Zenith swerved around, taking evasive action as bolts came swarming in. Normally at this point they'd just let the missiles do their jobs. Frigate shields could be battered with torpedoes, but there wasn't much point to it, generally.
"Flight leader," she commed, "Do you want the interceptor squadron to engage the frigate? I was thinking a flyby might give more clues about what's going on here."
"Okay, folks," shouts Wes. "Vector in on command and control systems, once we're in range see if we can pound 'er into debris. Keep an eye out for friendly fire."
OOC
Basically, Wes is freeing them up to fire, at will, once we're in range, but aiming them away from some areas the fighters will focus on.
Lt. Gellian (E1) - 21
*Zenith (E3) - 19
Istara (E2) - 17
Other fighters (E4-E9) - 16
Bombers (P1-P3) - 10
Imperial Frigate - 6
Taelros (including Rosa, Storm, Wes, and Sarcia) - (delayed to go after Imperials)
The Imperial frigate's proton missiles again didn't penetrate Taelros' shields, neither the latest launch nor the previous one's attempt to re-acquire the target.
With all four missile launchers firing as a battery under Strom's command, three of the long-range missiles converge on the same target on the enemy warship, blasting through its shields to severely damage the frigate underneath (it seems likely another hit like the last one would finish the frigate off, though it took some good attack and damage rolls -- the attack roll was high enough to get two extra damage dice, and then I rolled above average on 12d10).
"You're clear to get a closer look at them, E-3" The wing commander says to Zenith. "Just don't get close enough that it could hit you with point-defense weapons."
"Understood," Zenith replied with a grin. "Going in for a flyby. Don't kill it before I can get a look though...doesn't look like it's gonna last through another volley."
The exhausts on her e-wing flare with blue plasma as it accelerates towards the heavily damaged frigate. She concentrates entirely on evading the incoming turbolaser fire as she seeks to get close enough to get a more detailed look at why this scenario seems so one-sided...
(I believe there's a Flying Defensively option that I will take as I go in. Not sure how close I have to get, but assume Zenith keeps going until she gets a good visual or until ordered to return...or until she's just outside PD battery fire range)
Zenith flies closer to the Imperial frigate, two of the other E-Wings flanking her, but she doesn't notice anything unusual, at least not from the range she can get to this round.
Istara
When you search you feelings, you get a vague sense of unease, but you don't think approaching the frigate would be any more dangerous than you'd expect it to be.
Rosa keeps watching the battle from her viewpoint on the emergency bridge. She once again opens her com to the pilots in the P-wings. "Close in on the enemy to medium range and then open fire," she orders, turning back to the holographic map in front of her, waiting for her orders to be followed.
__________________ "Sometimes things must be broken in order to be rebuilt." --Sith Proverb.
"We should avoid blowing her up if we can, a working Nebulon C would be pretty informative, but we can't rule out that the reason she's been such an easy target is they want us to blow it up...maybe they put a bunch of orphans on it, or its a medical frigate and they are looking to score political points." Istara mused approaching her wingmate's position.
OOC: Moving to follow Zenith, fighting defensively
When Zenith and Istara make their flyby, the frigate fires its turbolasers at them, but as you well know, except with the most experienced gunners, capital ship weapons other than point-defense weapons aren't much use against starfighters. They'll destroy them in one hit if they manage a hit, but the odds are low.
The P-Wings, escorted by the wing commander and the other half of the squadron, continue to close to medium range, with Taelros following behind them. And the Nebulon C keeps inexplicably closing.
"Give me a channel to the Imperials." Commander Cyn said to a communications rating.
"Imperial Frigate, we have destroyed your fighter wing and badly damaged your ship, and possess the capability to destroy you before our vessel is in effective range of your weapons. We will do so if you do not surrender immediately."
"No response, sir."
"Damn." The captain said. "Unless we took out their comm section, something's up. Grand Admiral Pellaeon isn't in the habit of shooting officers that surrender a hopeless position."
Zenith and Istara
As you close with the firgate, you sense far fewer presenses in the Force than you ought to on an Imperial ship the size of the frigate.
"Captain there isn't much alive on the ship. I'm not sensing much more than a skeleton crew on it. They could mean to ram you, be packed with explosives, or intend something tricky."
"It might be worthwhile to try and capture her intact to try and figure out whats going on with her...this just doesn't feel right."
"Vape can you scan the ship for me? Try and see what they have left system wise. If Zenith and I can shoot out her drives or her weapons she'd be easy to capture."
"Confirmed," Zenith reports. "Unless casualties from those hits were much higher than they should have been, something's definitely up. I recommend keeping at a distance from it until we can pick off its point defense with torpedoes, then get a closer look."
Storm listens to the comm chatter and a thought occurs to him. A Decoy...
Sir! This could be a trap. If they have planetary cannons they might be luring us to an optimal fire-range. If we keep the frigate between us and the planet they can't get a clear shot. I agree with Lt. Starglow on disabling the engines.
The damage to the ship doesn't seem to be concentrated in any specific area. Also you don't detect any secret compartments or anything, but do detent other signs indicating a rather serious lack of crew.
"We're too far out for anything that could hit us from the planet, Lt." The captain noted. "But I agree with all of you that we ought to try and disable this ship if we can. And capital missiles seem very likely to destroy it. So I think we'll let the bombers take a shot."
The P-wings fired in concert from the edge of medium range on Rosa's order, the three missiles doing further damage and continuing to batter down the Nebulon-C's shields.
"There doesn't seem to be much if any damage to the communications systems, they just aren't responding. Vape's scans are confirming that the ship is seriously under-crewed for some reason." Istara transmitted.
"The damage is heavy enough that Proton Missiles may destroy the ship. Requesting permission for a strafing run or two to batter down her shields."
Sarcia was beginning to wonder what was up. She had expected at least some damage to the ship but found none. She could tell that her crew was just as frustrated as her. "Stay alert! Continue manning your stations."
"We can come in from behind it, use torpedoes to blow its shields down then try to disable its engines. Once it can't move we can pick off its defense turrets one by one."
"With those gone, you can send troops in to board it and see what's going on in there."
"I agree with Zenith's assessment and volunteer for the first run." Istara said, quickly cutting off her transmission at a frightened wail from Vape.
"I'm better than their gunners Vape. Don't worry about it...besides how many guns can they have left for weapons if they already decided to strip out an entire squadron of fighters first?" she told the little droid trying to mollify him while waiting to hear word back.
Linear Mode
And yet another word from our sponsors
