Forgotten Relics Part
II:
The Dawn of the
Relics
“Great. This is just fantastic!” Colonel Yoda was incredibly furious. And when someone who looks like Yoda gets angry, it would be tough for anyone to keep a straight face. “Don’t worry. They weren’t hit too badly and they won’t be in our hair for too long. Then you can go on a break. But until the Valiant is repaired, the Vanguard and the Grey Wolf are to stay here and protect it. We can’t have New Republic fools blowing up our new ISDs, now can we?” Vice Admiral Pelleaeon said as he tried to calm Yoda out of his rant. “But I just got permission to go from Aurora…” Yoda whined. “Sorry Yoda. The choice has been made. We are staying put and so are you!” Gilad barked.
Meanwhile in the Grey Wolf mess hall, everything was as it should be. The squadron commanders and some of the other pilots were watching as Joey tried to beat Choosh in a game of sabaac. “Come on Choosh, play fair.” Joey whinged as he handed over his money. “No can do Joey. You’re the one who thought he was stupid enough to try and take my money.” Choosh grinned. Joey got up and left the room, presumably without any credits left in his pockets. “Well another satisfied customer. Anybody else want to hand me their money on a silver plate?” Choosh challenged. There were a large number of grumbles and everyone moved away form Choosh. “Come on, I’m just getting warmed up here…” Choosh called, but everyone was already gone.
A small group of pilots were finishing up their meals at the side of the mess hall. Just then Yoda joined them. “Just got word, we’re heading towards the Hyperion repair yards. Apparently, the brand new ISD Valiant is being repaired there, after a rather large skirmish with five MC-90’s” As Yoda mentioned the number of large New Republic ships, there was a short sharp intake of breath from all present. “The Valiant and its squads supposedly destroyed one of the MCs but that leaves four and the fighters from the fifth. Gilad and I are putting together a plan to help out, but those four cap ships are headed straight for the repair yards. Just thought I’d give you the heads up.” Yoda winked and left the table. There were a few low whistles and a cursing or two, but the table was mostly silent. Lieutenant Colonel Xavier finally broke the silence “I hope we get some support. We’re good, but not that good.” And with that Vlad got up and left. “Well, I’m going to send a message to Tanya and then get some sleep. You guys should do the same.” Lieutenant Commander Tsaexin murmured as he left the table. And with that the mess hall cleared like magic.
The next morning, the Grey Wolf popped out of hyperspace and moved into position to defend the Valiant. The large Imperial Star Destroyer positioned itself between the Crimson Blade and the Vanguard. The rest of the Hyperion systems defences surrounded the system entirely, ready to report any strike by the enemy, or ready to jump in and help fight.
“Good morning pilots. I hope everyone is feeling good today because we’re gonna need you in tip-top shape today” There were a few yawns but everyone agreed with Yoda. Word about the retaliation fleet got around the Wolf fast. “As you can see, we have the system locked up pretty tight. But most of our perimeter guards can’t hold their own against four MC-90s.” Yoda moved on. “We managed to time our arrival fairly well. The Valiant is fully repaired and most of its fighters are repaired as well. But there has been a complication.” Yoda dimmed the lights and activated the holoprojector in the middle of the room. It automatically brought up what the pilots were expecting, only a lot worse. “Sithspit!” someone exclaimed from the back of the room. “What you see before you is the whole New Republic fleet. It is probably designed to take and hold a large system.” Yoda pointed to the four MC-90’s in the middle; each flanked by a pair of MC-40s. Everybody was stunned by the amount of heavy firepower that was heading their way. “That’s where you people come in. Vortex Flight Two, Crusader Flight One, Valkyrie, Mantis and Wasp Squadrons, you pilots are to lead the heavy assault. Your main objective is to unload your extended payloads onto those large capital ships and get out fast. That’s where the rest of the pilots come in. The remaining fighters from the Wolf will fly cover for the bombers. The only exception will be Phoenix. The rest of the fighters from the Vanguard and Phoenix will fly into the New Republic fighter screen and clear a path for the bombers and their escorts. Do what you have to do, just get those fighters through. For this engagement we are going to test one of our new systems for your fighters. It is an ejectable one-use missile pod, fitted with a pair of mag pulse missiles. If some of you get to the capital ships, help out the bombers and kill the weapons on the cap ships. Once the capital ships have been taken out, clean up the remaining fighters. Then get back to the barn. We have tried to get a hold of any other ships, but we are pretty much on our own. I have a lot of confidence in you pilots. Suit up, you deploy in 10. Dismissed” And with that final command the pilots scrambled to the fighter bays.
