Wild Blue Yonder

[Sannika Brynn]

FOX

VS.​

FALCO​

Today was a bad day for Rogue Three. Her little reconnaissance run in the Kamino System--deep in ASA territory--had gone a little funky.

While orbiting the oceanic planet, the young twi'lek pilot had encountered one of those pesky phenomena--a solar flare had surged out to this part of the solar system and confused her fighter's instruments. The Copycat system panicked and shut itself off to avoid destruction by EMP, thereby revealing to the home forces that Sannika's ship was not just a friendly passerby.

She had to high-tail it into the atmosphere and hide below the turbulent cloud layer in order to avoid the squadron of ASA fighters that had been launched to intercept her lone craft. From here, she would have to wait them out until they hopefully decided that, maybe, their target had been able to punch the hyperdrive in time. In the meantime, it was just her and her Alliance-commissioned Adril starfighter, Kantankerous Kill.

Over the foreboding, cobalt waters the snubfighter drifted, just keeping enough power flowing through its repulsorlifts to keep it in the air at one thousand meters. Sannika stared at her timepiece and waited for the numbers to hit 04.25 before she would dare climb back up into space. No one had found her so far...

[member="Daxton Bane"]

 

[Daxton Bane]

[member="Sannika Brynn"]

It amused Daxton to use his knowledge of the dark side to wear the visage of [member="Judah Dashiell"] as he committed various criminal and disreputable acts. Nothing gave the Sith Lord more pleasure that slowly sticking a knife into his perceived foes. Which brought him into this sectors of space with a cargo of spice to trade for illegal weapons. Not that he actually needed to sink so low to get what he want, it merely was part of how the game was played.

The outside of his Sith Interceptor as well as his ship ID labelled his craft as the Mermaid's Folly, a wistful play of words if anyone were to ask him. As he slowly eased his way into the atmosphere, powering down his engines as he eased his way to the rendezvous. Suddenly without warning his scanners picked up an unidentifed craft dead ahead. Was it a double crossor was someone trying to get a piece of the action. Reaching forward, he saw that the scanners recognized it as an Alliance craft. Damn the Jedi and their spies, time to throw a little grease on this fine and see what burns.

Throwing open a com channel, the video would show an irate human saying, "Who the hell are you?"

 

[Sannika Brynn]

Irate human: dead ahead. And he was attempting to make contact. Sannika had no idea what rules were in place about this sort of engagement, but if he was an ASA pilot, then things just got even hairier. The ship ID read as Mermaid's Folly, and did not look the least bit friendly--just like its apparent occupant, the raving, curly-haired one.

Should she respond? Refusing to respond would likely bring guns blazing from this new blip. Answering truthfully would likely initiate an alert to the forces currently scouring the orbital planes for her. Answering dishonestly? That could work. It was worth a shot when compared to the other choices on the menu. Here goes...

"This is Kantankerous Kill," she radioed back after taking a deep breath to eliminate the quiver in her voice. She elected to not use hologram mode and betray her exterior nervousness. Here comes the lie... "Lost off a convoy and waiting for a retrieval party within jump range." That was not so hard. Nailed it!

Or did she?

[member="Daxton Bane"]

 

[Daxton Bane]

[member="Sannika Brynn"]

"Roger that Kantankerous Kill. Power down your shields and I will escort you to the nearest spaceport. You will much to explain to the authorities." He smoothly lied as he closed in the gap between their two vessels. Switching on the long range jammers, the military spec device would prevent her from sending out a distress call.

As soon as he was in range he would flick on his weapons systems. Should she be foolish enough to have believed his bluff and lowered her shields this would soon be over with an explosion of metal and meat. Pressing the firing stud, his quads linked lasers spat out electric blue lances at his target.

 

[Sannika Brynn]

Sannika might be a little naive, but she was not an outright fool. She refused to allow anyone to 'escort' her anywhere, for she would surely be charged as a spy as soon as they docked. Who did this guy think he was going to trick?

