Space Race

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden paced across the floor of the meeting room, finally turning to face the rest of the Inferno Squad. He surveyed their faces, a quiet array of confidence and power. They had come to terms with their new positions in the Empire, they felt secure in their abilities. Good. It was time to push things further. Rhoden stepped forward and took his seat. Reaching out he pressed several buttons and a holographic image of a deep space station appeared above the table.

“This is a Rebel outpost located in deep space along the Imperial border. It is within striking distance of several notable targets. As such it must be destroyed.” Rhoden said, “There have been several reconnaissance runs over the past week and it appears the station remains largely isolated from the rest of the Rebellion--no major traffic comes in. It also appears that several small vessels are under construction at the station.” Rhoden manipulated the controls and ten fighters appeared. Three Y-Wings, two X-Wings, two antiquated but no less deadly ARC-170s, and one slender, beat down, old freighter. It had been an interesting if not directly dangerous endeavor in getting the ships--heaps of junk though they were.

“The Y-Wing’s will engage the station, targeting their primary hangar, the shields, and the communications array.” Rhoden said, “It is imperative that the communications and shields go down for this attack to succeed.” Rhoden looked around at them. “The freighter--which I’ll be flying--is going to be loaded with high explosives, once the shields and communications are down I’ll set the freighter on autopilot into where the ships being constructed are docked.” Rhoden wet his lips, “Once the targets are down and the freighter hits the target the rest of you will set collision courses before bailing out too, we’ll blow into the station through the viewports.” Rhoden stood now, straightening his uniform as he did so, “Now, once we’re inside the goal is to disable the weapons and--if possible--compromise the main reactor system. Once that’s done the Hydra can jump in and take care of whatever’s left.” Their confidence did not waiver, they knew they could complete the mission, as did Rhoden. “The Phantoms will be nearby--cloaked--in the event that something goes wrong. That is all, I suggest you get a good meal and enough rest to be going on with. Dismissed.”

Rhoden woke up the next morning, ate a quick and utterly unhealthy breakfast, and boarded the Hydra. “Everyone’s aboard, ma’am.” one of the bridge crew said, turning to Lieutenant Commander Mercado. “Very good, take us out. Set course.”

[Neive Undant]

Neive walked across the catwalk of one of the subunits of the maintenance section, looking out at the infinite space that was held just a pane of glass away. He always hated being in these situations, he thought. Isolated, barely any reinforcements available, and no nearby bases to give long-term communication to any of his major allies. However, it did have its perks. And that included the easy spotting of enemy crafts. This base may not be protected, he thought, but it was an easy task to spot if it was under attack. No ships to enter in or out without scheduling, and the substation weapons could easily take out any attacks on the base. Neive shook his head, walking up towards one of the batteries, looking at the cannon before looking out again. "I dont like this... " Neive looked to the weapons manager, pulling him aside. "We need a quick walkthrough of all weapon positions. Being out here without support, we need to be able to protect ourselves." The rodian nodded and looked at his datapad, walking through and quickly inspecting the cannons as Neive thought to himself, gazing out at the unknown expanse.

[Rhoden Carbine]

The Hydra dropped out of hyperspace in the middle of nowhere, out of sensor range but within easy jumping distance of the station. The phantom’s launched and were off before the rest of Inferno Squad were in the hangar. Rhoden walked up to the freighter, Jorvan--who would be his gunner should the need arise--beside him. Jorvan came to a stop and gazed in horror at the freighter. “You’re sure this thing can fly?” he asked. “We got it in the hangar, didn’t we?” Rhoden responded, smiling. Jorvan averted his eyes and walked up the boarding ramp.

The squad checked in one by one and they launched. They formed up and made the jump. Within moments of entering hyperspace they dropped back out again. The reversion was hazardously close to the station but such was the need for speed--and dodging cannon fire for that matter. The Y-Wing’s immediately roared off, two accompanied by ARC’s and one by an X-Wing, another X-Wing--Haly’s--formed up beside the freighter.

The Y-Wing’s immediately went evasive as the base’s defenses came online and got a lock--but by that point their close-in reversion and subsequent speed had put them mere meters above the armored plating of the station. Each peeled off to one side of the communications array and launched their payloads. There was a large flash. Rhoden couldn’t yet tell if the array was down, he checked his chrono even as he threw the freighter into its own evasive pattern. Five seconds--surely they couldn’t have gotten a message out…

Rhoden saw two more flashes as the Y-Wing’s pulled away from another hull-skimming run, again, the sensors couldn’t yet tell if the shields were down. The Y-Wing’s came back into view, the rear turrets of the ARC’s now firing at any target that presented itself. Rhoden winced as one of the lightly armored bombers took a glancing hit--but it held together. He began his own run towards the docking area, aiming right for the point where one CR-90 was connected to the skeletal framework of the repair section. If things went sour he could still pull away and make the pre-calculated jump, he reminded himself.

