Kaine Australis
The Vegemite Enclave
Consuming Copious Coopers
Posts: 1,036 
Affiliation: Vegemite and Mandalore
Traffic Light: Green
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Post by Kaine Australis on Nov 15, 2021 1:06:15 GMT -8
The IRI light cruiser 'Bluff Knoll' was one of the new MandalArms Nynir-class ships, kitted out in IRI white hull paint, and with the IRI's golden ring logo on her hull. In orbit around the station, the cruiser angled outward to intercept the transport and her attackers.This is the IRI cruiser Bluff Knoll, we are moving to assist you, transport. Hang tight. Said Captain Freebeing from the bridge of her new command. Around her the bridge was lit red by the emergency lights of a battle alert, her command chair in the centre of the command deck, surrounded by manned bridge crew stations. The Captain spoke to her crew now, giving orders. Launch interceptors, and prepare to engage. From the belly of the slab-nosed cruiser, twelve interceptors, all Starfury-class, high speed craft with excellent agility but little in the way of defences or firepower, launched from the hangar bay as the Bluff Knoll moved away from The Oasis to engage the attackers.The Captain looked to the sensor officer for an ID on the pirate forces, and was disappointed to hear that all the computers had picked up a symbol; BBP. The systems were running a check on records to try and identify their opponents. Knowing your enemy was the first rule of war, and these pirates had just started one. A light cruiser and twelve fighters should be enough to scare off five T-wings, to Captain Freebeing's mind. She was an Anx female, whose headcrest was almost crimson with excitement at the impending battle.
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Tarfang
Member
Making stormtrooper stew...yum!
Posts: 73
Affiliation: Bespin Blood Pirates
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Tarfang on Nov 17, 2021 10:07:22 GMT -8
Continuing after the transport freighter in their V formation, the lead T-wing pilot at the centre of their group looked at the light cruiser in the distance spewing a dozen starfighter, like a hutt vomiting up bad slime. He cursed in ewok gutter-slang, opening a private channel to the rest of the group.
=Teebo=
Sorry lads, looks like dis prize is slipping out of our mitts.
=Weewok=
No worries there, boss. We'll get em next time.
=Teebo=
Grimacing That's the ting, Weewok. Ya won't. There's no outrunning them interceptors there, not in these ol'buckets. I'll need three of you to buy me and Greybush time to escape. The Cap'n's gunna wanna know about that patrol boat there and its shinies.
The channel got loud as the other three members of the pirate group began to pipe up, grumbling and complaining at the plan, obviously not overly keen to spend their lives so the other two might escape. Redtooth, named as such for his teeth that had been dyed red thanks to his large consumption of mattberry wine, spoke up for the three expendables.
=Redtooth=
Beggin your pardon, boss, but why do you and Greybush get to survive while the rest of us eats laser?
=Teebo=
Well, I'm in charge and therefore I makes the plan. Cap'n said so. He'll want a formal written report; last I checked, none of you lads could write. That sorta made sense, right?
=Redtooth=
Alright, fair, but what about Greybush then? What makes him so special?
=Teebo=
Oh, I thought it was obvious. He's got seniority.
=The Other Three Collectively=
Ah, SENORITY, of course. Seniority, should have just led with that, boss.
=Teebo=
Glad that's settled. First things first though, let's not have this cry baby here blabbing to the coppers about who we are. Cap'n would be rightly pissed if you-know-who found out he was coming for em. Scowling Thanks for flapping your gums to em, by the way, Weewok.
=Weewok=
Throws his paws up in the air. I said I was sorry, didn't I? I thoughts we were gunna shoot em.
=Teebo=
Well, nows we are for certain, lad. Targets the freighter transport.
It wasn't a nice thing, shooting down shuttles, but it came with the territory when you worked as a space pirate. Typically members of this particular group were less violent than many other pirate/criminal organizations; unfortunately for the transport in question, he knew who they were. The old spiteful Cap'n had made it quite clear he didn't want the subject of his ire to know just yet that he had returned and was coming for him, that would happen in due time as his plan unfolded. For now, secrecy was essential. Which begged the reason why they had painted the bloody acronym for the void-damned Bespin Blood Pirates on the side of their kriffin starfighters. Tis to be expected, I suppose. Ewoks and pirates both, it didn't speak much towards advanced intelligence.
In the cockpit, Teebo targeted the transport's already damaged hull with his torpedo launcher. Wrapping a fury hand around the old flight stick he used to control the starfighter, he thumbed the trigger and launched deadly ordnance of the proton variety. The torpedo streaked from the lead starfighter, sizzling through the cold void until it connected with the transport's hull and detonated, opening the transport to vacuum and causing a series of catastrophic events that caused the freighter to explode in a fiery ball of metal debris. Reaching down between his legs, Teebo grabbed the open flask waiting there and brought it to his lips. "Sorry, lad. Them's the breaks." He took a swig then upturned the flask, pouring out a measure of liquid for the lost soul he just sent to the cold vacuum. Unfortunately the liquid he had poured out ending up right on top of the navicomputer, causing a series of electric discharges and smoke to fill up the cockpit. Teebo cursed and fought with the controls, pulling out of the V formation. Right behind him to the left, Greybush took this to be the signal that they were breaking off and followed after Teebo whose T-wing was now angled in the opposite direction of the pursuing starfury interceptors.
