Kuat Drive Yards

Crystaall continued to hold her place as she could sense the enemy doing almost all they can to land into the drive yards. Their attempts would be futile. She knew that with her power, she wouldn't let anyone get to the generator. But she couldn't keep her whole focus on the battle at hand. Crystaall took a deep breath as she tried to think. So she sat there in silence, waiting for the right time to open her eyes and strike at her opponents.

Admiral Jethroe Staton was watching the shields around the shipyards flare a bright, menacing red. His vessel's missiles and turbolasers had summarily been ignored by the shielding system installed in the station's innards, emitting a strange glow as they did so that seemed to dissipate across the rouge spectrum, dissipating into a pinkish tinge. For a moment Staton had thought the shields had buckled, though his suspicious mind told him other wise. His thoughts were supported by the transmission he received from Ander Tagira moments later. Lieutenant Coronel Zed Mul was trapped on board a disabled LAAT gunship near the strike zone and had seen first hand the effect their weapons had one the shields. His suggestion was to strike a center-point between Sectors 1 and 7, where he suspected the shields might not augmented in whatever way had allowed them to thwart their first advance. Knowing the gunships would not survive long without taking great casualties, Staton called for the weapon crews to reorient their targeting solutions.
"Focus firepower on that middle section, between Sectors One and Seven. Give them a full overcharge barrage from our Eight-Twenty-Sevens." The weapon crew leader nodded and turned to his console, reworking their solutions as the Heavy Dual DBY-827 Turbolasers reached their maximum capacity. A moment later, the weapons fired once more, fully charged this time around. Their substantial energy bolts lanced towards the shipyards once more, followed by another grouping of 10 assault concussion missiles. Staton leaned forward slightly in his command chair, focusing in on the area of the shipyards they had targeted on the battlefield display.
"Break them, dammit." Staton muttered to himself. "Break them off."

"Admiral!" The shout came from the Sensory Pit, belonging to Chief Warrant Officer Marc Fallerey. "The last salvo exposed a gap in the shipyard's shields." Staton manipulated the console built into the arm of his command chair, zooming in on the area Fallerey had identified. The shields were circulating between a pinkish glow and translucency wherever weapons fire struck them. The pattern was consistent, though the gaps were short as the cycling capabilities of the shields were rather quick. The Mon Calamari Admiral called back to the Weapons Crew. "Recycle the previous firing solution, fire on my order."
As the Weapons Crew prepared another volley of fire, Staton pulled Zed Mul's comm frequency and alerted the Lieutenant Coronel to the situation. "Coronel Mul, are your gunships ready to enter the shields?"
The reply came in immediately. We're ready, though a couple of our vessels, including my own, will need more time to get through. We're working on restoring some engine power, but I'm working on attitude thrusters until then.
Staton grimaced. He had hoped to send in the entire force all at once, though it seemed this would not be possible. A second salvo would be needed to open up the shields enough for the disabled craft to slip through, and even that was a long shot. "Coronel, we are prepared to open up the shields at your ready. We will fire again when ready for the second group." Staton told him, before signaling the Weapons Crew once more. Their Chief Warrant Officer confirmed they were ready to fire, then Staton heard Mul's voice return to the comms.
We're ready, Admiral. Fire when ready.
Staton looked back to the Weapons Crew and waited for another moment as the Basterd's Hand completed its maneuver and slid successfully into place behind the shipyards, protecting them from the planetary turbolasers that had recently exposed their position on the planet's surface. He watched the battlefield display as GALSAF's LAAT gunships arrayed themselves in a loose formation outside the shielding perimeter.
"Weapons Crew…fire. Coronel, get your boys moving." Staton ordered. The weapons of the Basterd's Hand fired once more, loosing their energy towards the shipyards. As high-powered turbolaser bolts and concussion missiles seared through cold space towards their target, GALSAF's gunships began to swing downward, tipping sideways onto a wingtip as they arced towards the target zone. TIEs continued to cut through the air around them, their laser cannons flaring through the dark space between the two fighting forces. The fully functioning LAAT gunships began to pour towards the gap in the shields, in close timing with the incoming barrage of fire. Coronel Mul took command of the few gunships left behind, limping towards the shields on a fraction of their normal power. They would need to await a second barrage before making their entrance, as the gap in the shields would close too quickly for them to make it through without risking destruction.

