"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Tomas' voice echoed in Mira's ear and she grinned impishly and waited a while, actually a lot longer due to them forming up and attacking the enemy several times. Mira tapped her fingers against the controls and leaned back a little in her seat, there was too little explosions in this fight, she grinned again.

"Viper Eight, what in the hell was that suppose to mean?' Viper Nine asked again during a lull in the battle.

"I haven't been committed yet if that's what you wanted to know," Mira replied in a cool tone as she flipped switches to give her a bigger view of the battle field. The cruiser was floating helplessly in space and the enemy ships were fly around in a confused fashion, complete chaos, Mira's favorite game. "I'm going to go ahead and engage the enemy, we can discuss this more over dinner if you really want to know, just look for the tall, strikingly beautiful blond," Mira chuckled tapping a few more buttons before music with a heavy rhythm and deep bass began to play in her cockpit. Ahh the wonders of knowing about ships and having engineers on your side.

"Wait Viper Eight which enemy?" Tomas practically yelled into the intercom.

"Um, whichever, I'm not picky," Mira replied shrugging even though Tomas couldn't see her. But before she could go chasing off any enemies Rocket, another new person flew into her view, a trail of white behind him and even farther back was two enemy ship. It reminded Mire of pack animals who chose the weakest link and took the creature down as the rest of the herd watched.

'Viper 11, you have two enemy ships on your tail, evasive maneuvers would be the intelligent thing to do until I make them go boom," Mira said taking position behind the ships, "Come on you little bastards come after me," Mira growled shooting at the ship, but limiting herself in fear of hitting Rocket. Finally the two ships broke away from Rocket, Mira made a sharp turn to keep from one from smashing into her. The music blasted in Mira's ears as she cursed out the ships as the flew to avoid them, 'Come on m-ther-f-kers, that's right you can't fly worth a crap when it comes down to it can you!" she yelled forgetting that she was still in a private comlink with Tomas. Spinning her ship around Mira found herself behind one of the ships, took aim and fired, it was a lucky shot the ship sputtered and went spinning out of control into the cruiser, exploding into tiny pieces.

Something slammed into the back of Mira's fighter, slamming her head into the console of the fighter. The control sprayed sparks over the cockpit which Mira quickly put out with vigorous patting and cursing. Warning lights began to beep in her cabin, she had been hit, those bastards had managed to hit her. Seizing the controls Mire turned to ship in time to have the other fighter pass her, and she turned again so they were facing one another.

"Let's play some chicken," Mira murmured as the two ships shot towards each other. Closer and closer they flew to one another until the last moment when Mira shot a missile at the enemy fighter and dived out of the way of the debris.

"Viper Eight, you alright?" Tomas' voice said over the music.

"Yeah, couple sparks that probably made my hair frizz more, I'm low on shields, weapons, and control, any chance we're almost done here?' Mira said sounding tired.

Inside the Wayfarer Delta, Location Unknown

The Delta came to a fast halt, it had just exited hyperspace; though one thing now lay in their path, their location, it was unknown. The ship was drifting, all that could be seen was a gas giant in the distance, a somewhat neon fireball. The ship was just drifting, floating through space, helpless. Just then, the ship jerked from it floating and started to turn. It had drifted too close to body with a gravitation pull, but an Eclipse, blocking its identity, darkened the area on the celestial body.

The Xo stood stiff as a board on the bridge, not knowing what had happened or where they were.

“Report” the XO said, staring across the bridge.

“Sir, many reported Hull Breaches, One Decompression, twelve casualties, twenty six critical injuries …” the tactical officer began to say before the Xo interrupted him.

“Alright, I get the point. We are Royally Fraked.” The XO said blatantly.

He continued to star across the bridge, as if frozen in shock of what had happened.

“Where is the decompression, still the airlock and living area?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir; Mechanical Crews are working to correct the problem. They should have a Sit-Rep for you soon.” The Tactical officer responded.

“Very good, and what word of the Captain, how is he holding?”

“Sir, the Captain is still listed in critical conditions.” The communications officer said.

The Delta continued its drifting towards the unknown celestial body; little did the Delta’s crew know what would happen to them next.

“Sir, the Sensors just came back online. Short Range, and Internal Only.” The sensor officer said.

“Scan the surrounding, and try to get a fix on where the hell we are.” The XO said.

“Yes, Sir; Scanning now … … … Alright, got the data. Oh Frak me, Sir you need to take a look at this!”

“What is it, where the hell are we?” the Xo said as he looked at the Data “What does it mean?” he asked.

“Sir, we apparently have drifted into the atmosphere of a planet, we are plummeting towards the surface of it. Our Speed is acceleration, I estimate Ground Impact in … Twenty Seconds” the sensor officer said in horror.

“Comm. get me on the horn, full range of ship” the Xo yelled.

“Yes, Sir … … Your connected, Sir.”  The Communications officer said.

“This is the Commander, Brace for Impact!” the XO said as he hung up the line.

Seconds Later, everything went Dark. This is the way it would stay for some time, most of the surviving crew did not even know what they were supposed to brace for Impact from. Though numbers are not known, the casualties were high. The Wayfarer Class Medium Transport ‘Delta’ had landed, fast and hard.

