[IC] Star Wars: Raptor Squadron

[Nobodyman123]

The ready-room of the Courageous was slowly starting to fill up pilots, and Tomlin looked over his notes one more time. This wasn't his first mission briefing, as he had done a few times in his old squadron. This, however, was his first time wearing a rebel uniform, and he knew his superiors would be watching.

It had been only a week since the destruction of the rebel base at Hoth, and the alliance were desperate to put pilots into cockpits. They even looked to those they previously couldn't trust, which was Tomlin's case. In spite of his previous loyalty to the Empire, he did everything that was asked of him and assembled a brand new squadron.

Raptor Squadron, as it had been dubbed, was assembled for the first time, ready to take on their first mission.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please be seated and we will get underway." Tomlin said, putting his notes down and starting the holo-projector.

[Rhona W]

Jesha was as excited as she was anxious as she wove her way through the corridors and passageways of the Courageous to the briefing room. It wasn't like she hadn't flown before, nor like she hadn't attended a briefing before. But this was a new start; a new squadron, new - and official - training with the Alliance. That carried weight, responsibility, and promise with it. The step up from occasional odd-job, dogsbody (a phrase that was especially suitable for her) pilot to full-fledged Alliance starfighter pilot was a big change, and one she was excited for, alongside her nerves.
She paused outside of the briefing room to collect her thoughts and her nerves, before she moved confidently into the room, taking a seat near the front, flashing a brief, nervous smile to the other pilots in wait. As the man she took to be their new C.O. stood and greeted them, she turned her attention to the holoprojector as it came to life, the lights in the room darkening to compensate. The Shistavanen leant forward, her ears pricked and rose-red eyes sharp as she eagerly awaited the briefing.

[Martian]

As Mar made his way through the corridors of the Courageous, he was amazed at how different it was in layout to the Valorous, the previous ship he was stationed on. Fortunately on his first day, Mar had managed to procure a file of the ship’s layout for his HoloLens. In the few days since then Mar had decided to explore most of the ship, mapping it out in his mind in case something ever went wrong with his HoloLens.

Mar’s train of thought was interrupted when an alert appeared on his HoloLens. It was a reminder that he had a meeting in the ready-room. Mar dismissed the alert as he turned back toward the hallway that led to the meeting room. Mar was still getting used to the notion that he was an actual pilot, one that actually went into battle. For so long he had just been a mechanic, just fixing things and not doing things. The weight of that responsibility weighed heavily on Mar’s shoulders as he entered the ready-room, but with a quick breath he regained control of his mind.

As Mar looked for a seat he looked over the varied visages of the pilots assembled. Mar had not actually met anyone in this Raptor Squadron that he was now a part of, not even the CO who stood next to the holo-projector. Mar decided to sit next to the wolf lady, who was of a race he didn’t know the name, giving her a quick nod before turning back to the CO. Mar’s ears twitched with excitements in anticipation of the possible mission.

[Gisk]

Suga loped into the room last, just barely scooting by as the door was being shut. She looked around dully at everyone, leaning against the wall by the door frame. She wore her pilot's jumpsuit, green for the squadron, just up to the waist so that the top portion hung loose behind her. Hands tucked into the front of the suit, she watched as the man who was meant to be her commander began a briefing.

This was a part she wasn't fond of. Playing(as she thought of it) the simulations had been a good time, as was blowing past other recruits at physical training drills(owing to having an extra heart to keep her blood oxygenated). Likewise, she looked forward to blowing some ugly imperial fighters out of the sky. Sitting down and making a plan, however, was simply not her speed. For now, she looked steadily at Tomlin, waiting for him to prove that he was worth listening to.

[Nobodyman123]

Tomlin nodded as everyone sat down. "Okay, Raptors. I know we haven't had a lot of time to get to know each other yet, but Command has already given us a mission." he said as he started the Holoprojector. The first slide showed the Rebel fleet.

"The Rebel Alliance is literally running of fumes. Since the evacuation of Hoth, most of our supplies were left behind or destroyed. As a result, the Alliance is short of everything, particularly fuel. In order to survive, we need to get creative." Tomlin said before showing the next slide. Next came an image of a space station.

"This is Hub Station One. It's the Empire's main supply depot for the entire sector. Ammunition, bacta, fuel, food, everything that the Imperial war machine needs to keep fighting passes through here before reaching their destinations." Tomlin said before turning to his squadron. "We are going to raid it."

The next slide showed a trio of GR-75 transports. "Once we eliminate the stations defenses and knock out their comms array, a commando strike team will move in, load up everything they can, and fall back to the fleet. Our job will be to provide cover and protect the transports. Any questions?"

