Sisters of the Sept

[Zachariah Jak'el]

There was no way to keep quiet as he snapped his yoke tight against his leg, pulling into a tight turn that put him back against his seat even as the loud "Whoo!" filled his cabin. There was no hesitation as he peeled after the rest of the wing on the quick turn-about. How could he hesitate? He was following the Knight Vissica through a low-vis nebula with certain danger just out of sight. The wide grin would not leave his face and his excitement had him bouncing in his seat.

A small fleet of unknown vessels came into view. Sensors weren't picking up any definite readings and there was no way to make out just what they were in this soup. Silus volunteered to go take a look just as Zach was about to ask to do himself. Instead he guided his Defender into the vacant space that Silus left behind, coming up beside Davis just behind the Imperial Knight.

"Looks like ghosts in the fog..." He told himself.

[Railla Cyer]

The cold crackle of dead comms filled Railla's ears as the link between the squadron and Admonisher fizzled in the soup.

"I'm not getting any comms from outs-"

A sudden flare lit up the nebula like lightning. It forked through the ether, striking one of the objects in the mist, then forking in three directions, becoming twelve others. In the blink of an eye, the nebula became a fireworks show of dangerous energy surges. Before Railla could react, one of the forked discharges lashed at her ship, causing the cockpit to erupt in a howl of warning klaxons.

"I've lost my shields!"

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

Fully open to the Force, Vissica cut her fighter sharply, moving not in a direct exit vector from the nebula but with rapid banks, barrel rolls, and timed bursts of speed to keep her out of danger. At times, her Defender dove directly towards a lethal spark that split the sky, only to pass unchallenged when the ionizing energy snaked out of her path. Other times still, she abruptly lurched from seemingly-open space - driven by her preternatural instincts as danger occupied what once seemed safe a split second later. Ahead of her and behind, the nebula had come alive in a crackling, hissing killing field of charged energy, each bolt threatening to lash a fighter from the sky with indifferent violence. The Selonian's paws gripped her yoke until the callouses creaked with the strain.

[Silus Xilarian]

One moment Silus was staring at inert chunks of metal in the cloud, the next moment tendrils of energy were snaking all around them. As energy bounced from one object to the next, he completely froze up, unable to determine what vector would give him the best chance of survival. He watched as the energy snaked its way by him, leaving him unharmed. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that he was alive not by his own skills, but absolutely pure luck. Well universe, I guess I owe you one, he thought to himself.

He adjusted his course back toward the Admonisher and clicked on his comms.

"Shadow Leader, I think I got a close enough look. Permission to run home with my tail between my legs?"

[Bette Davis]

"Mines!" Bette said over the comm. "Must be proximity, back up to a safer distance."

The Shadows who were nearest to the electrical minefield scrambled neg-Z, while the Selonian seemed to be intent on flying directly into danger. Bette gritted her teeth, but she wasn't going to shout orders at the Imperial Knight.

The mines continued to flash bursts of energy, but the squadron managed to pull back with only a few singed shields. On her scope the computer was quickly marking the locations of the mines and extrapolating the data to add possible mine placements further in the nebula. "Ideas?"

Cannon's voice came over the comm, the Chiss sounding amazingly calm, as usual. "Commander Davis, I've analyzed the pattern of the electrical bursts, I think I've triangulated one of the power sources for the field. If some of us adjust our vectors we should be able to overload their shields and destroy it."

"I like it, send the data. Nomad, Rails, Rancor, Dragon -- Adjust vectors as indicated and follow Cannon's lead."

[Railla Cyer]

The shields aren't a problem. It's just like an LN, and you know how to fly an LN.

"Copy, Shadow Leader. I'm on my way up."

Shaking off the shock of the burst that lashed her ship, Railla rolled her shoulders as she accelerated ahead. Cannon appeared as a blue ping on her IFF, and she matched speed to accelerate on the nearest power node. The crackle of electric discharge speared the purple sky at random intervals. It wouldn't do to panic, the only way was through.

Railla took a weapons lock, then frowned at her targeting computer.

"I'm not getting a precise lock. It must be the ionizing radiation. Going manual."