“Have the fighters launched Yoda?” Gilad asked. “All squadrons have been deployed, including the fighters from the other ships. We’re as ready as we’ll ever be for these bastards.” Gilad smiled, but he knew that the success rate of this mission was somewhere between slim and none. They needed some back up, some other help. They could not do this alone, even with four ISDs. Something broke his train of thought. It was the sound of one of the many consoles on the bridge. “Vice Admiral. I’m detecting the fleet coming out of hyperspace. Here they come” Yoda went over to the comm station. The call came out through the comlinks inside the fighters. “All fighters, the fleet is here! Fighters designated for bomber-baby sitting stick to your fighters, everybody else, break and attack!”
As soon as the fleet hit realspace, the TieCorps fighters kicked it into gear and sped off towards the large capital ships. “All fighters, watch those bombers, they are crucial to the success of this mission.” The Assault Gunboats and the Missile Boats we surrounded by a myriad of Interceptors, Bombers, Defenders and Advanced TIEs. He saw a pair of Odin squadron’s Interceptors form up on his wing, and he recognised the pilots as Lenvik and Kysar Xero. “Range to optimum firing position: 10 Kilometres.” Malidir’s voice came in through Mitim’s com system. He switched his weapons over to his heavy rockets and linked them. He targeted the nearest MC-90, the Gallant. Suddenly, in front of his cockpit, Mitim saw flashes of light, green and red dancing everywhere like some weird dance party. However it was more deadly than a party. The front line of fighters had engaged each other. Mitim focused his mind on the task at hand, he knew that all of his rockets had to find a mark. The range slowly ticked down, 6 klicks, 5 klicks, 4 klicks… The missile system started locking on. The tone went flatline and the HUD box went red. Mitim pulled the trigger and saw two pairs of streaming yellow light flare off towards the large ship in front of him. But his heavy rockets weren’t alone. His targeting computer registered 30 heavy rockets heading towards the Gallant. Mitim just saw two purple flares flash past his ship and saw two mag pulses slam into the hull of the Gallant. The hull flashed purple, then died. The heavy rocket onslaught hit home, driving through hull and detonating inside the Gallant. The ship lurched and buckled and then just died. Mitim switched his computer over to the next target.
The battle seemed to go on forever, but it finally ended. Pieces of ships were strewn in many directions all around the battlefield. The ISDs hadn’t been hit too badly and not many fighters had been lost. Gilad sighed and slouched back into his command chair as the report came in the almost all the New Republic ships had been destroyed, and the fighters were mopping up the rest. “Well I’m glad that’s over Yoda, we only just beat them back. One more MC-90 full of fighters would have done us in.” Yoda sighed. “You’re right there. All our fighters report that they have no more warheads left. We couldn’t take a cap ship even if we wanted…” A console pinged. The officer stationed there gasped. “Oh no…” Gilad’s eyes flew wide open. Yoda swore. It was a second fleet of ships.
“All fighters, a second wave of ships is here, form up on the ISDs, we’re falling back, repeat, all fighters retreat!” Mitim kicked his fighter into gear, but something didn’t feel right. He saw the armada of ships jump into realspace and begin launching fighters, but it wasn’t what he expected. It was considerably smaller than the briefing’s model. Then he realised why he felt uneasy. The rest of the MC-90s and their escorts had jumped out behind the line of ISDs. A risky manoeuvre but someone good was leading this fleet. Mitim gunned his engines and rocketed towards the ISDs. They had to move fast, otherwise they would be left behind when the ISDs jumped.
