Imperial Gozanti-class vessel: Elusive. At the same time he worked the controls to the Ghtroc Freighter's comms system, angling the systems to vector towards the Imperial ship and hit the 'white noise' solid beam option, hoping to disrupt the enemy vessel's own comm systems if they were trying to call for help and/or direct the incoming TIE vessels. The pilot glanced at the controls and smiled a bit as he saw that his strategy was working, the Imps were indeed jammed! They also suddenly got into short range with the enemy ship when suddenly the vessel lurched this way and that and a flashing light and signal let him know that the aft shields were down as a TIE Fighter had nailed them with a good blast.....

In the gun well, Professor Clark worked the controls for the Heavy Laser Turrent mounted on the upper hull and he angled the gun this way and that, lining up one of the four fast moving 'dots' on his sensor scope that represented the Imperial TIE fighters. Finally, one of them filled the cross hairs and he mashed down on the 'fire' buttons, sending red laser bolts lancing through the void and smashing into and through one of the TIEs, obliterating it. The Academic's happiness quickly died down as the three remaining TIEs got to within short range, split up and one of them opened up with a blast from its Twin Cannons that hit the rear of the ship and caused the whole vessel to shake and shudder.....

In the co-pilot's seat, Jackson was looking this way and that, trying to concentrate on multiple things...the sensor scopes showing the TIE fighters closing and splitting up; the Elusive's lasers turrets firing at them and lining up a shot with the Proton Torpedo tube as they got to within Short Range of the armored Imperial ship. Then they were hit by the TIE fighter and a quick glance at the Sensors told him the rear shields were down....he shook his head to concentrate on the task at hand, and took careful aim at the Imperial Ship's engines. That's when he noticed that the targeting sensor was suddenly acting screwy as the humming sound echoing throughout the entire vessel continued to grow and grow....

In the rear of the ship, Spilfer was now surrounded by Vale, Zuul and Kit, though the little Squib didn't seem to notice as he continued to yank out coords here and there, ignoring the ever louder humming coming from the now vibrating Gravity Well Projector AND the sparks that flew every which way each time he yanked out a new cord....

The little blue-furred alien suddenly paused when Vale spoke up about jettisoning the device, though he quickly shook his head in scorn when the Proton Torpedo Tube was mentioned. "Being big really does make you dense, huh? Look at THAT-", the little schnauser-faced alien says while pointing to the 6 foot tall and round sphere of the Projector......."-and a torpedoe be like.....this", he says holding his hands out to show about a meter long and half-that wide object...."No way that be fitting in a Torp Tube, you bet!"

At that point, he looks up a the hatch for boarding though, which is pretty much right above them. "THAT be working though!" and with a smile, he starts disconnecting the Projector from everything while waving a hand up towards Zuul and Kit; "Scaled one and White Fur Tower....get hairless ones in cockpit to rig up safety doors for when doing space to space transfers" (referring to the built-in 'airlock' that closes around the boarding hatch when it's opened in space) "...and we be floating this thing off the ship before it blows up or turns into a miniature black hole"......




OOC: There are 3 TIE fighters attacking the Ship, all at Short Range and the Elusive, which is right in front of the Nova Kestrel, also at Short Range (meaning the Proton Torpedoes can be fired at it). The aft Shields are down, though there ARE still Front Shields....these can be angled to the rear to protect against the TIEs (though this means the front of the ship would have no Shields against the Elusive's fire), by the Pilot or Co-Pilot.

In the Engine room area, if everyone works together, they can decouple the Projector, drop the airlock doors and open the hatch in 3 rounds. Of course, alternate ideas are welcome as well.....

[kipper]

Clark tries to ignore all distractions and continues targeting the TIEs.

[Starbeard]

Vale does exactly as suggested, and gets ready to jettison the orb out the loading hatch as quickly as he can.

[Rex]

Kit

Kit grabs hold of one side of the GWP and nods for Zuul to grab the other side.

[Monsieur Rose]

Zuul

With a big toothy grin, Zuul grips and lifts with Kit.

[max_vale]

Onboard the Light Freighter Nova Kestrel somewhere in Deep Space along the hyperlanes to the Imperial Base on Coronar


In the middle of 'nowhere' the battle between the Rebel crewed Light Freighter Nova Kestrel and a flight of TIE fighters and the Imperial vessel Elusive continued.....

In the gun-well in the Port Cargo Bay of the Nova Kestrel, Professor Clark lined up a shot with a second TIE fighter and squeezed the firing triggers for the Heavy Laser Turret down, sending hyphens of light out into the void of space until they intersected the path of the Imperial fighter craft and obliterated it. The Academic let out a snarl of savage enjoyment, but it was short-lived as the other two Imperial fighters opened fire and while one missed, the other managed a solid hit that shook the Light Freighter hard and caused half the interior lights to go out or dim significantly.....

Near the Engines, the now crowded space had Vale, Kit, Zuul and little Spilfer all around the ominously humming and very warm Gravity Well Projector and as the two large aliens managed to lift the spherical device up with a massive heave, Vale and Spilfer managed to de-couple all of the remaining attached wires and coords before both the human and the little Squib were sent reeling to the floor from the laser blast hit. The larger and stronger Wookie and Barable both stumbled, but both managed to somehow keep themselves upright and holding the heavy Gravity Well Projector. Scrambling up and out of the way, Spilfer yelled out to Vale; "Strange one with big Blue Light Cutting tool...hit that open air-lock button!".....

In the cockpit of the Rebel Craft, Cal Tak Dornan managed to evade fire from one of the TIE fighters and one of the Elusive's laser turrets, but the second Turret and the second TIE both managed to land hits that shook and rattled the Ghtroc fighter....which was enough to ruin Jackson Crodowski's shot with the Proton Torpedo Launcher that sent a yellowish-glowing missile into space, narrowly missing the large Imperial Armored Transport. A quick look at the status boards showed that all the Shields were out and also that the Sublight Engines were now down about 20 percent of their power flow....the Nova Kestrel would now be a bit slower and more sluggish to respond to the controls....not too mention they probably couldn't take many more hits before they'd be nothing more than space junk. If that wasn't enough, the sensors and scanners were suddenly jumping all over the place with readings that made no sense as if a stellar body was literally 'growing' right next to the ship.....


OOC: Okay the situation now is that there are 2 TIEs left, at short range....the Elusive is at short range as well.....the Nova Kestrel has all Shields down and is Lightly Damaged in the Sublight Engines and has 2 Proton Torps left.

[Starbeard]

"Spilfer, you read my mind!" Vale says as he leaps forward with every ounce of urgency he has to slap the airlock button.

OOC: if we get hit again and he has to make a moderate or harder roll to reach the button while getting knocked about, he'll use his Force point to try to reach the button and save the ship.

[Rex]

Kit

Once open Kit heaves with all her might.

OOC: She will spend a force point if needed as well.