Just like the LN. Just like the LN. You know how to do this.

Cannon loosed his blaster fire a split second before Railla was on top of it. The target flared with energy as the fighters streaked into their attack runs, then peeled away. Only when Railla was nearly on top of the mine did she see the shots coruscating just shy of their mark.

"It's heavily ray shielded, I'm coming back for another..."

Railla's defender shuddered, sparks streaking behind her in the cockpit.

"...dammit! Lateral stabilizer's been hit!"

She hurtled ahead, keeping her speed but suddenly fighting her stick to keep on vector.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

"Commander, our avenues of escape are shrinking."

Vissica's voice was calm in the face of harrowing tension as she threaded a gap between two crisscrossing bolts of energy, pushing ever closer towards an escape from the nebula and its perilous energy mines.

"We cannot break through here. Instruct your squadron to break off their attack and escape with haste."

A surge of danger filled her senses too late, and a lash of lighting ripped the shielding from Vissica's TIE. She increased speed to compensate for her lack of added defenses.

[Bette Davis]

“You heard the Knight - Shadows let’s bug out. Fall back to where we left Maniac and we can regroup.”

[Zachariah Jak'el]

"Taking point."

It was all he could think to do as the blaring klaxons deafened out his every thought. Yanking his TIE around he accelerated as hard as he could to take the front of the retreating column. Quick jerks and sudden corrections kept him spinning about and never on the same line for long, like a gagar snake twirling through the water. He had no way of knowing if that would help him avoid the seemingly random strikes of the minefield, but it sure as heck was making him feel like it was helping somehow. And with shields already blown, readout dancing, and comms jittery, it wasn't like he could afford to take another hit and lose any of those for good.

Shields, sensors, and comms were the only lifelines you had out here in the star soup. Without those you were just a rapidly accelerating trash can.

[Silus Xilarian]

It took less than a minute for the rest of the squadron to drop off his radar. He had gone the deepest into the nebula and right after he received the order to hightail it a snaking bolt of energy had caused him to make an evasive maneuver that further separated him from the rest of the squadron. For the next few minutes, Silus' universe consisted of the cockpit around him and what he could see directly in ahead of him. Comms were gone and most of his sensors were useless. Each time the minefield lit up he felt like he could almost see the pattern of energy unfolding in front of him. His maneuvering wasn't based off any thought or calculation though, just pure instinct.

After what seemed like an eternity he realized that no storm of energy was streaking around him. His shields were completely gone, and his main engines were completely fried. The only thing carrying him out of the nebula was momentum and maneuvering thrusters. As the purple cloud gave way to the inky blackness of space, he heard the familiar voice of his squadron leader crackling in on him comms.

"....Six do you copy. Nomad, do you copy...

He breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"I read you Shadow Leader."

"What's your status Nomad?" He almost thought he could hear a bit of relief in Bette's voice, but chose not to presume.

"The Hammer's in one piece but I'm about to have to get out and push..."

Silently he found himself counting ships on his scanner and felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders when he couldn't find anyone missing.

[Railla Cyer]

Still fighting the stick to work against her damaged stabilizer, Railla formed up with the squadron as best as she could. A quick count on her scopes returned a full compliment, and she let out a breath in a rush that she didn't realize she'd been holding.

"Shadow Two checking in. Shields and stabilizer are out, but I'm...okay."

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

With little damage save her shielding, Vissica quickly closed ranks, drawing her fighter close towards the head of the formation. While no ships were lost, it was clear that Shadow Squadron had a few wounds to lick.

"It would appear that we have underestimated these raiders. We should regroup with the Admonisher, and carefully consider our next move."

Vissica accelerated her fighter on a vector to rendezvous with the Star Destroyer.

[Bette Davis]

Once outside the nebula there were a tense few minutes until Silus drifted out of the gas cloud, his ship fried but intact. Bette opened her comms again. "Admonisher, we need a tow here for Shadow Six. Rails, stick with Nomad until that tow arrives. Everyone else, continue to the docking bay."