Zed Mul watched the holoprojector that emitted the battlefield display from the bulkhead between himself and the cockpit of his gunship. Nearly half of their force had made it successfully through the gap in the shields that developed as a result of the Basterd's Hand's last salvo; the rest were forced to pull away at the last second as the glow from the shield gap began to fade away once more. As his own vessel limped its way in visual silence towards the grouping area, he roused Adrmial Jethroe Staton over comms.
Staton, I need another volley, quick. We don't have much time. Mul snapped, watching as the portion of their forces that had successfully penetrated the shielding gap were subjected to ion cannon fire from the shipyards various weapons emplacements. He saw two gunships struck down almost immediately, mostly due to the tight formation in which they had been forced to fly. One of the gunships was hit smack on the nose. Thankfully the pilot had pressed his shields to full frontal and managed to keep the vessel on its flight path for the most part, though Mull noticed it shook heavily and began to lose altitude. The LAAT/i gunship would continue on its wavering trajectory long enough to drop below the path of the ion cannons, though its pilot was forced to navigate the city structure of the shipyards at a much slower pace, leaving it vulnerable despite the crowded area in which it now flew.
The other gunship, however, was not so lucky, taking several ion bolts to its port stabilizer. The armor absorption system built into the port side of the ship overloaded and blew, damaging the stabilizer at its joint with the fuselage of the gunship. The vessel took a sharp turn to port as its engines on that side fizzled out and clipped the side of an ion cannon emplacement. Mul couldn't tell what damage might have been caused to the cannon, and the gunship disappeared from visual range, boiling smoke and flame.
Larty-Four-One-Jig, what's your status!? Mul demanded. The voice that replied was tense and angry. Took an ion bolt to the port stabilizer, struck a building on the way in. We're alright for now, but we've got two casualties, ambulatory, stable. I'm setting us down now, but we're a good four hundred meters from the insertion point. It's going to take us a while to get there.
Mul gritted his teeth and watched as the Basterd's Hand fired another salvo at the shipyard shields, aiming to open up a second gap. Mul felt his own gunship shake beneath him as their new pilots began to press the vessel forward. It would be close shave getting through that shield with a compromised vessel, but Zed tried not to think about it. Even if they struck the shield, their slow velocity might save the ship from destruction, though Zed began formulating a second plan.
Secure your casualties, leave them with the gunship, we'll arrange for pick up when possible. For now get that platoon settled, I want them inside the station as soon as possible.
He listened absentmindedly to the affirmative reply L-41J's pilot gave him, instead ordering his own commandos to gather in the troop bay. He called the pilots back from the cockpit, giving them orders to lock the maneuvering jets for a course through the expectant shield gap. Hopefully the vessel would make it through, though if it didn't, they could blow the troop bay away from the rest of the gunship, jettisoning them through the gap in the shields before it closed. If his timing was off however…Mul shook the thought from his head. GALSAF Commandos didn't think about failure, they only considered how to succeed. Anything else was a waste of time. Quickly he shot off similar orders to the other disabled gunship, which was making for the shield same as his own.
Gather 'round, we've locked in a course through the shield gap. The Hand just fired... Mul paused as he watched the volley from the Imperial-II class Star Destroyer flash through the darkness around their vessel on the display screen. …And if our gunship can't make it through we're going to blow the troop bay from the gunship, hopefully launching us through in time.
Gripping his rifle tightly, Zed watched as the full strength of their flagship seared through space, hoping against hope his gambit paid off. if not, they could all very well end up being vaped.



Major Ularc kicked his fighter up onto its port stabilizers as an incoming TIE/ln barreled its way toward him, laser cannons flashing. He returned fire in the form of three two-shot bursts, though his evasive maneuver told him his shots would be off. Indeed they were, flashing between and around the TIE's own stabilizer panels even as the green lasers shot past his own.
"Kriff." He grunted, continuing his maneuver and turning the fighter over on its topside, then looping downward in the direction of the shipyards to come up on his target's aft end. Unfortunately the TIE had already maneuvered away and he lost track of it. Grunting again to himself, Ularc brought Wing Leaders up on his comlink. Alright boys, form up again, in pairs, we're making another run. We need to keep their fighters off our gunships.
Ularc fell in line behind Captain Jacobe Tell and his wingmate, Captain Uma Orthib, of Alpha Wing. Being the Flight Leader, Ularc had no wingmate himself; his job was to flitter between the various pairs of fighters, lending support when needed and keep a handle on the overall battle. Like commanding fighting vornskrs, Ularc was tasked with controlling the chaos, unleashing his squadrons when, where and how they were needed to accomplish the mission at hand. The pilots they were facing off with were indeed skilled, able to maximize the capabilities of their TIE/ln's, an outdated craft by most standards. But Ularc knew that standards meant less than little when the you put the right pilot behind the stick of a starfighter.
The Major quickly reran his local scanners, picking up a group of three TIE fighters just beyond the edge of the main battle. The fighters were looping around to make another run it seemed, and Ularc had the feeling they hadn't yet spotted him.
Tell, Orthib, on me. We're taking that group of three at Mark Two-One-One. His pilots confirmed receipt of their orders by letting his craft slip past their noses, guiding them towards the nearby TIE's. As the three XJ7's accelerated to close the distance, they began drawing targets independently of one another. The group refrained from locking on with torpedoes to avoid scaring off their quarry, though as they closed past 500 meters distance, Ularc was sure they'd been spotted. He gave the fire order and together, the three XJ7's began leading the three opposing TIE/ln fighters, strafing the space before their ball cockpits with searing red laser cannon bolts. As they fired, the GALSAF pilots cut their speed enough to be able to slip into place behind the enemy TIE's regardless of which direction they maneuvered to avoid their attacker's fire.