Staring at the distant ships, he thumbed his comlink, “Mako Squadron, Captain Antaris, I read some unfriendly transponders uphead…”


Jesra picked up the same signals on her ship's radar, at the same time her stomach rumbled in expectation of the likely-hood there'd be a scuffle with the Ties. She wasn't one look for a fight, nor did she run from one either. Even if the odds were against her, depending on what her adversaries were flying and how good they were, even then, she'd stick around.

This was another time she wouldn't bail. The com unit was flipped on again. "I see them. So much for the unbeaten path."

The slight, routine sound change throughout the ship indicated weapons and shield systems being brought to full power. All indicators showed a steady pattern of green. Good news. There was a full load of missles in her launcher, but those she saved for bigger, harder targets.
Jes didn't much care for hanging back, but this is what the fighters were here for. Though any Ties that happen to slip past wouldn't find her to be the easy target they probably figured on.

She actually hoped that a few did get by. That thought brought a smile to her face.

Rush watched as Mako Squadron's first flight dispersed from their diamond arrangement into a loose diagonal to quickly charge the approaching Ties at top speed. Behind them, the other flights of Mako Squadron warily cut their speed back as if merely jogging into battle. The starfighters entered firing range, and the space between the two sides lit up in a flurry of emerald and sapphire bolts. Several Ties spun about uncontrolled rolls, victims of the Inferno's ion cannons and slugs while several of the Inferno starfighters suffered minor damage and weakened shields. It seemed like it would be a typical starfighter furball save that Mako's first flight kept charging forward in a Kettch's Drill, right for the official's shuttle. Rush grinned and tabbed his com.

"One, you're a fearless idiot, and we love you, thanks for the kills."

The Ties spun about in all manner of maneuvers to pursue first flight and protect their charge, but in doing so, exposed their rears to the rest of the Inferno formation, including the Galaxy's Horizon. Most of the Hunters immediately opened fire, and the surviving Ties found themselves dueling the Hunters around the light freighter. First Flight continued unabetted to harass and disable the shuttle...

Mako's first flight seemed to rip through the Ties like they were made of aluminum foil, even with their having shields. Then they continued on towards the shuttle the Ties were escorting. Gotta be more to this than just an easy target, and someone special on that shuttle.

This Jesra concluded when the Ties reversed their course to go after the Inferno fighters heading for their ward. Not some all of them. The smart thing would've been to split their force. But, they were Imperials after all. Time to pay for that little mistake.

Jesra threw her engines into battle speed and joined the fray with Mako Nine. Her top dual turret lasers fired as fast as they could lock onto a target. Her own colored beams sliced through the darkness and thin layers of Imperial metal. Not as maneuverable as the fighters, the Galaxy's Horizon managed to hold her own as it seemed to dance and weave amongst the remaining Ties and Mako's second flight.

*KATANG!* A damaged Tie spiraled out of control and bounced off the Galaxy's shields and collided with another, destroying both in a ball of flame and space dust. Jesra fought the controls as her ship spun in wild circles for a few very long moments, towards another Tie. Warning lights flashed across her systems panel. Her starboard aft shields were also knocked off-line temporarily. Her lasers locked-on and blew the fighter into nothingness allowing the Galaxy to fly through the dispersing cloud harmlessly.

"Fierfek, that was close...ok, just a scratch. Let's get back and help Mako."

With beaded sweat trickling down her brow, Jesra eventually brought her ship under control and rejoined Mako Nine. "Like he really needs my help." She sniggered at how rediculous that statement sounded. She then slapped the com switch.

"Galaxy to Mako Nine. Think I have an imprint of that Tie embedded on my ass but no serious damage." She paused. Oh, you'll have to explain to me what this little side trip was about and why we didn't just make distance and get back on the hyper lane?" Her words came calm, but there was noticeable hint of sarcasm.

The situation irritated her. She had a job to do. Continuing on without Mako and his team was an option, but an old Wookie once told her 'sometimes the right course of action wasn't always the best course of action'.

Rush pressed a pedal; his starfighter banked out a stream of quad laser fire. As the attacking Tie turned to keep Mako Nine in his sights, he presented his broad side-profile to Mako Ten, who promptly ripped the shielded Tie apart with a combination of slugs and ion bolts. The Corellian expatriate whipped his control yoke up, and the Hunter pulled an Immelman maneuver which the inertial compensators just managed to compensate for. As he did so, he was presented with a panoramic view of the ongoing space battle, particularly noticing the Galaxy's own fight with several Ties. His comlink buzzed.

"Galaxy to Mako Nine. Think I have an imprint of that Tie embedded on my ass but no serious damage. Oh, you'll have to explain to me what this little side trip was about and why we didn't just make distance and get back on the hyper lane?"