She followed her own orders and flew toward the ISD, noting the tow shuttle as it appeared on her scopes just outside of the Admonisher. Silus continued to drift on his vector, but Rails was keeping pace.

[Matatek Sel Vissica]

One Day Later

The impasse in the Troska system had seeded a sense of frustration in its wake. While additional support ships were called up to bolster the Admonisher's vigil over the nebula, it was clear that the Imperial sector command couldn't afford to marshal enough ships to effectively blockade the huge expanse. Instead, the ships summoned were primarily for the benefit of the fortress world alone, providing effective coverage if the raiders were foolish to strike in the same direction.

But this was no real solution. As the officers of the task force debated their next step, Lady Vissica was already considering her own move. While she finished making necessary arrangements, she instructed a TIE Corps ensign to find Commanders Davis and Xilarian, and direct them two the flight briefing room.

[Zachariah Jak'el]

"Gee wiz, it sure was great having Miss Vissica along for the trip yesterday wasn't it?"

The silence between the two Shadows had grown into an uncomfortable five seconds and Zach could not help himself but to fill that awkward gap right up. The pair were sitting at platonic but separate benches in the prep room inspecting their gear. It was an important task. This life support system built into their pilot suits was the only thing keeping them from a cold, unbreathing death. He made sure to inspect them real, taking a lot of special care with the tubing. Especially after that one time. With the snake.

"I don't know if we would have gotten out so easy without her. Heck, she's something else isn't she? Y'think the brass would be okay if I got her painted on the Hound? You know, real tasteful? Would be a flick more modest than those girls Hellfire paints on their ships anyhow; what with their knickers missing and all."

[Silus Xilarian]

As Zach went on about Vissica, Silus' thoughts drifted back to the nebula. While it was happening he didn't really have time to process any of it but now the events unrolled in his mind. He saw every decision he worked not by any sort of strategy or insight, but pure dumb luck. If any one of those decisions had gone differently he would have died in the nebula. Instead he was back on the Admonisher listening to Vissica's greatest fan completely gushing with completely adoration for her. You know I bet that minefield is still out there... he thought to himself while throwing out the occasional "uh huh" or "yep" so Zach wouldn't feel the need to engage him any more directly. Mercifully, another voice broke in.

"Commander Xilarian?"

Silus looked over to find a kid about the same age as Zach, only this one wore an ensign's rank plate. Normally Silus would have met the intrusion with a healthy amount of irritation (it kept people from bothering him unnecessarily) but for some reason he was feeling a bit more agreeable than normal.

"Let me guess. I'm needed somewhere?" His voice betrayed a bit more enthusiasm than he'd meant for it to, but it couldn't be helped.

"Yes sir, the flight briefing room, your pr..." Silus cut him off in a rushed tone. "Briefing room, got it. Sorry Jackal this is probably real important though. Well, actually..." Silus looked back and forth between Zach and the ensign. "Ensign, uh, whatever. Did you know Jackal got to meet Imperial Knight Vissica? Jackal, tell Ensign Whatever here about Imperial Knight Vissica." Silus gave Ensign Whatever a friendly pat on the shoulder and grinned at Zach as he thought Yep, get it all out of your system buddy.

[Bette Davis]

Bette was on her way to the briefing room with Xilarian came up behind her. She looked over her shoulder, and then paused in the passageway so he could catch up. "What's your gut feeling about this mission? Whenever I run the numbers on those mines, and the sheer cost of them even existing..."

She made a face. "These raiders have to have a lot of money backing them up."

[Silus Xilarian]

Silus fell in stride beside Bette, his own apprehension clear on his face.

"They're set to destroy anything that comes in as well. You'd think it would be easier to rig that up to disable ships to be taken whole. Think about everything we've lost to that mess already. A TIE fighter is worth a lot more whole than it is for scrap metal."

They took a few more steps before he stopped her.

"And why send a Knight when we haven't even determined if it's worth sending a Knight? Why is this escalating so fast?"

He looked down the hallway for a second then back to Bette.

"You wanted to know my gut feeling? My gut feeling is that we're not gonna like whatever it is they're about to tell us."