Outside the bridge of the Grey Wolf, the battle was still raging strong. “How are we doing, Yoda?” Gilad barked over all of the chatter on the bridge. “Shield strength at 51 percent. Hull integrity at 92 percent.” Fighters flew hither and thither trying to destroy each other. One of the new MC-90s had been destroyed by a risky manoeuvre performed by Mantis Squadron, but the other three were inflicting serious damage on the TieCorps capital ships. An explosion, different from all the rest caught Gilad’s eye. “By the force…” Gilad cursed under his breath. There, out in the middle of the battle, was the Valiant. The ship was a burning wreck, massive holes in the hull where filled with the sight of fire, sucking out the ship’s atmosphere. The captain of the Valiant signalled to the Grey Wolf. “Gilad, our ship can’t take much more. Get your fighters to watch our back.” Yoda had already activated the comm channel. “Vortex and Crusader squads, drop what you’re doing and watch the Valiant, keep those fighters off of her.” Vlad and Commander Amber Kilick acknowledged the signal and flew to help out the Valiant. “Hopefully we can save the ship,” Gilad remarked. But the Valiant was not heading away from the battle. The ISD had gunned its engines and was heading straight for the two MC-90s. “Oh no.” Yoda opened the comm. “Admiral, what are you doing? You’ll accomplish nothing.” Yoda yelled into the comm. “Yes we will,” the Admiral replied, “We’re gonna save your hides. Gilad get your fighters out of there.” The comm flicked off. Yoda proceeded to move the fighters away. But what happened next was etched into the minds of everybody involved. The flaming Valiant, looking like a streaking comet, raced towards the two Republic ships. It took the Valiant twenty seconds to connect with the first ship. The Valiant had attained enough speed that the flaming hull split the first ship in two, and its momentum carried it onward. The Valiant contacted with the second MC-90, and was followed by a gigantic fireball so bright that, the crew on the Grey Wolf had to cower away form the viewscreen. The final MC-90 was too far behind to cause any damage on the three remaining ISDs. The Grey Wolf, the Vanguard and the Crimson Blade leapt into the blue tunnel of hyperspace.
“We did it. I don’t know how but we did it.” Yoda exclaimed as the ISDs fly through hyperspace. “We took some serious damage but nothing we can’t fix.” Gilad sighed and sunk into his chair. It had been a long day and he felt like he needed a shower. “Did we lose many fighters Yoda? Because I couldn’t handle loosing too many fighters at the moments.” “Yes sir, luckily we didn’t sustain too many losses. But…” “What Yoda?” Gilad roared. “We had to leave Valkyrie behind sir. Their ships just weren’t fast enough to keep up with us. They’re still at the shipyards.”
“Alright fighters, we have our hands full. Take your pick. We need to run, we can’t stay here, and to run, we need a path to run down. So last make our path.” Malidir’s voice came in over Mitim’s headset. He saw an E-Wing flying towards him, so he returned the favour. They were way in over their heads. And with almost half their squadron gone. Things looked grim. Mitim closed in on the E-Wing. It was gonna get hot soon, real hot…
To be continued...
The cliffhanger continues... stay tuned.
-=News=-
1) Mitim has transferred, as I mentioned before. Drinks'll be on his tab for the next week in a send off gala. Drink it up, kids.
2) It's Commendation of Loyalty time! I'm assuming we'll be hearing from the COM and WC regarding this in the next few days, and I'll be making my own recommendations from our unit soon. If you want something to add to your ID Line, try to impress me.
3) COO on leave, as he's now on his honeymoon. Yaaay Sarin.
4) Other than that, it seems to have been a quiet week...
-=Transfers=-
LCM Mitim Tsaexin - Valkyrie 3-2 --> ISD Predator
-=Promotions=-
None
-=Medals=-
None
-=IWATS Courses=-
None
-=Activity=-
COL Wes Janson: Mostly admin stuff, and RL issues. Been a busy week at work, not much progress on breaking the 2000 FCHG mark.
LCM Reelo Antaan: Reported in. Dealing with RL issues, will be back in the swing when they are resolved. Thanks, and good luck!
LCM Valin Drago: No report.
LT Matt Hone: No contact. Week 3.
CPT Kael Malahk: Reported in several times, dealing with RL at the moment. Is trying to create some works for us to enjoy. Thanks!
LCM Mitim Tsaexin: Reported in and transferred. Sorry to see you go!
LT Agrepa Hogo: Was on leave, apparently. Thanks for informing me (after you got back...). And the EH is Post-Endor, Agrepa.
-=Competitions=-
Wolfpack Back to School
Deadline: 15 September 2004
URL: http://www.ehtiecorps.org/competitions/details.asp?ID=1424
Description: The pilot who completes the most IWATS coruses in the next month will receive an IS-SR, runner up will receive an IS-BR.
FCHG Comp- For the pilot who gains the most FCHG Points in a month
CR Comp- For the pilot who gains the most CR Points in a month
Wolfpack Ace- For the pilot who earn the most Pilot of the Week awards
Trivia Comp- For the pilot who answers the most Trivia questions in a month
Graphics Comp- For the pilot who submits the best graphics in a month
Beat the COM- For the pilot who beats the COM in head-to-head MP
-Phoenix Squadron:http://www.ehnet.org/mb/viewforum.php?f=63
-Crusader Squadron: http://www.ehnet.org/mb/viewforum.php?f=17
| Colonel Wes Janson |
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