Theory to Reality

[Rake Tybar]

Mostly relieved that he wasn't going to be tucked away on some secret research station in an asteroid belt, he was happy to follow. Though it did seem the asteroid belt was going to happen, just a bit differently than he expected. He wasn't entirely sure what to expect other than combat. Luckily, he quite enjoyed the asteroid combat simulations they'd done in the school, the added challenge of large objects all on different paths, crashing into each other, added another challenge to the cauldron of dogfighting. It separated the good pilots from the best pilots. Rake intended to prove to his new employer that he was in fact the best option, then perhaps more doors would open for him.

"I assume I'll be flying in a fighter, but that won't take out an outpost, not completely. You mean total destruction? Which means you must have something bigger.."

He followed closely, trying to learn more about the mission, the man and the opportunity that lay before him. Though he was already itching to fly again.

[Rhoden Carbine]

OOC: Apologies for the delayed response, was out of town. And I'll probably have to delay further replied for other reasons, waiting for another thread to develop which might contribute to this one as well.

"Indeed we will be flying fighters." Rhoden responded, as they walked. "And no, a few fighters will not be destroying an entire base." Rhoden added. "Heavier support will move in once we have destroyed the weapons and shield systems of the station, hopefully disposing of the majority of the fighter support along the way." Rhoden continued, "Which brings me to the next part of our plan, we--you and I, that is--will be boarding the station and sabotaging the systems from within, as well as recovering information regarding the Rebels' other operations within this system." Rhoden finished.

He did not break pace, or turn his head, but he watched the Cadet out of his peripheral vision. The mission was far outside of his area of expertise, but if the boy couldn't handle a recovery mission there could be issues further down the road.

[Rhoden Carbine]

OOC: In case you missed the PM. We can continue at your convenience.

[Rake Tybar]

OOC: Apologies - for some reason I'm struggling to read PM's!

"From within?"

He wasn't stupid, he knew he'd just parroted back what was said to him, not unlike any generic Imperial grunt, so he quickly interjected before he could comment on it.

"Understood sir."

Rake's combat experience in close quarters was, somewhat limited. He was good with a pistol from close to short-medium range, but he never imagined himself cocking a carbine and running through a facility knocking out systems. His saving grace was that he knew explosives, he was technically gifted, never struggled in assembly and mechanical maintenance class and would not slow the mission down on that area, but whether he was shot dead before he could show his quality? Who knew.

.. But he did love the sound of heavier support. A duo of corvettes? Probably. A star destroyer was unlikely but an officer could hope. After all, pilot was the first step on the ladder. He dreamed of eventually standing front side of the bridge and commanding a battlegroup, but one step at a time.

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden boarded the YT-2000, the Cadet in tow. "Take us to the launch point." Rhoden said to Jorvan. Jorvan grunted, glancing at the Cadet and taking the engines off standby.

Ten minutes later the freighter set down in a small impromptu hangar hidden on the planet's surface. Rhoden exited his small room, where he had spent the duration of the trip putting on armor. Cadet Tybar was looking particularly uncomfortable in full armor. Rhoden slid his pauldron on, bearing the distinctive marks of both his Shadowguard status and the Inferno Squad. "Come." he said to Tybar.

Walking out into the bustling hangar Rhoden gestured to three rows of fighters, TIE Phantoms. "You will be piloting that one, we will be approaching the base cloaked." Rhoden said, gesturing to one of the fighters. Rhoden gestured behind him to the rows of XG-1 Starwings, "The Starwings will be approaching from the opposite vector, once the enemy fighters have engaged we will decloak. You and I will be boarding the station, the rest of the fighters will aid the Starwings." Rhoden explained. Climbing up onto the Cadet's assigned Phantom he gestured to several controls, "Shield systems, hyperdrive, cloaking, make sure you're cloaked before exiting the hangar." Rhoden said, climbing back down and entering his own Phantom. There was a click and the other pilots began checking in as Rhoden powered on his systems.

[Rake Tybar]

Rake adjusted more than once in the pilot's chair, nudging the rudder foot pedals now and then, twitching the TIE engine ports on the back. The others stood outside probably thought he was dry testing the controls, definite sign of an amateur.

'Great.' He thought to himself.

Though a TIE Phantom was a bit unexpected, and with it came the realisation of how real everything was. It was no vanilla Starfighter, cloaking technology, multiple weapon firing modes and ridiculous turning angles. As he began his pre-flight checks, he used a few glances up looking for the cloak system, which had already been pointed out, he'd just forgotten.

"There we go."

It was the last thing he activated as the gravity pads elevated the TIE Phantom, howling it's eerie engine growl as he adjusted it's positions with the pedals. He reached up with his black-gloved hand and switched hover control to flight mode and with a gentle application of pressure on the stick, she roared forward and out of the hanger bay. The Stealth technology was strange, causing a weird humming noise inside the cockpit. The technician side of him wondered where it was stored.

"Cadet Tybar in position. Standing by for further instruction." The voice was slightly delayed on the microphone he was using, possible a side effect of the static from the cloak but it allowed him to hear his own voice back through the helmet's voice changer. It made him feel weird, but he put it to the back of his mind, trying to ignore it.

