on the platform : Stage I

“So what are we looking at?” you ask Tanna as you observed the holographic projection of the Hutt trading platform you’ve been sent to raid.

“Well, for a start, they likely know we’re here and that we’re up to something” Tanna begins, “Nobody makes a few passes of a trade platform and then stays in high orbit” she tells you.

“We really need a cloaking device of some variety” you mutter as you contemplate whether or not you should use your god powers to just give yourself one.

“Basically impossible, and we’re here now” Tanna replies before moving the projection to zoom in on the platforms defenses. “These towers here,” she says, pointing at four towers placed around the outside of the platform “Are for controlling traffic, but they also have dual laser cannons on them” explained.

“This gonna cause us any trouble?” you ask as you consider your options

“We can afford to take hits” was the Twi’lek’s reply. “Here we have four more guns, mounted on the main warehouse itself,” she added, pointing to four additions to the warehouse that made it look like a castle, only with flak cannons. “Same guns as on the towers” she finished.

“What about fighter craft?” you ask, “Surely they have patrol vehicles” you add as you scan the holo image for signs of vehicles.

“See this row here?” Tanna said, directing your attention to what looked like heli-port. “These are Cloakshapes ready to go, a full squadron, and hangers for probably one or two more squadrons” she explained.

“I never realised that Cloakshapes are so . . . everywhere” you say with a sigh.

“It’s an immensely popular design, but I’m honestly surprised we haven’t seen any Aureks by now” Adanna piped up, walking over from her place by the wall. “Engineers love making them for some reason,” she added.

“Who doesn’t!” Sata said “They are so fun to make, and easy too!” she added, you chuckle at this and turn back to the holo display.

“Anything else we should be worried about?” you ask, turning your crew’s attention back to the display.

“The platform’s got some customers” Tanna shrugged “not sure if they are going to be a problem,” she added.

“Oh those will be” Adanna cut in “Those are freighters working directly for various Hutts” she explained, pointing out several landing platforms. “Independants mostly don’t have the same level of armaments but we can expect them to take a keen interest in you not being there because it endangers their own cargo” she tells you.

“Do we get rid of them?” you ask the Nautolan, who shrugs.

“They don’t like pirates and might get the idea we’re here for them” Adanna replied. “If we give them enough space, I don’t expect them to be a massive issue” she adds.

“Well, turbolasers and missiles should take care of that issue” you say as you take a step back.

“Well . . .” Tanna begins “The place is holding Tibana gas and probably regular blaster gas too at a guess” She explains and you cringe.

“We do want some of that” you admit.

“Yeah, these sorts of things don’t like being shot at” Adanna adds.

“Probably best to try calling the freighters over the radio and telling them to load and leave rather than risk a chain reaction” Tanna tells you.

“Yeah, we can save that for when we’re done here” you concede. “Well then, if that’s done, action stations” you say before turning around and heading into the cockpit.

“Uhh, where’s my action station?” Adanna asks. You stop dead as you realise you have a spare crewman with nothing to do.

“I guess you’re on the boarding party now” you say with an annoyed expression. Adanna nods before sighing and heading downstairs, Tyttania hot on her heels. “We’ll find something better for her to do later, really should have thought about that” you say to no one in particular.

“She seemed disappointed that she won’t get to do much” Tanna muttered, staring after Adanna.

“You seem awfully fond of the Nautolan” you comment while you and your two blue crewmates get seated. Tanna just shrugged.

“And you aren’t?” she asked, not really expecting you to answer. “Wait, hail coming in” Tanna reports, suddenly alert.

“Suspicious vessel, what’s ya purpose ‘ere?” askes a gravelly voice over the coms channel.

“Selling blaster gas and concussion missiles” you say as you nod to the two girls beside you. “They are going pretty cheap as well, I’m one hundred percent confident you’ll be making purchases” you add in a sinister voice before clicking on the intercom “you ready Tyttania?” you ask.

“You may begin at your leisure” is the reply from the Mandalorian.

“Alrighty then” you say and begin looking for the approaching fighters. “Oh and before I forget, send that transmission to the independents and get them moving”

“That squadron that was docked” Tanna begins “the kriff? They’re sending the whole squadron!” Tanna reports, exclaiming with incredulity.

“Well they did just start a war” you mention off handedly. “Either way, this should be fun” you add. As you watched the Cloakshapes coming out of the clouds and into orbit. You twist the Eos around almost lazily as you prepare for the oncoming dogfight.

The lead fighter fires an ion cannon at you, causing you to twist the Eos out of the way. With that shot, the battle begins and you dive underneath the squadron as they zoom past.

“One down!” Tanna calls out as the turret goes to work. You grin as you twist the Eos around and get on the tail of the enemy fighters. Their reactions are near instantaneous, each fighter flying off in different directions. You pick a target and get on their tail, Sata taking the shot as soon as it was presented.

“Missiles incoming!” Tanna reported and you snarl as you throw the Eos into a manoeuvre to evade the incoming missiles. The ship shook violently as one of the missiles connected.

“Damage report!” you call out.