"We'll cover the repair costs and everything, maybe add a few consolation prizes as well," admitted Rush, "but I'd rather not tell you the reason for going after that shuttle, for your own sake. But if you must know, I will tell you; if you stick around."

Some information is best kept secret.

Particularly information dangerous to its holders.

Another voice cut through his comlink, on a separate channel.

"Mako Squadron, this is Flaming Wind. We will be on your position in a couple of minutes. Recommend that you get your freighter out of here, we'll take care about mopping it up. The shuttle is immobilized, correct?"

Rush spared a glance out of the viewport. "Well Flaming Wind, it's mostly ionized."

"We're not risking it..."

Rush winced. Well, there's only thing to do. He toggled his com.

"All right, everyone form up for our actual journey. First flight, you will stay here and immobilize the shuttle until reinforcements arrive. Galaxy, are you ready to make the actual jump?"

Rush pressed a pedal; his starfighter banked out a stream of quad laser fire. As the attacking Tie turned to keep Mako Nine in his sights, he presented his broad side-profile to Mako Ten, who promptly ripped the shielded Tie apart with a combination of slugs and ion bolts. The Corellian expatriate whipped his control yoke up, and the Hunter pulled an Immelman maneuver which the inertial compensators just managed to compensate for. As he did so, he was presented with a panoramic view of the ongoing space battle, particularly noticing the Galaxy's own fight with several Ties. His comlink buzzed.

"Galaxy to Mako Nine. Think I have an imprint of that Tie embedded on my ass but no serious damage. Oh, you'll have to explain to me what this little side trip was about and why we didn't just make distance and get back on the hyper lane?"

"We'll cover the repair costs and everything, maybe add a few consolation prizes as well," admitted Rush, "but I'd rather not tell you the reason for going after that shuttle, for your own sake. But if you must know, I will tell you; if you stick around."

Some information is best kept secret.

Particularly information dangerous to its holders.

Another voice cut through his comlink, on a separate channel.

"Mako Squadron, this is Flaming Wind. We will be on your position in a couple of minutes. Recommend that you get your freighter out of here, we'll take care about mopping it up. The shuttle is immobilized, correct?"

Rush spared a glance out of the viewport. "Well Flaming Wind, it's mostly ionized."

"We're not risking it..."

Rush winced. Well, there's only thing to do. He toggled his com.

"All right, everyone form up for our actual journey. First flight, you will stay here and immobilize the shuttle until reinforcements arrive. Galaxy, are you ready to make the actual jump?"

' "All right, everyone form up for our actual journey. First flight, you will stay here and immobilize the shuttle until reinforcements arrive. Galaxy, are you ready to make the actual jump?" '

with a graceful barrel roll and split-S, Jesra disintegrated another Tie who had come around to her aft for a line up but had overcompensated in his speed to hers. Instead of testing whether his shields would hold up to a ramming, the pilot decided to over-shoot and bank away. Which flew him into the Galaxy's laser bolts.

That done, she checked her system's status across the board then opened the link to Mako's incoming. "I'm good to go. Hyper-drive is fine. Just a little hydraulic leakage, nothing serious. Oh, and the cargo is nice and safe in case you were wondering."

Gotta get those upgrades, my luck's wearing a little too thin for my liking. My price just went up for that little excursion.

The link was cut, and Jesra began her routine pre-hyper checks then lastly, after Mako's flight was ready, feathered the hyper controls forward. The dynamics of hyper traveling never ceased to amaze her. And how one could be moving at 'normal' speed inside a ship that was moving so fast to turn the stars into streams and end up light years across the galaxy. A droid tried to explain it to her, and her impatience got the better of her and Jesra shot it. There is no such thing as a simple explanation when it comes to droids.

Mako Nine, Hyperspace

As the reversion alarm's bleat reverberted throughout the cockpit, Rush checked all of his systems over. All right, everything looks all right. And the chrono's on time, so the reversion is expected. The harsh starlines of hyperspace travel gave way to the star-studded black blanket of realspace. He glanced out of his bubble canopy. All right, twelve starfighters...and no Galaxy. That's good. She should be nearly right next to her destination according to the charts. It's all up to her and the Resistance now.

OOC: Wasn't sure if there would actually be Imperials planet side to test my nerves(which could actually be fun), so I can edit if need be.

Lexrol - Trax Sector

For the most part, the rest of the flight to Lexrol remained uneventful. Jesra did what repairs she could in-flight to get her planet side. With a good amount of perma-tape, tender loving care and of course a fair amount of cursing, the Galaxy landed safely. Prior to arriving, Jesra looked up the planet's history. Her eyes followed the stream of data which caused her to frown. Lovely. Was an Imperial planet. Nice one too. She sighed and closed the public data bank.