Apparently her, because she was not expecting her challenger to immediately open fire. He had not even hesitated! The streaks of plasma slashed at her hovering fighter as soon as he cut of his comm signals, giving her no time to avoid the torrent of fire. His craft was distant enough to not score a kill in one go, but three of his shots still managed to hit and drain the Adril's shields. "Yo! Not cool, buddy! Not cool!"

Frantically whipping her hands into motion, pilot Brynn cut off the repulsorlifts and flicked on the burners, propelling the starfighter over the ominous, tumultuous seascape and to the starboard of Mermaid's Folly. She would need to bring her craft about to actually return fire, but for now, she just needed to avoid some hits and collect her senses. "Bad day. Bad day..."

[member="Daxton Bane"]

 

[Daxton Bane]

"Bad move slug head." He taunted to no one in particular, as he feed more power to his engines and pulled back his stick, before rolling to match his targets position using a classic displacement roll. The hum of targeting software alerted him when he was in to all firing position before he pressed the firing stud again. "Time for me to roast me a worm head." He laughed in anticipation of the kill.

[member="Sannika Brynn"]

 

[Sannika Brynn]

This battle was already getting a little too fast-paced for Sannika's liking with the enemy pilot settling in behind and drilling her ship with a few more shots. Atmospheric combat was never her strong suit, oddly enough. Zero-gravity was just easier to control and correct, in her opinion. And there were more places to dodge. Fortunately, though, Kamino was mostly an open canvas, with the exception of the deep blue sea below. She had options.

A quick jerk of her controls brought her craft pitched upwards, aimed for the dark clouds that almost perpetually encased the watery world. The Adril fighter was still holding up, but the shields were significantly drained from a couple of near-direct hits by the interceptor. She needed to get out of here before he could get any reinforcements. "Too much too soon." She did not have enough flight hours under her belt to be thrust into this sort of situation. But she would do her best. Because dying did not sound cool.

Flipping upside down just as the starfighter poked into the coulds, Sannika skimmed topsy-turvy as she doubled back. Watch this move, she thought, daring her opponent to follow.

[member="Daxton Bane"]

 

[Daxton Bane]

The problem with a Sith Interceptor was that what she gained in speed and aggression, she lost in maneuverability, especially with sudden tight turns. Daxton over shot her position as the ship before him pulled up. Adjusting to the power levels with a practiced flip of switch, he reduced power to his engines by half while reroutimg to his shields and weapons boosting their effectiveness.

Pulling up in head spinning corkscrew spin, he scanned the heavens for his target.

[member="Sannika Brynn"]

 

[Sannika Brynn]

The enemy fighter spun like a top as it ascended into the cloud layer, not too far off Kantankerous Kill's portside. Sannika's heart raced as she realized it was time to make a move or she would be on the defensive for this entire fight--until her certain demise.

Looping the craft upward and right-side-up, Sannika hoped her maneuver was timed right to intercept the Mermaid's Folly as it reached her altitude. She pulled the trigger, firing blindly ahead of her into the mists. It would be nearly impossible to tell if she had gotten a hit with the continuous lightning flashes of Kamino's persistent storms. The targeting systems were not able to lock on through all the interference either, so she was effectively firing on guesswork, crossing fingers.

[member="Daxton Bane"]

 

[Daxton Bane]

Warning pings alerted the Sith, even as his ship rocked from the hits. Looks like the slug was a good shot, something he did not expect at this point in time. Fortunately his shields had taken most of the damage, although it was now down to 60%. Hitting a tight barrel roll, he spun between where an bolt of lightning forked before disappearing into the cloud bank. Time for a good old fashioned ambush.

[member="Sannika Brynn"]

 

[Sannika Brynn]

Whether she had hit him or not, she did not know. But she had seen the flash of a fighter craft's burners for a brief moment as it ascended and then cut away, fading into the cloak of the menacing clouds. A second later, Sannika was nearly blinded by the flash of lighting--a blue jet that had come way too close for her liking.

The Rebel pilot decided to let go of the throttle and bring her Adril fighter into a gradual dive, emerging below the clouds, once more of the angry ocean. She was now easily spotted, but if her adversary wanted to come get her, he would have to make himself visible, too. Just leave, alright?