“Uhh uhh uhh, nothing major!” was Sata’s reply and you went right back to the fight. Now thoroughly pissed off, you begin punching in commands at an even faster rate, using your god powers to **** the Eos to respond. The ship shook as you threw it into incredibly high G manoeuvres. As you get on to the tail of another fighter, you almost subconsciously take control of the guns and begin directing them mentally, firing the laser cannons with a thought and destroying the enemy fighter.

“The kriff?!? Sata exclaimed, confused. You ignored her and threw the Eos into another manoeuvre, putting you on the tail of another fighter, blasting it in the fraction of a second you had it in your sights.

“Uhh that’s another four gone” Tanna reported as you twisted the Eos around to follow a fighter attempting to flee. You pumped laser bolts into it as your nose passed the enemy’s profile.

“Two more gone, Tyttania got another one” Tanna reported and you began hunting for the last fighter. “Shields hit! Half strength!” Tanna called out and you look through the hull of your ship to find the enemy fighter, the leader. You throw the Eos into a corkscrew manoeuvre but before you could get guns up on the target, a stream of metal struck the enemy fighter and you realised it had been in the firing arc of the turret.

You let out a deep breath as you sit back in your seat, finally releasing the things you had taken control of with your god powers.

“Now, wanna tell me what the kriff that was?” Tanna asked you, turning to face you.

“A dogfight” you answer “that we won” you added “nothing more to add” you finish. Neither Sata nor Tanna looked pleased with that answer, thankfully both of them went back to their consoles.

“They no doubt have more fighters, probably another squadron based on the hangers we saw, could be more” Tanna told you as she studied her sensor screen. “Yup, just as I expected, another squadron heading straight for us” Tanna reported, tapping her monitor.

“Tyttania, load flak shells and delete those fighters for me, I’m going to put you in position” you say before punching commands into your console and turning the Eos upside down so that the turret would have unobstructed field of fire. “Damn I wish we had cameras facing that direction” you say, mentally adding them to the upgrade list.

“Well, the barrage is effective” Tanna reported “They’re being blasted apart, really shouldn’t have been flying in close formation” she added before sighing and leaning back in her seat, stretching her arms over her head with a moan.

“That takes care of their offensive abilities” you say. “Now we just need to hit their ground based defenses and that should be-”

“Four of them are still coming!” Tanna called out “They’ve broken the clouds and firing missiles!” she reported. With a growl you gun the engines, blasting off out of orbit and further into the system. Once you are a good distance away, you twist the Eos around and zoom back in. by the time you get back to the enemy fighters, they’re already breaking for the cloud cover. You dive in after them and immediately notice why people say Cloakshapes are predominantly atmospheric fighters, as the enemy fighters peel off with manoeuvrability that they normally don’t possess in space. The first fighter made the mistake of flying past your nose, and Sata fired off a burst, destroying the fighter. The other three were smarter and made for the platform, making sure to keep themselves below your craft when you turned in and began pursuing them.

It doesn’t take long for the platform to come into view, and then a barrage of laser fire forces you to veer off into the clouds.

“Tanna get us a lock on those towers, we’re going back in and I want them deleted” you order calmly as you twist the Eos around and dive back down through the clouds.

“No can do Captain!” Tanna replied “We want that station not exploding remember?” she reminded you. You growl as you twist the Eos around and blast back into orbit. You sit there for a minute, watching as the Cloakshapes fly circles around the platform.

“Alright, I’ve got an idea” you say before hitting the intercom. “Tyttania, we’re going to buzz the platform inverted, I want you to strafe the laser cannons as we do this, understand?” you say.

“Understood” came your response from the intercom.

“Looks like the freighters are bugging out, four ships breaking for orbit” Tanna reported and you looked over to see the four shapes heading off into the system.

“Alright, that takes care of that threat, let’s get going” you say before taking the Eos into a dive and punch back into the atmosphere.

In no time at all, the platform comes into view. As you watch, the enemy fighters position themselves so that you would have to fly in range of the turrets on the platform to get at them. You grin as you roll your ship over, exposing the turret.

“She got two of them” Tanna reported as you blasted over the platform, twisting up, around and presenting a shot on the guns mounted to the main structure. “There’s another two!” Tanna called. You twist the Eos around and fly past the main structure, coming around the back side of the platform at just the right angle to delete the other two emplacements before flying over the top of the platform again. “All gun emplacements down” Tanna reported with a grin “Fighters are bugging out!” she said, almost laughing. You looked over to see her slumping into her seat.

“That was easier than I expected,” you say as you gently bring the Eos around and hover over a landing platform. “Any plebs on the ground that need squashing?” You ask.

“What’s a pleb?” Tanna replied with a confused frown “There’s no people if that’s what you are asking,” she added, giving her screen a glance to make sure.

“Plebeian” you say “you know, filthy plebs, commoners” you explain. Tanna gave you a deadpan expression before shaking her head with a sigh. “Well anyway, best get down stairs and ready for action” you sigh as you get out of your seat.

“Uhh, aren’t you forgetting something?” Tanna asked “Who’s flying the ship?” she added, giving you a look.

“You are” you say, watching the girl’s eyes light up as she practically teleported to the pilots’ chair.