"Which means, it might still be in places." She prepped the ship for a touch-down. "Fierfek! Last thing I need is to have a patrol of stormies waiting for me somewhere."

Walking down the ship's ramp, Jesra kept her gun hand resting casually, but firmly on her secured weapon. Her eyes scanned the docking bay for any immediate danger, and though no white armored, and armed welcoming party greeted her, she didn't completely relax knowing they could still be around, as she strode to one of the nearby restaurants. A quaint little place. Not too fancy but not run-down either. The sign read;

The Pilot's Cockpit

Nice. I should fit in pretty well. Jesra opened the wooden door and squinted as her eyes adjusted to the lighting. The establishment was busy and the din of conversations filled her ears. The floor was actually clean and didn't stick to her boots. Nice for a change.

Finding a seat off to the side, but not too out of the way, Jesra waved over a service droid that wheeled over with a tray in it's mechanical hand.

"Corellian ale. Large and make sure there's a nice head on it." The droid zipped away towards the bar, gracefully dodging crowds. In a few minutes it returned with a golden liquid with a nice head as ordered. A menu was also left in front of Jesra. She wasn't too hungry until she read the list of rather appetizing meals. "Wait. I'll have the veal parmesan." She set the menu back on the tray and again, the energetic droid disappeared.

She pulled out her datapad and checked her incoming messages.

(OOC: Yeah, I was rather vague about Imp presence, but yours was a perfect post)

Lexrol

Brad's apartment room was fairly sparse in contents, aside from people. Nearly a dozen people had somehow managed to cram into a room meant to hold four people comfortably. Space was cramped, but they were more comfortable inside the apartment than outside. It was one of the few places where they were sure they couldn't be eavesdropped on, courtesy of Brad's noisy neighbors and frequent bug sweeps by Brad, their electronics and acquisition specialist.

"Dha'tey has Fossk running all around the outer reaches of the Sector chasing after the Husdant. Most of the local forces are tied down right now trying to keep Entrus blockaded, which leaves us open to do our work, right in the capitol of the Supreme General."

Ben shook his head. "Not a whole lot one can do with fists and kitchen knives..."

"I agree, and so does whatever passes for Inferno Command. They've just sent a freighter here loaded with blasters and what not for us."

The lanky man whistled. "It is time to actually start the insurgency then."

Brad nodded. "But first we have to pick up the guns. I've borrowed a speeder truck from work, which should be able to take most of the cargo...but just in case, I think we should have another speeder to pick up anything I can't. Volunteers?"

"Yeah, I've got one that should do the trick," mentioned a dark-haired woman, "the only question is when and where..."

"Well, the Inferno Liaison guy said to go to docking bay 45 on the Northeast Tower of the Memorial Spaceport at around four hundred hours. Apparently they wanted to give the freighter crew some room to get comfortable and get a meal first. ANy of other questions? No? Well, everyone's free to go I guess, Rhys, I'll see you at the port."

Lexrol


For a change, Jesra was able to enjoy her meal without any issues up to that point. She remained in the restaurant about 1/2 hour after finishing to let her full stomach settle.

Then, the door opened with two official types standing there, a man and a woman with brown hair and ice in her gaze and both wearing uniforms that were similar but not identical to that of the Imperials. Too close for Jesra's liking. And, it was apparent they weren't there to have drinks.

Still in her seat, her blaster half out of the holster, Jesra used only her eyes to look for an alternate exit and saw none of course. Though, her expression remained neutral, she wasn't happy. This could go bad very quickly. Easy girl. Don't make any assumptions.

The two officials showed a datapad around, most likely a holo-image of the person they were looking for. Heads shook, and muttered 'No, haven't seen that one in here.' 'Not today.' went around the room. After a few minutes, the pair wandered over to Jesra's table, stared at her a moment like a Trandosan slave buyer scrutinizing his options, then thrust the datapad at her.

"Seen this man?" Asked the tall woman firmly.


Oh, she must be a fun one on a date. "Nope. Can't say I have Ma'am." A shrug followed Jesra's charming smile.

Eventually, the Imp wanna-bes left to everyone's relief. Either everyone was telling the truth or, the only way an answer would come if Miss congeniality threatened to shoot everyone. And, Jesra didn't put it past the woman to actually waste a patron or two just to vent her frustration.

Think it's time to go back to my ship. Jesra stood, tossed a few credits onto the table with a clink then headed back to the docking bay.

Back aboard the Galaxy, for added precaution, Jesra put her engines on standy-by for a quick exit. Satisfied, she went to the cargo bay to double check that none of the precious shipment had been damaged during the fire-fight. Good. Everything's in perfect order. Can't wait to get my pay and be on my way. Now, to stock up on supplies while I'm waiting.

For some reason, Jesra still felt something wasn't quite right. Then again, it was hard to say when she didn't feel that way.