NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 3918980" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 545: Rash DecisionsReal combat was something that could never be taught. Simulators could teach skill in flying, basic aiming, and even simple techniques, but training could only go so far. Being shot at changed how a person thought and reacted, even with training to fight against that instinct. Firing any weapon systems while piloting took multitasking to another extreme entirely, as it required a kind of awareness that only developed when one’s life was very much on the line. And techniques...well, maneuvers only mattered in relation to your enemy.    But it was that initial panic upon experience combat for the first time that was the most dangerous thing for a new soldier, of any kind. Because of this, and knowing how he had panicked during his first engagement, Rulae had a habit of expecting the worst from fresh recruits. Thankfully, he’d never seen a recruit completely freeze up and do nothing at all...of course, that was the extreme. Rulae had watched young pilots fly off in a panic, simply trying to avoid the mass of laser fire in their direction and ending up colliding with another ship.    It was these kind of memories that made Rulae extremely proud of the new members of Zephyr Squadron. Rodia’s moon had just erupted into a mass of Yuuzhan Vong coralskippers, coming out of literally no where to ambush the eight XJ X-Wing fighters that were making a quick pass over its surface. The yells of surprise and shock over the comm lasted only for a matter of seconds...not because the pilots were killed in the volley of heated weapons fire from the coralskippers, but because they all silenced themselves and focused on getting out alive.    It was a good sign.    “Plate, calculate our escape jump immediately and transfer the information to the rest of the squadron as soon as you have it,” Rulae ordered his astromech, R7-P8. Sure, ‘Plate’ was a rather pathetic moniker, but sometimes Rulae enjoyed the simple things like that. The little droid mounted behind him chirped an affirmative and got to work.    Looking out his viewport to beyond his port S-Foils, Rulae could see the planet of Rodia below. The surface had changed from what it was supposed to look like, a drab brown and red now, but that wasn’t what attracted his attention...the rising objects that were slowly growing did.    “One Flight, stay tight,” without waiting for the acknowledgments of the other three pilots, Rulae pulled his X-Wing into a sudden loop before banking away from Rodia. As he did, he made sure to direct a bit more power to his engines, knowing that fighting wasn’t going to be a viable option.    “One, this is Twelve,” Adria’s voice cut into the comm channel, sounding annoyed and just a bit distracted, “Could use a little help if you can get to us! I’ve never seen so many skips before!”    Rulae’s eyes darted to his scanners, noting that the three others in his Flight were still close to him...and that there was a large mass of ships coming in from behind them and they were gaining. That was expected: X-Wings just didn’t have the speed to outrun coralskippers. But they’d be safe for at least another thirty seconds, so he then turned his attention to the other two Flights.    His eyes told him nothing when he looked towards the moon, seeing only a mass of black seeming to peel away from the surface like a swarm of insects, but the sensors were at least able to distinguish friend from enemy. Both Flights were already surrounded and the mass hadn’t even reached them yet.    It was a deathtrap.    There was also only one choice to make, “Jump coordinates are being transmitted to your astromechs now, Zephyrs. Put all your power to engines and shields and just get out of Rodia’s gravity well.”    Suddenly, a voice began to cut into the comm signal, but it only got as far as half a syllable before dropping into static and then the comm channel cutting out completely. Rulae knew what that meant, though he couldn’t identify who it was that had been shot down.    The previous quiet of the comm channel then completely faded.    “—just flew right through him!”    “Two on your tail, Eight!”    “I see ‘em, I see ‘em!”    “Another three coming in from above!”    “Hells, they aren’t even firing their weap—“    ”Break now! Now!”    “I can’t see anything! There’s something on the canopy!”    “I’ll try to shoot it off, hang on.”    “Sithspit, its eating through the metal!”    A series of whistles from Rulae’s astromech caused him to turn his focus away from the chaos engulfing the other two Flights of the squadron. Checking the small screen in front of him, he read the words: JUMP PREPARATIONS COMPLETE.    In Rulae’s gut, he could feel that the pilots of the three X-Wings formed up on him were all getting the same message and about to ask the same question. It wasn’t the Force, it was the very fact that he was asking himself the same thing. So, before it could be asked, Rulae spoke the words that were required of him as the commanding officer of the squadron, “One Flight, make the jump and alert the fleet immediately. I’m going to head back and get the other’s out of here.”    Those were not the words Rulae had planned to say. In fact, his brain tried to make him say that the four of them were going to do that. But something...something else took hold of Rulae’s thin mouth and added something else to the end, while at the same time taking control of his body and bringing the X-Wing around to head straight for the rest of the squadron.    “Sir, we can’t—“    ”That’s an order, Three!” Rulae snapped, not fighting the fact that the X-Wing’s S-Foils were now opened and his weapons were powered up as he headed in the exact opposite direction.    “Sir, go!” it was not Zephyr Three, or any other members of One Flight. It was Rea, her voice strained due to concentration.    That, Rulae did not respond to. He could have just said ‘no’, but that would have required explaining why. At this point, even Rulae was unsure of why he’d done something so...rash. It was the kind of action that he hadn’t taken since he was a young pilot, not understand how stupid it was to take on an entire fleet by himself. But no, no that wasn’t his motivation now.    Rulae was tired of seeing Zephyr Squadron die. Again and again, it was rebuilt, and then they were thrown right into the front lines to die again. Yes, some pilots were die. That was unavoidable. He was no, however, going to continue to find himself building up a bunch of new recruits just to watch them die again. Not this time. Not anymore.    A chirp from Plate reported that the three other members of One Flight had followed orders and jumped away to safety. Rulae then opened the comm channel again, “Zephyrs, I’ve got a fix on your position, stay together and head straight towards me. You cut your way out and I’ll head straight in. One way or another we’re making a damned hole in that mass of skips!”Heads up everyone, but updates may continue to be a bit spotty for a few weeks. Busy time with finals and all that fun, plus trying to make sure my portfolio is actually decent.Oh, and Mass Effect. Damn that Mass Effect.</blockquote>

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