As for the other three, they went the other way, heading straight towards the dozen quickly gaining starfighters. Their shields were shite and their laser cannons light, so they began to target with their torpedo launchers and hope for the best. As the distance closed, Weewok, Redtooth, and Yipnip fired a proton torpedo each towards the centre mass of the approaching enemy starfighter formation.
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Kaine Australis
The Vegemite Enclave
Consuming Copious Coopers
Posts: 1,036
Affiliation: Vegemite and Mandalore
Traffic Light: Green
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Post by Kaine Australis on Nov 17, 2021 23:41:36 GMT -8
The light cruiser Bluff Knoll was beginning to move away from the Oasis and close the distance to the incoming freighter that was under pirate attack when the pirates switched to torpedoes and blew the fleeing freighter to kingdom come. Captain Freebeing cursed loudly as the freighter died in a fiery explosion that lit the void for a moment before fading to an expanding debris cloud. The fighters would have to handle these buggers.Leading her squadron in was Captain Ima Flya in Caramella One. Her squadron all flew the swift and agile Starfury interceptors, and they angled in at high speed towards the pirate fighters. Thrown off their game by the pirates' switch to torpedoes, they broke late from formation, and took casualties.Break by wingpairs now! Flya called, but seconds too late as the three torpedoes detonated close-in to the fighters. She lost sight of the rest of the squadron as she hauled her craft around in a sharp turn, Two on her wing. Report! A cacophony of angry and shocked voices crackled across the comm net.Three called out his own damage and the loss of his wingman. I'm hit bad. Four is gone! Eight was next. Seven is hit. Seven! Can you hear me? Ok, he's giving me the finger, he's okay, comms must be out. Flya grimaced. Losing people hurt, but they all had a job to do. They would deal with these three, then see about chasing down the remaining two fighters that were fleeing the battle. Ion railguns blazing, the surviving interceptors of Caramella Squadron began to rake the space around them with blue blasts as they made high speed passes on the three pirate fighters.Though well out of effective range, without having the risk of hitting the freighter, the light cruiser Bluff Knoll began to open up with her turbolasers on the fleeing craft. Though a hit was unlikely at such range, the storm of fire would be less than pleasant for the fleeing pirates to fly through. Captain Freebeing was pissed at losing the rescue, and wished to punish the pirates before they escaped her wrath.
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Tarfang
Member
Making stormtrooper stew...yum!
Posts: 73
Affiliation: Bespin Blood Pirates
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Tarfang on Nov 18, 2021 11:03:33 GMT -8
Greybush jerked and jinked his T-wing as the cold void around his starfighter broiled with turbolaser fire from the Bluff Knoll. Though he was a seasoned veteran of the BBP, his reaction time slowed with the creeping advance of his many years. He dodged one blast, only to fly right into another. At that distance, some of the energy would have burned off into the vacuum. If he had been flying one of those newer starfury interceptors, with shields at full, he probably would have been able to survive. But as stated, the T-wing was not without its flaws, crappy shields included. In seconds his ship's energy barrier was overwhelmed and his hull was superheated into slag, exploding violently, though to the Bluff Knoll at that distance it probably looked more like some far off star simply winking out of existence. Before he went to the grave, one thought went through old Greybush's furry mind. But I have seniority!?
Teebo, who was hardly the pilot Greybush had been in his prime, actually faired a bit better. The smoke filling his cockpit from his short circuiting navi-computer made it impossible to see anything. Flying blind, he was relying on luck, which as we all know is far superior than any sort of Jedi witchery. Up down, left, right, spinning... That's a good move, right? ...he danced and he twirled around beams of high intensity laser, thumping his paw on the smoking computer as he went. The haywire navi-computer plotted its own course into hyperspace, and before the choking pilot could do something about it, the T-wing ramped up to lightspeed and shot across the Inner Rim, towards the planet you'd least expect, though may be pleasantly surprised to find out soon.
As for the remaining three, they were forced to break apart as blue ion blasts showered them from what felt like all sides.
=Yipnip=
I'm hit! I'm hit! He cried in panic. Oh they got me, I'm hit. I'm done for, fellas. Tell me mudder I went out bravely.
=Redtooth=
What, have you been huffing reactor coolant again? None of us is making it out of here. Just make your death count.
=Weewok=
Maybe I can escape. I think I saw Greybush get shot down. Pretty sure that means I have seniority now.
