Master Medar is, of course, troubled by his vision. He wodners if the history will repeat itself... and again he won't be able to make the difference againt the tides of darkness. He meditades a bit to seek peace, then decides that he should focus on what he can do, not the uncertain future.
He will check on his Padawan. Did he get his records, by the way?
Also, did he recignize Darth Menghl in this vision? Was that Sith on Tiberium?
"Alright, alright!" Pim says. "I'll patch a hypercomm through..."
Communication is severely difficult to manage while in hyperspace. For an unskilled pilot it would be impossible, but for Pim, an Ally, he can pull it off.
"This is Mercy hailing all ships," Pim says in the message. "Drop out of hyperspace or we're hitting an ambush at Erengard! Cardon says hello."
"What?" Hedric says, responding to Cardon's hail. The news is alarming; they have not even gotten to Erengard and they are already under attack. "Roger that, Cardon. Pilot, take us out of hyperspace, and do it now! Radio the fighters and tell them to lock S-foils in attack position. We're already getting into it."
Hedric is eager to take on the Sith, but this is too soon for him.
"Aye, sir!" the transport's pilot responds, and relays Hedric's orders to the fighters.
All of the ships come ripping out of hyperspace prematurely, which taxes the engines but what you see next causes you to believe it will be worth it. Before you hangs Erengard, a golden globe spinning slowly in the vast darkness of space; your destination. But between your ships and the planet... is a massive cruiser and swarms of Sith starfighters.
The cruiser completely lacks any uniform shape; it merely stretches on. It is composed of thin segments that give it a splintered and random appearance. It is the only capital ship in the area, it seems. The sai-shaped Sith starfighters have now banked around and are coming your direction, having expected you to drop out of hyperspace later.
Cardon has just saved everyone much trouble...
(I forget Ush's ship-building guidelines, but since this is star wars, I'm guessing this thing has at least one turret.)
I'udo slaps the control that knocks the ship out of hyperspace, then stares for a moment in shock at the sight before them. he belately answers Fellien's quesry, "Uh, yeah. One turret up top. Follow the hallway straight back from the cockpit open the fist dorr you come to, climb up. It's no fancy ball-jobbie though; just 360 traverse, near 90 inclination. Standard ship's gravity. Good luck."
He hits the intership comm, just in case everyone didn't know what's up. Everyone tie down somewhere, we just jumped into a fight."
He cut that off and switched to battle mode, such as it was aboard the bucket of a starship. Shields up, aux power to the turret gun, lower the inertial controls a little to soften impacts and manouvers.
He hailed the other ships, "What's the plan? We just gonna make a run through and try to make planetfall or turn around and try again from another vector?"
(If no one else is objecting, I'udo will take the initiative)
His mind finally settled on a course of action, I'udo wrenches his ship's controls and sets a course that will take them around the range of the Sith's monster ship. The fighters would probably catch them further from the planet, but it had to be better than engaging fighter AND the mothership. At the same time he makes his move, he comms the others to explain his attentions.
"We're going to try to make this a running fight. Try not to get herded off course. Cover each other and someone keep an eye on that big monster, make sure we keep out of it's range!"
It does, Hedric. Two, in fact. You jump on one of the turrets and power it up while a Senatorial Guard takes up the other. Fellien does the same on Home, but Mercy's turret will go unused as nobody aboard is qualified to operate it.
"What can I do to help, Master?" Saito asks Master Sax.
The Republic starfighters fan out to engage incoming Sith starfighters as you enter Erengard's orbit and stay out of range of the capital ship. It does not move to pursue, but you find yourself on a collision course with a thick group of Sith starfighters.
Sith starfighters lack deflector shields due to the Sith lacking funds to reasonably equip their entire fleet, and your Republic pilots are a tad more skilled due to regimented training, but they have numbers on their side.
To remind you of what the numbers mean- Ship (Pool): Armor. Pilots (such as Red Squadron and the Sith Fighters) are the Mooks of space battle, and Aces are you guys!
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ORBITAL AMBUSH, Start of Turn 1
Home (P7/T7): 80
Mercy (P8): 80
Republic Transport (P6/UT9/LT7): 120
Aid Squadron x6 (P6): 3
Sith Fighters x12 (P5): 2
Sith Fighters x12 (P5): 2
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You have initiative having chosen where in the conflict to join. Go go go!
Fellien powers up the turret on I'udo's aging bucket and notes that the thing has seen better days and a great deal of use.
"This thing better not crumble into rust in my hands," Fellien comments before hitting the heads up display and angling for a Sith starfighter. When she has her shot lined up, she squeezes the triggers on the old gun and blasts away.