[Neive Undant]

Neive looked at the ships approached, thinking as they approached. Before anything went down, Neive thought, he wanted to keep their main assets intact.
"long-range comms are useless, there's no time to get reinforcements here before they get what they want, activate the ray shields on the main shield generators and a team protecting the main generators. No ship can get that far into the ship to get them, so prepare to be boarded if need be."
Neive watched as the long-range communicators were destroyed, one of the dishes floating off into the void. The same couldn't be said about the generators, however, the ray shield holding through the explosion. Neive looked to one of the cannons before climbing up to the seat. "Let me handle this one, soldier. Go assemble a team to patrol the reactor. I have a feeling they want to destroy the entire base." The soldier nodded and stepped down from the cannon before Neive got in, watching one of the Y-wings before he fired.
The bolt skimmed the top of the ship, damaging it for sure but not completely obliterating it.
"Blast..."
Neive looked back at the communications array, seeing that the other ray shield had protected the system-wide comms. He looked at his wrist comm, speaking to the soldiers on the cannons. "There's a freighter on the outskirts. If we can take it out, then I doubt they'll be able to leave. Those ships couldn't make a hyperspace jump... Focus your fire on that freighter, I'll aim for the ships!"

Neive aimed again, at the X-wing that escorted the back Y-wing. He focused, and felt something... another bombing of the base, but this time it wasn't from the Y-wings... (Danger Sense)
"Blast... All cannons, take that freighter out now!"

Soon, all fire went from the scattered shots at the fighters to a full-scale bombardment aimed at the freighter, while Neive kept his attention to the fighters. He didn't need many shots, only because when he fired... he made it count.
Neive aimed at the X-wing again, almost calculating in his mind the time between the bolt and their movement, before firing in front of the Y-wing. The escorting X-wing would have to do somethng drastic in order for both ships to evade. The Y-wings... not the most agile of fighters, Neive thought.

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden cursed as several blasts hit the freighter. But while she wasn’t pretty, she was fast enough. He keyed on his comm, “Everyone, hit that generator. Y-Wing’s continuous. ARC’s make one pass and bail--aim for the command tower. X-Wing’s, launch your torpedoes and bail, hit the command tower too. One Y-Wing to the hangar, one to the generator.” he received acknowledgements.

Rhoden didn’t know if the cannons were too slow or too intent on the freighter but the rest of the squad made it in and dropped their bombs. The two ARC’s curved smoothly away, followed by the X-Wing’s, and slammed full bore into the base of the command tower while the Y-Wing’s came around for another pass. Rhoden watched as some of the turrets began firing wildly at the bombers but the effort was futile, more bombs dropped and one of the bombers accelerated.

With some of the heat off of the freighter Rhoden had devoted more of his attention to the fight, he watched as the canopy of the Y-Wing popped off smoothly and a small black figure launched out. There was a flash and a large explosion as the bomber and its remaining munitions blew. There was another bang as the freighter took a direct hit, Rhoden cursed and diverted power from weapons to shields. He glanced at the console, the containment field on the explosives was holding. Good. He set the ship on autopilot and ran for the boarding ramp, Jorvan right behind him.

Neither of them waited for a break in the line of blinding bolts flying after the freighter, but leaped out immediately. For several heartstopping seconds they continued on with inertia as cannon fire flew past, and then the small thrusters caught up and they zipped off towards the entry point. Rhoden saw the flash of the final Y-Wing out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t know if it had hit its target. Rhoden realigned himself and ‘landed’ on the station without too much difficulty. The rest of Inferno Squad alongside him, he looked to either side and scooted over one of the viewports.

A Rebel soldier who had been running by stopped and looked with confusion at them. Rhoden felt a shudder in the station, it appeared the freighter had detonated--but whether or not it had actually done any notable damage he could no longer tell. He pulled a metal disk off his back and thrust it on the viewport where it lit up. The Rebel’s confusion turned to horror as the rest of the squad readied themselves. The transparisteel was flash vaporized and a minor explosion blew inwards blasting the man backwards, and creating a small space of vacuum.

The squad threw themselves forward, each launching a magnetic cable to the hull and hitting the floor hard. The Rebel was sucked back as the air began to flow out through the viewport until the emergency port slammed shut. Rhoden looked back quickly as he disengaged the magnetic cable and saw the unfortunate man had only been half way through the port when it had shut.

“Did anyone get confirmation on shield destruction?” he asked, even as he raised his blaster and sent several rebel’s too slow to dive behind cover to their graves, while from either side the rest of the squad cleared the other two corridors.