Unfortunately for Weewok his controls shorted out as his shields were overwhelmed by ion blasts, frying the electronics and setting off the reserve torpedoes armed in his starfighters launcher. His starfighter exploded, showering Yipnip's disabled T-wing with debris as he floated uselessly through space, unable to do much of anything. That left...Redtooth. Inside his cockpit, he popped the cork on a bottle of mattberry wine and imbibed, flying one handed while his other kept a firm grip on the bottle. If he was gunna go down he'd do it drinking. He started spinning, a highly successful maneuver almost as impressive as veering slightly to the left. Somehow in all the chaos he'd managed a target lock on one of the pursuing interceptors and hit the trigger, sending another torpedo on its way. At who exactly? He couldn't quite say. He then exited his spin and headed straight towards the Bluff Knoll, opening a channel to the light freighter as he ran right at it.
=Redtooth=
Transmitted to the Bluff Knoll YUB NUB!
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Kaine Australis
The Vegemite Enclave
Consuming Copious Coopers
Posts: 1,036
Affiliation: Vegemite and Mandalore
Traffic Light: Green
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Post by Kaine Australis on Nov 19, 2021 8:20:26 GMT -8
Caramella Squadron had taken losses in the fight with the T-wings, but their numbers told as much as their agility. Ima Flya in Caramella One saw that miraculously, turbolaser fire from the Bluff Knoll had taken out one of the fleeing fighters. The other one jumped away to lightspeed and escape, leaving her squadron with one dead and three damaged, including herself, that left eight of them to try a pursuit of the last surviving pirate who was making a mad run towards the Bluff Knoll.
On the light cruiser's bridge, Captain Freebeing was confused.
Yub nub? The hell does that mean?
Her XO was a Chagrian, and a well-read fellow, who never failed to offer an answer, even when he had little to no idea of what he was talking about; he was one of those people that wanted everyone else to beleive they knew everything about everything.
I believe it's an ewok swear word, Captain.
Freebeing exploded, her face darkening.
Ewok swear words? She moved to a comm.
Yub nub yourself, furry! Fire all weapons. Destroy that craft.
The crew looked at one another in surprise at the overreaction, but obeyed. The light cruiser's full weapons array came to life, with the main mass driver warming up, and gravity bombs and turbolasers now assaulting the lone fighter which had commenced an attack run on their ship.
Seeing their carrier's weapons redouble their efforts, the squadron in pursuit pulled away, not knowing what the hell the Bluff Knoll's Captain was thinking, but not wanting to be blown out of the stars by her macro weapons. Whatever that last crazy pirate was doing, they weren't going to get killed along with him.
The Bluff Knoll's computers had come up empty on their records search for "BBP". The scan, however, had tripped a codeword alert with Clan Australis Intelligence, and the datadump of the encounter had been sent to Clan headquarters at Myrkr. Once picked up by monitoring, the codeword level alert was provided to the chief of intel, who passed it on, reluctantly, to Kaine Australis.
The Old Boar read the report. It wasn't conclusive proof, as with the reports of Yuuzhan Vong activity, but he had a feeling deep in his gut about this encounter. Whatever they were up to, wherever they had set up shop; the Bespin Blood Pirates were back. That could mean his old nemesis, Captain Tarfang was also back. Kaine had put a lot of energy and time into helping set up the Inner Rim Imperium. He couldn't, wouldn't let the shabla pirates tear it apart. This was not a problem that was going to be solved by local judicials and security forces. This was going to need some personal attention.
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Tarfang
Member
Making stormtrooper stew...yum!
Posts: 73
Affiliation: Bespin Blood Pirates
Traffic Light: Blue
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Post by Tarfang on Nov 21, 2021 10:04:23 GMT -8
It wasn't entirely clear what exactly destroyed the last functional T-wing, given that an awful lot of firepower had been thrown its way. The last thing Redtooth saw was a blinding light, then nothing, and then the afterlife. The mass amount of destructive force hurled the T-wings way way enough to turn its hull into metallic vapour, not leaving so much as a granule of armour plating or a single piece of fur from its now deceased pilot. Interestingly enough, as Redtooth's body disintegrated, he had earned a new nickname. Blacktooth. On account that his teeth had been charred black before being transformed into ash that would traverse the cold vacant void for the next few trillion years.
Yipnip, whose T-wing had been disabled by the interceptors concentrated shower of ion fire, was remarkably still alive despite the pelting of debris from Weewok's exploded starfighter. However a small crack had formed in the cockpit canopy and was venting the remaining oxygen into the deep black, not that his life support system was still functional to circulate the air anyways.
=Yipnip=
"Bye, Mumma." He whispered sadly.
His eyelids drooped, growing heavy as his oxygen supply dwindled away and the cold began to set in. He began to drift off to perhaps the last sleep he'd ever know, dreaming of tree fort parties in Bright Tree Village.
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