[Rhona W]

Jesha listened attentively as the mission was explained. It was straightforward, as far as objectives went; practical and understandable in its' goals: kick the doors down, take the stuff. And the added bonus of flipping off the Empire by doing it, too.
At the mention of commandoes, she gave a slow nod and her ears flicked in thought. When the time for questions came, the Shistavanen raised a hand.
"Sir, regarding the commandoes; am I to transport them into action aboard the U-Wing?"
It seemed like the logical option to her, but she wasn't certain - hence the question of course. If it wasn't the case, then she'd presume her craft would be used in another fashion. While it was armed, it wasn't strictly a fighter. Whatever the case, she'd throw herself into the action with all she could.

[Martian]

Mar’s ears twitched slightly as he took in the mission orders. He had assumed that the Rebel Alliance was in a slightly better state than the CO alluded to, but then again he had only been on the fringes of the Battle of Hoth. Either way, this planned assault struck Mar as very brazen and desperate. But then again Mar was just a pilot, and a rookie one at that. He didn’t think it appropriate to voice disagreement with the plans of Command. This would be Mar’s first mission, and he figured he was only expected to fight and survive. After all, that’s all that the Rebellion could hope to do.

As Mar went over the mission in his head, the wolf lady next to him asked a question. Mar had been unaware that there was a U-Wing in the Squadron. It the occurred to him that he didn’t know any of the craft used in the Squadron, save his Fang fighter. In fact there was a lot that Mar didn’t know about what he had to do as a starfighter pilot. With how fast they had made him a pilot after Hoth, Mar hadn’t really gotten a chance to do an orientation or any kind of training.

A wave of anxiety passed over Mar as he felt greatly unqualified for this mission. But he also realized that there was no one else to do the mission. Mar gulped and straightened his ears has he took control of his nerves, focusing on what needed to be done.

With his mind back on the operation, Mar asked, “Sir, what kind of resistance are we expecting at the Station?”

[Gisk]

Suga eyed her comrades, wondering why the Shistavanen wanted to be bogged down by extra people in her ship. Suga had been quite adamant that the extra(as she viewed them) seats in her ARC should be empty when she flew it, it was strange to her that one would volunteer to carry people when there were already ships in the mission dedicated to that particular job.

She too wondered about the conspicuous lack of information about enemy forces, but took it to mean there was simply information they didn't have.

"We gonna destroy what we don't take? Or just get out once we have what we can carry?"

[Nobodyman123]

Tomlin answered all of the questions in turn, glad that his new pilots were at least taking this seriously. As this was his first mission flying with the Rebels, he wasn't sure what to expect.

"The three transport ships will be taking the commandos into the station, so your U-wing should be empty. If there is an emergency, we can use it to evacuate casualties or more supplies." he said to the Shistavanen pilot. "Otherwise, just back up the fighters."

"As for resistance, we know that the station carries a compliment of TIE's, as well as a few turbolasers. It's absolutly vital we knock out their communications so they can't call for reinforcements. The commandos are carrying explosives, and will attempt to destroy the station once their other objectives are complete. However, if something goes wrong, our priority remains getting the supplies back to the fleet."

"If there are no further questions, then prepare your ships. We leave in one hour."

[Rhona W]

Jesha gave a brisk nod of acknowledgement to Tomlin's answer, her ears twitching as she listened in to the rest of the final moments of the briefing. The objective was clear, and the task ahead of them seemed straightforward enough... although, she knew well enough that was no guarantee that things would go as smoothly as plotted out. It just meant there were less complicated places where things could go wrong without the Empire sticking their noses into it.
As Tomlin dismissed the squadron, she rose, looking around at the other pilots as she left, getting a look at their faces and expressions and trying to gauge how they felt alongside her own mingled feelings of excitement and trepidation as she headed out the door and in the direction of the ready room to prepare herself, and then her ship.

[Martian]

Mar wasn’t surprised by the Commander’s explanation of the Imperial defences. With how long he had been a part of the Rebellion Mar was quite accustomed to seeing TIE Fighters and turbolasers. Of course this would be his first time encountering them directly, as Mar wondered how he would fair while being in a fighter and not the relative safety of a heavy cruiser. Mar’s ears twitched as feelings of both trepidation and giddiness flowed through his body.

