5150 Campaign – S4b – Convoy Run

[Activation: Star Navy 6, Hishen 1 – Hishen moves first. Star Navy ships will move but none will activate]

“Wait sir,” the Radar Operator calls for the Admiral’s attention. “The radar is picking up three new ships.”

“What?” Jackie exclaims.

“Looks like a Corellian Light Freighter, a short range Patrol ship and a Destroyer. They are heading directly for us.”

“Get a fix on them and send their coordinates to Starbuck,” Jackie commands as he hits the push to talk button, “Starbuck this is Fisher. We’ve identified one of the possible threats as three light escort vessels. Details are being sent to you now. Take care, they are a high threat level to your Vipers.”

The three transport vessels move forward one cycle.

The Emden starts to accelerate as it moves one cycle forward and turns one aspect to starboard.

The X Wings at the back of the fleet accelerate to four cycles and move forward two cycles and then turn to starboard two aspects, move forward two cycles and then turn to port one cycle. They hit the afterburners and move forward ten cycles.

The X Wings at the font of the fleet accelerate to four cycles and move forward four cycles and turn to starboard two aspects. They hit the afterburners and move forward ten cycles.

The destroyer, Ajax accelerates to two cycles and moves forward two cycles.

The frigate, Exeter accelerates to two cycles and moves forward two cycles.

The carrier, Warspite moves forward one cycle and turns to starboard one aspect. She prepares to launch her Raptors when a call comes over the net. “Flight deck for the Admiral, we’ve got a problem on the deck. We can’t quite get the Raptors away at the moment. Estimated time to launch is one cycle.”

Jackie stares at the tactical screen, showing no emotion.

Starbuck calls to Vampifan over the ham, “Stay in formation, accelerate to four cycles and let’s take these frakers down.”

As they move forward and turn towards their enemy they come In Sight of the two X Wings on the right.

Starbuck may have gotten into a great position but the X Wings are the first to act.

The nearest most X Wing does a Hi Energy Yo-Yo manoeuvre. He moves forward four cycles and spins to face Starbuck. The thumbs the firing button punching eight Pulse Cannon rounds at his opponent but none of them hit. In his haste, the X Wing pilot has brought Mardaddy and Darkest Star In Sight.  

The remaining X Wing In Sight is the next to act. He also does a Hi Energy Yo-Yo manoeuvre but he realises early in the manoeuvre that he cannot get a firing solution so decides to put more distance between himself and Starbuck. He moves forward two cycles, turns to starboard one aspect and moves forward two aspects before doing a 180 degree spin to face his opponent.

Darkest Star sees his opportunity and manoeuvres his fighter in for a shot but with his velocity of one cycle he can only sideslip one cycle to starboard which is not enough to get into gun range. In frustration he jabs at the missile button releasing a Fire and Forget missile at his opponent. The X Wing pilot throws his ship around and avoids the deadly projectile.   

Mardaddy pushes his flight stick and barrel rolls and he slid slips his fighter to port. Whilst not quite in the full rear arc of his opponent he decides to go full offensive as he pulls both the Rail Gun and Fire and Forget missile triggers. Fifteen high velocity rounds spew towards his enemy with six of them being on target. Two penetrate the medium shields of the X Wing. The cockpit of the X Wing is savaged and the pilot is killed instantly. The Fire and Forget missile passes harmlessly through the debris of the destroyed fighter craft.

Seeing his opportunity, Vampifan barrel rolls two cycles to port and one to starboard and releases a Fire and Forget missile at one of his opponents. The X Wing pilot throws his ship around but cannot dodge the missile. It smashes into his vessel damaging its hull and cockpit. Whilst not killed the pilot is stunned.

The remaining X Wing pilot powers forward pushing one cycle to port and two cycles forward. He targets Starbuck as he releases eight Pulse Cannon rounds. Two are on target and both penetrate Starbucks shields. And like that the great Starbuck is gone as the Pulse Cannon rounds detonate the Rail Gun ammunition in its magazines.

The X Wing follows up its assault by releasing a close range torpedo strike against Exeter. With her anti aircraft turret blazing Exeter tries to defend herself. Five anti aircraft rounds streak out at the projectile and three hit. The missile is destroyed by the hail of gunfire. A cheer can be heard from the Command Deck of the Exeter as they celebrate avoiding the deadly missile.

But then Emden fires her two long range Beam Cannon batteries at Exeter. The first round misses but the second is on target. The heavy round smashes through Exeter’s shields and damages her long range Beam Battery.

The Captain of the Emden is clearly a crafty rogue as he’s managed to get a broad side off at his opponents, suffering none in return.