SotB: Shooting Stars

*In this one shot mission through the VR construct Bastion, the agents relive the trials of a Squadron of fighter pilots during the Battle of Coruscant.*

## Agents

* Apec Paklin (Gristle)
* Chicken Hawk (Hawk)
* (Durin Boge)
* Firefight (Eve)
* Rando (Saber Scintel)
* Showboat (Jaa Walder)

## Mission

*Summary by Ben*

While having dinner on Wayright with its current and former leaders, Dox and Apec Paklin, the crew is pulled by Bastion into a simulation of the Battle of Coruscant as Governor Paklin recounts it.

Their home ship, RAS Exsanguinator, comes out of hyperspace to the Battle of Coruscant raging ahead of them. In the initial barrage, the admiral onboard is injured by an exploding console on the bridge, leaving Captain Paklin in charge of the ship. He launches Blood Squadron first and readies the guns to engage the confederate ships ahead. Showboat speeds ahead and twists around two of the Vulture droids, causing them to collide while the others move to engage, trading an opening volley with the help of the Exsanguinator’s forward point defense guns. Chicken Hawk takes a hit in his interceptor and moves to the edge of the dogfight to dive back in on one of the vulture droids while Rando guns down some of the fighters advancing on the Exsanguinator’s launch corridor. Some of the vultures break off to chase Showboat, and he leads them through a debris field, darting around and forcing them to collide and break off.

Ahead, Apec sees that one of the other cruisers trying to secure the perimeter is having trouble, and he orders Blood Squadron to break off and assist their escort. Chicken Hawk cleans up a few more of the intercepting droids, and the remaining few chase after Firefight, but one collides with the Exsanguinator’s hull. Their flaming wreckage splash against his shields but don’t cause his ship any harm. He swings around to engage the others, landing a few retaliatory hits and turning the tables.

An order comes in from the battlegroup’s commander to engage a Lucre-class Frigate ahead. Captain Paklin orders the squadron to move in and engage at close range. Rando moves to respond to the order and engages the tri-fighters that launch from the frigate to defend. He lands a solid hit on one, causing it to veer off and collide with the CIS ship’s hangar bay, causing significant damage. The captain commands the rest of the squad to form on Rando and engage the frigate and its escorts. Showboat moves in to help first and takes a stray hit, but aids in holding back the tri-fighters. Rando takes a bad hit, nearly crippling his ship, and the captain orders the clones to cover him while he gets repaired. The captain orders the Exsanguinator into range to broadside the frigate while the clones help Rando escape his pursuit. Chicken Hawk’s astromech unit performs some emergency repairs, recovering some of the superficial damage from the skirmish. With the other squadrons launched, Blood Squadron is directed back into the hangar bay for repairs while the Exsanguinator trades blows with the enemy frigate. Rando and Firefight make it in to dock, but Rando has a rough landing. Showboat lingers near the frigate, caught in a dogfight with the tri-fighters. Two of the droid fighters crash into his own vessel, causing some damage to the engines. Chicken Hawk goes back to cover Showboat’s escape, and the two manage to evade the tri-fighters while Rando and Firefight get repaired.

In the meantime, the captain warns of bombers heading in with fighter escorts and diverts Blood Squadron to engage once they’ve repaired. The incoming bombers manage to land a hit on the Exsanguinator, overloading its shields from the massive proton blast. Rando, Firefight and Chicken Hawk bear down on the bombers as they come into range, blasting one out of the sky along with its escorts before turning their attention on the other. Showboat switches to a fresh V-Wing once he makes it onboard and launches back out to join the others in their defense of the wounded Exsanguinator. Rando chews through the escort fighters of one of the bombers and Firefight swoops in to finish it off, clipping some of the debris on the way, but his shields absorb most of the damage. His cannons miss the mark, leaving the bomber open but without escort. The Exsanguinator looses another salvo on the enemy frigate, causing massive damage. Showboat, having just loaded into his fresh ship, decides to skip protocol and launch directly from the hangar, shooting out ahead of another catapulting ship and dodging skillfully directly toward the incoming bomber’s trajectory, lighting up his cannons and blasting the bomber into oblivion. The Exsanguinator’s batteries blaze away again, crippling the frigate and giving the squadron an opening to finish off the frigate. Showboat somewhat heroically crashes his V-Wing into the bridge of the frigate, rendering it inoperable and finishing the skirmish.