Once the briefing finished Mar got up quickly, going over the mission parameters several times in his head. It seemed like a simple smash and grab, get in and out before they could call for help. As Mar left the command room he realized he wasn’t aware where the communications relay was placed aboard an Imperial Hub Station. Mar quickly ducked into a side corridor and began fiddling with his HoloLens. Inputing a quick search of the Courageous’ databanks brought up a schematic of a Hub Station, though it seemed to be a few years out of date. But Mar viewed it better than nothing, so he quickly tried to memorize as much of it as he could in the few free minutes he had before the mission.

After being relatively confident that he had retained the gist of the designs he quickly popped into his quarters to deposit his HoloLens. While this would be his first combat mission, Mar had found that while using the simulator that the HoloLens was too great a distraction while piloting. Mar put the HoloLens down on his nightstand, then proceeded to grab his flight suit. Upon putting it on Mar felt powerful, more so than he had in a long time. He hoped that the feeling would follow him onto the mission, as he left his quarters and begin walking toward the hangar.

[Gisk]

Hands still in tucked into her jumpsuit, Suga strolled out of the room, though a little faster than she had strolled in. She made her way to the hangar, and crossed where her ship was waiting. An assigned astromech droid was getting ready to be lifted into place, and she briefly checked its ID. R5-B7.

The Aggressive Reconnaissance fighter was freshly painted for Raptor Squadron. Suga mounted the ladder and climbed to the cockpit. Before getting in, she pulled her jumpsuit over her shoulders and zipped it up. She retrieved the harness from the cockpit seat and put it on, then climbed in and donned the helmet.

As the ship was whirring to life, she spoke into the radio. "Raptor Two, ready to launch."

[Nobodyman123]

Tomlin did the final checks on his X-Wing and made sure his astromech was securely attached. F1-4K, or Flak for short, had been assigned to Raptor Leader by their head mechanic Stams, a Rodian with a chip on his shoulder. The different assortment of rare and old ships led to him calling the group Relic Squadron, and it was a pain for him to find parts to keep them all in working condition. Still, he was a genius, so Tomlin didn't begrudge him a few moments of complaining.

Once everything was ready, the pilot strapped himself in and began his flight check. "Raptor Lead, launching." he said as the green and white X-wing began to take off. He pointed his fighter out of the hanger doors and let the engines take him out to the vacuum of space. As he made his distance from the Courageous, he punched his hyperspace coordinates.

"Raptor Leader to all wings. Once we arrive at the station, begin your attack." he said into the comm as the three transport ships formed up behind him.

"Prepare to for the launch to hyperspace."

[Rhona W]

Jesha climbed aboard the U-Wing and into the pilots' seat. As she strapped in, her co-pilot Cullen climbed up into his seat next to her, a grin on the human's dark-skinned face. "All right, we're finally going into an official mission! Excited?"
"And terrified," she answered with a toothsome grin of her own, as she hit switches to power on the U-Wings' engines. The rising whine of power surged through the utility ships' systems. Cullen hit the controls to close the fuselage doors and under Jesha's hand the large but sleek ship rose on its' repulsorlift engines and with a gentle nudge of thrusters, out through the bays' atmospheric shield and into the star-flecked void beyond. With smooth precision, the shistavanen slid the fighter into formation with Tomlin's X-Wing as Cullen punched in the hyperspace co-ordinates.
"Roger, Raptor Leader; holding steady on your wing and ready for Hyperspace launch".

[Martian]

As Mar entered the hangar he immediately frowned as his eyes made contact with his fighter. While this wasn’t his first time seeing it with the dark green and white paint job, Mar still didn’t like it. He had spent a long time ensuring authenticity when rebuilding the Fang fighter, including the traditional grey paint job. There was just something so cool about the original design of the Fang to Mar. But he just had to accept the new design as it was no longer his call. He was a pilot now, and had to abide by Command’s decisions.

Mar sighed in resignation as he climbed up into the cockpit of his fighter. As he lowered himself into the seat, he felt a little more at ease as the inner systems had not been changed from how he had rebuilt it. After an initial quick check of his systems, Mar pressed down on his console, the single ion engine roaring to life. Mar felt the power of his starship flow through his hands and into his body. It was exhilarating. A smile formed on Mar’s face as his Fang fighter lifted off the hangar floor.

“Raptor Four, launching,” Mar announced over the comm system.

The Fang fighter exited the hangar and into the void of space. Mar eased his fighter into a position near the Commander, listening to his orders. Mar brought up the hyperspace systems built into his fighter, as he did not use an astromech. A beep announced that the coordinates had been locked into the computer system. Mar’s ears twitched with anxiety as his right hand hovered over the button that would engage the hyperdrive.

“Ready for the jump Raptor Leader.”