[member="Daxton Bane"]

 

[Daxton Bane]

Overhead the storm intensified, as if sensing the mood of the Sith. His advanced scanners allowed him to detect his prey just skimming over the surface. The smart move would be to do an arcing dive with guns blazing, cutting off avenues of escape and trapping her in a vise......well that would have been the smart thing to do.

But his pride had taken a licking, and nothing annoyed the Sith that someone refusing to accept defeat. No, now he would humiliate her. Setting his shields to full forward, he emerged the sky on a direct headlong collision course with her craft. Daring her to fire first, a deadly game of chicken had begun.

When they were at least 20 yards away, Daxton would press his firing triggers as he began to laugh in pure manical joy at the danger they were both in.

[member="Sannika Brynn"]

 

[Sannika Brynn]

No, no, no. She was not going to do this. Sannika had tried head-on firefights in the sims before, and they usually did not go her way. It was a bad idea, anyway, if she wanted to get home. Switching her flickering shields fully to front, two more shots ripped into her fighter, one being stopped by the shields but the other charring one of the wingtips. Not good not good not good... She was not going to stay on this course.

Rolling out of the collision line, the Rebel pilot fired off a concussion missile. She never wanted to kill anyone, but self-defense merited such actions, sadly--and there was no guarantee that the missile would hit. Sannika kind of hoped it would not, but she would honestly rather the other guy blow up instead of her, even if that did sound rather selfish. It did not appear as if the other pilot was intending on disengaging. If he dodged the missile, things might get even more intense for her.

[member="Daxton Bane"]

 

[Daxton Bane]

"Frak!" The Sith screamed in anger when he saw the other vessel fire a missile at him. At the rate and speed they were closing in one another it would be impossible to roll his ship in time. Thrusting his palm, fingers splayed outward, he channeled the Force, crushing the missile before it could hit his ship.

At the last second, the missile detonated showering his shields with shrapnel. Warning bells began ringing as his shields were fully depleted, as well as one which showed that his weapons were offline, possibly caused by an errant piece of metal that hit him earlier.

With no other way to end the fight, the Sith pulled back his flight stick and clawed his way to the sky, making his way to the cold void of space. Discretion is the better part of valor, so time for him to make to an escape.


Turning off his jammers he began broadcasting on the emergency frequency. "Mayday, mayday. This is the Mermaid's Folly. Spotted vessel Kankerous Kill in sector G 89 delivering contraband. They attacked my ship and are currently in pursuit. Mayday, mayday......"

"This is Central Command Mermaid's Folly. We are sending a patrol there hang on."

With a smile on his lips, he began his hyperspace calculations as soon as he breached the atmosphere. Kicking into hyperspace, leaving his prey behind to explain what was going on.

[member="Sannika Brynn"]

 

[Sannika Brynn]

Glancing back to see a puff of dust and a whirl of shrapnel bloom over the deep blue sea, Sannika noticed that her enemy was alive and well, but had pitched upward and seemed to be on an evasive course, flying further and further away from her and lifting into the cloud layer. That was both good and bad. She had warded him off, but it could only be a matter of minutes before the local defense pilots came streaking above the surface and towards her lone craft.

Time to bug out! They knew where she was. There was no more hope to wait them out.

Crashing into the bubbly clouds, Rogue Three throttled it and shot for the heavens. As Kantankerous Kill emerged from the layer of thunderheads, the twi'lek pilot could see the contrails of another ship as it soared for space, and watched as the flames of three other fighters plunged into the storm below. They were beneath the clouds now. She had timed her climb perfectly, as they would not be able to detect her from down there. But they would get wise and be after her soon enough.

Several minutes and some very deep breaths later, Sannika Brynn turned her head and waved to her pursuers and made a pistol-shooting gesture towards the last place she had seen Mermaid's Folly. Then she gunned the hyperdrive and was off to the distant Rebel fleet.

[member="Daxton Bane"]