[Rhoden Carbine]

"Cadet Tybar in position. Standing by for further instruction." the Cadet was the last one to check in, having taken a few seconds to adjust to the rather new craft he was flying. "Form up on me, head out." Rhoden said, accelerating the fighter at the same time the Starwing's began launching.

Within several minutes the squadrons were out of the atmosphere and heading towards the asteroid field. The Starwing's peeled off, curving around to approach from their assigned vector. Likewise Rhoden began easing into his own vector. The final approach came up rather quickly.

"Fighters launching." the Starwing captain's voice came over the comm. "Engaging." Rhoden saw brief flashes in the distance, he gave a ten count then decloaked, and the rest of the squadron did likewise. Of course the Rebels opened fire, but the fighters were too close, too fast, too well shielded. Rhoden needed nothing flashy, he simply pressed down on the firing control and watched one turret explode. "Break formation, take out as many weapons emplacements as you can." Rhoden ordered, "Three passes only, then break off and deal with the rest of those fighters." Rhoden finished. Keying to direct comm Rhoden spoke directly to the Cadet "When the rest of the squad breaks off we head for the main hangar." Rhoden informed him.

With that Rhoden threw the fighter into a tight curve, weapons blazing. One, two, three turrets flashed away, and as Rhoden pulled up and out over the command structure he saw tiny figures running around through the windows. Smiling grimly Rhoden sent another volley of laserfire into the communications array.

[Rake Tybar]

Rake's Phantom followed suite, decloaking and assisting on the first and second pass. He was conservative at first, following the flight path of the leader to amplify the damage caused with their laser barrage. On the third however, he broke off by sixty degrees and followed an attack pattern of his own, causing a brief hesitation in the returning turret fire. He banked to the right, adjusting with his pedals to not steer the cannons off the target, minor adjustments here and there to avoid the incoming fire, then he let rip a creeping barrage of green energy, puncturing through a trio of turrets and causing a fanfare of explosives behind his path as he'd already swept by them as they blew.

His dark leathered fingers tweaked one of the toggles, adjusting how much power was in the engines before engaging into the enemy fighters. His first target was a simple one, two fighters pursing one of the Imperial Starfighters from the other group. He targeted the second one as not to give his wingman too much time to react to a second attack, but he didn't need to worry. His shots punctured through the engine of the rear fighter, sending it on an involuntary flight pattern, bashing a vital system on the lead attacking craft. It spun out, the Imperial caught wind of their collision, turned about and destroyed the dazed fighters with ease. Rake's Phantom swooped past the slower Imperial craft. He assisted another, aiming for those who were too stuck in tunnel vision to even notice the additional Phantoms who'd joined the fray. Some of the defence fighters broke off to regroup but that left those who stayed behind as the sacrifice.

A single fighter caught wind of his attack, now he had three to his name, he'd obviously warranted some attention. It came about, killed it's engines to slow it's approach and opened up with an impenetrable hailstorm of red laser fire. It would've been it had he been in a lesser fighter, but the Phantom juked right, causing him to readjust his fire, and as he did, he elevated higher, grasping the individual cannon control, the barrels adjusted ever so slightly downwards then fired, punching three large holes, one of them straight through the cockpit. Almost instantly the fighter began to drift. He realigned the cannons, put power to his engines and obliterated the disabled craft into small enough pieces that he was able to fly right through it.

"Cadet Tybar, proceeding to assault phase two." Rake messaged as he entered a new flight path, diverted power to shielding and engines, accelerating towards the objective under the screen of the other Imperial craft.

[Rhoden Carbine]

Rhoden brought his fighter into the hangar at a considerably higher speed than was safe, the small ship skidding over the hull as its lasers continued to blast away at the rebels now fleeing the location. Finally the TIE skidded to a stop and Rhoden leaped out, blasting several fleeing pilots. One of the rebels, rather than fleeing, charged at him. Rhoden spun the man into the side of the fighter and brought his fist slamming into the side of his helmet so hard it cracked.

Turning from the crumpled body Rhoden shot the remaining few who surrounded Cadet Tybar's own fighter. The Cadet stood, blaster drawn, amid the debris. "Follow me, Cadet!" Rhoden said, turning and heading towards the hangar exit.

[Rake Tybar]

Rake landed his Phantom with a bit of care, perhaps too much, but he was still breaking free of the bonds of tutoring on the subject - and he'd just been let loose to use his own initiative for the first time, not a common thing for most in the Empire's service. He'd have to get used to it.

He unbuckled his harness, but kept his helmet on with one tube, the filter, not the oxygen supply. He then clambered out with an E-11 carbine slung around his back. At first he grasped it and saw an enemy combatant reaching for his weapon. He shot, once, twice and hit on the third. A clean hit, but the first two were clear misses. Immediately he released it back to his side and drew his pistol, placing one hand around the grip and the other underneath for support. The next two who rushed him would've had more luck against the carbine, unfortunately they were both hit square in the chest, instantly killing them.

Rake was not new to combat or violence, but from this close it looked a lot different. He'd expected a career in the Navy and to be far away from the tasks of the stormtrooper divisions. Yet he was glad he'd paid attention in survive and evade training, because it was beginning to bare fruit early into his active career.

He hurried after Rhoden, who'd made much quicker work of his adversaries. He cursed himself for not being better with the carbine, but hoped he'd remember what kind of school he'd plucked him out from. He wouldn't become a commando, after all.