I was in that match from the start, as squad leader of a crack group of pilots. I decreed, in the round prior, that we all take B-wings and X-wings and sink our teeth into the Carrack Cruiser, which was unmanned at the time. Of course, I wasn't wearing my thinking cap; unmanned vessels take less damage under fire than manned ships, and the Carrack was right next to the freighter, which had just been manned. Once my fighter group had exhausted our supply of Torpedoes, we hit the freighter with all our guns. Unfortunately, without our torpedoes, we couldn't do all that much damage to it.
So the battle continued, with a couple attack runs on their ships, until we lost both of our corvettes and the enemy ships without any losses. The Imperial fleet began to organize, and I sized up the battle situation. Our frigate was on the west side of the map, alone and under attack, while our transport was moving up the opposite side of the Imperial fleet, garnering comparatively less attention. As important as a transport is in a battle situation, I knew that if it tried to rendezvous with the frigate, it would be cut down. Priority one was getting the frigate in a safe zone. After leading the attack one of the lancers that the Nebulon B frigate was firing on (and destroying it), we started pecking at the Carrack cruiser. I queried the Nebulon B for a health update, and knew that we had to hurry, the ship's torpedo batteries had already begun eating up its engines. Once the frigate broke away from the Carrack's firing arc, we were able to finish off the Carrack at last, leaving the Imperials with their Lancer and Freighter, and us with our wounded Nebulon B and our isolated transport.
It was at this point that I issued orders to the whole team. I told the Nebulon captain to get clear of the battle and head south, toward the southwest map corner and away from the Imperial fleet. The job of anyone flying A-wing craft was to protect the Nebulon B frigate at all costs from enemy fighter attack, which would be most dangerous to the ailing vessel. I ordered the B-wings to engage the Lancer frigate, and anyone flying X-wings to back up the B-wings and offer fire support with their own torpedo complements. This seemed a workable strategy, and people more or less followed my orders.
Once I knew just how little health our frigate had left, it was time to hurry. I remember ordering fighter cover for the frigate at Woodrow's all-caps silent exclamation of "BOMBER INCOMING!", but we were soon able to finish off the Lancer frigate, once it broke away from the freighter trying to get the finishing salvo in on the frigate. The battle was coming even more down to the wire, as Woodrow reported less than 10% health on the frigate. I asked all attack pilots to take X-wings; they were spawned closer to our target and could still damage the freighter. After a harrowing series of fighter attacks on the Nebulon B frigate, we brought the freighter down to zero health, and as I watched it explode into a orange fireball, containers flying out in flames, I could not help but unleash a whoop of joy. We had won. Barely.
I'd like to thank everyone involved in that round for an INCREDIBLE time. It reinforces JUST how much we need to have a organized, massive Taloraan round series, for some good times. Kampher, any stories from you?
GC Veteran (0.14-R6) "General Jafar"
Closed Alpha Test & Deth..
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