[Neive Undant]

Neive could tell the freighter was worse for wear as it approached, but didn't let the guns let up on it until he was gone. Neive didn't have enough experience with the cannons, and while he did have almost perfect aim, such a big gun couldn't hit single fighters. Neive cursed as the runs continued, looking to the maintenance workers. "I need that shield on full power. We will have to wait out the bombers, but if we are, we need to be prepared." The engineers nodded and went to work as Neive watched the freighter, more and more damage hammering the vessel. Neive sighed as he watched the bombs drop, the shields weakening with each bombing run. Neive looked back to the freighter just before a bolt hit the hull, burning through and detonating the explosives inside.

The entire base was pushed about 3 inches, and with that last blow, the shields were temporarily down. They shut down the ray shields seeing the fighters out of bombs, and the maintenance crew quickly moved to set it back up. But Neive thought... there couldn't have been anyone in there. Neive ran down just as he heard one of the comms come online.

"Commander, imperial squadron in sector-" the radio cut out as a fairly loud noise hit, half of it coming through before the transmission cut out. Neive made a B-line for their entry point as more soldiers radioed in before they were gunned down. Neive had to get there fast...

[Rhoden Carbine]

“Did anyone get confirmation on shield destruction?” he asked, even as he raised his blaster and sent several rebel’s too slow to dive behind cover to their graves, while from either side the rest of the squad cleared the other two corridors.

“Shields were still active when we bailed. And it doesn’t sound like your freighter made it to the mark.” Raya said, not ceasing in her ruthless cutting down of Rebels. Rhoden moved forward down his hall and the rest of the squad moved with him, they passed a blast door and sealed it behind them with a blast to the control panel. Rhoden came to a decision, “The shields took a good enough hit, we need to get those weapons down.” he said.

He looked up and immediately saw what he was looking for. Glancing down all the hallways to ensure no one could see them Rhoden, Jorvan, and Haly climbed into the ventilation system. The rest of the squad took off and Rhoden heard a blast door slam shut. They began working their way through the ducts looking out where they could. For a while the sound of blasterfire stayed with them as they crawled over the heads of their squadmates, but eventually their lack of foes gave them an advantage in speed.

They finally reached their destination, the sound of blasterfire more distant now. The three leapt down from the vent onto the deck right in front of a turbolift. “Once we go up there should only be one hallway between us and the weapons systems.” Rhoden whispered. One hallway which the Rebel’s would hopefully not be worried about as of the current moment. Rhoden keyed open the turbolift, but as the doors closed he did not set the lift to take them up but pushed off the circular accessway to the top of the car. He climbed up and helped Jorvan and Haly climb onto it as well. They began climbing the emergency access ladder up.

Rhoden jumped lightly onto the ledge where the doors were closed and keyed the emergency release. They slid open quietly. Jorvan and Haly jumped silently into the corridor with him and they made their way forward, blasters raised.

[Neive Undant]

The base shook as Neive looked up, the fighters crashing one by one into the base, one of them hitting the ray shield, and with the torpedoes aboard, it rocked the base again. Neive grabbed a terminal as the base shook, before thinking.
"If they wanted to take out the base... this wouldn't be it. They have to have a common goal."
Just as he said it, the metal rustling above him. He looked to the emergency access hatch and quickly got behind a corner of the corridor as it slid open. Neive could sense 3 figures jump down, and took out his holdout blaster, along with one of his two vibro blades. He watched them for a moment as he turned from the corner, activating the blade and walking forward, aiming at the male figure following behind the other two, before firing two bolts at the man. He then pulled his blade in front of him, ready to block any fire that came upon him in case it was needed as they were made aware of his presence.

[Rhoden Carbine]

The man, presumably someone special since he was attired differently than the others, fired two shots at Rhoden. With a holdout blaster. One of the shots bounced off the armor, the other hit the very edge of one of the weaker points. Rhoden felt the second shot, but the armor absorbed any energy which might have turned it into a damaging shot. Fighting the inclination to laugh Rhoden, Haly, and Jorvan raised their blasters even before the sound of the second shot faded.

First they let loose a rapid-fire volley at the brave but foolish one who stood in their way, then moved their weapons and swept the room. Dropping anyone who had yet to find cover, or who had peeked up in attempts to return fire. Rhoden didn't hear the strange man's body crumple to the floor and returned his attention to the form.

[Neive Undant]

Neive watched the bolts hit and become absorbed by the man's armor, and so he put his blaster away and took out his other vibro blade, walking forward as the bolts sprayed towards him, Neive quickly blocking the bolts that came directly at him, only 1 or 2 hitting his armor, the Antarian Ranger armor protecting his body from the plasma bolt that slammed into his shoulder. Neive looked at the man in the back compared to Neive, before chuckling and shaking his head.
"If this base burns, you're gonna burn with it."
Neive charged forward, a defensive stance as he rushed the group. He quickly assessed the 3:
The female, the strategist most likely.
The front male, meant to be the muscle of the group. And of course, the one behind, the leader of the 3. That was who Neive wanted to face.