Meanwhile back in the combat zone

Viper Squadron had almost finished their mission, the Transports were found, secured, the pirates were located; all that remained was dealing with them, by delimiting the remaining Preybirds. This was not as easy as it sounded, for the Twin Ion Engine Fighter craft could barely out gun a Preybird, the preybird has it beat all around. Shields, weapon power, speed; the Preybirds were the obvious choice for someone to think as victorious. However, strangely enough Viper had not lost a single pilot, most likely due to the discipline and Flight maneuvers jammed into every new recruit in Flight School.

“What the hell just happened?” C-3PX2 said to himself

Out of nowhere, the Delta had vanished in a bright flash of light. To where was unknown, how it was possible was also unknown. Was it destroyed, or did it somehow escape death? It was unclear what had happened.

'Viper 11, you have two enemy ships on your tail, evasive maneuvers would be the intelligent thing to do until I make them go boom” Viper Eight said over comm.

As the fighter zipped past, it appeared that she was playing Chicken with it, until it inevitably became a pile of space debris.

“Eleven watch you got another one on your six.” C-3PX2 said.

“They must be trying to get him, because of the damage to his fighter.” Jinxzo said.

Rocketman tried everything he could to break off from the Preybird, but it would not leave.

“I can’t shake him!” Rocketman said.

“Eleven, Twelve; Forming on your Five O’clock. Ill see what I can do” Strangler said.

Strangler began to go over to the starboard Aft of Rocketman’s TIE, where the preybird was. He got over, and began to aquire a lock. In the cockpit of the preybird, a solid tone could be hearing, and then suddenly went silent.

“Missile away!” Strangler said.

The missile had locked onto the Preybird; the pilot of the craft knew this was the end. Right before the missile hit, and ejection could be seen.

“Suspense, Three Lead. Hostile Pilot down, recommend a recovery vessel for taking him into custody.” C-3XP2 said to the ISD suspense over comm.

“Copy that, Three Lead. Sending recovery/arrest Shuttle, now.” The ISD Suspense responded.

Wayfarer Class Medium Transport ‘Delta’, on surface of an unknown planet

There again helpless, the Wayfarer sat. Only this time, it was not floating helplessly, but buried helplessly in the dirt. Most of the crew was unconscious at this time, so far, they had been through a lot but it was not over yet. Heavily Damaged sat the ‘Delta’, waiting for a time where it could be discovered in a geological dig, or something of a similar nature. The ship seemed to be doomed to suffer on a desolate planet. The crew slowly began to awaken from their incapacity. They were left with empty minds, ones that do not know what had happened, or where they were. On the bridge, the crew had a little more insight into the situation.

“Status report.” The XO began to say while stumbling up from the ground.

“Unknown, all sensors are down.” The tactical officer said.

All through the ship, there were systems and bulkheads that head received their maximum limit. The hull had buckled on impact, creating breaches along the hull, and some were leaking pressure and oxygen into the Desolate, lifeless world outside.

“Do we have any idea where idea where we are.” The Xo asked.

“Yea, on the surface.” A crew member remarked.

“Negative, Sir; No idea at all. Sensors, Navigation, Communications are all down.” The tactical officer said.

In the hanger bay of the delta, the situation was not any better. People were confused, scared, and did not want to do anything but get back to base, and get some R&R.

“Alright, everyone; common, we need to find out what the Frak is going on.” The Deck chief yelled.

The hanger was empty, for the fighters were all launched during the initial battle. Unknown to the personal in the hanger, they were near meters away from the only exit on the ship. The hanger bay door was the only exit to the ship sticking above the planetary surface. It would be some time before they would manage to find out what had happened. For some time, they hanger personal worked, to convert the hanger into an area for the surviving personal in that area of the ship to live.

Meanwhile back in the combat zone

There were three Preybirds left in the combat zone, which was all that stood in the way of Victory. Three fast, agile, and powerful fighter craft stood between Viper Squadron and their trip home. They were beginning to get tired, and wanted to wrap this battle up, and call this mission a success.

“Viper Five, watch it!” Viper six yelled over comm. as a lone preybird pulled up onto the side of Viper Five, almost if it wanted to look him in the eye.

“This is Six, I got him.” Viper six said as she maneuvered a path towards the Preybird, and then get trigger finger. Just as she was going to fire, the preybird slammed the throttle back, and almost forced Viper Six to ram him. Aleia barely pulled away in time to avoid what could have been death. One she pulled away, the Preybird went back to following Viper Five. Aleia toggled over to missiles, and got into position to aquire a lock. She pasused for a moment, for the fighter was too close to Viper Five. Any missile detonation there would cause damage to a Allied Pilot.

“Five, this is Six. I have a lock, pull out.” She said to Viper five.

“Affermitive, I hope you make this.” Viper Five said as he sharply pulled away.

The moment he began to pull away, she fired the missile. It began to go towards the Preybird.

“I hope so too.” She said. Seconds later, the missile impacted into the hull of the Preybird, making it Two Preybirds Left in combat near Osigao Phi.

OOC:

1485 words; As for the little side plot on the fate of the Delta, no need to post about it yet. Im just toying with the idea, waiting for these lastfew preybirds to have their wings clipped.

Alright not bad all we gotta do is kill on more and that’s the end of that. Let me see am I in the condition to go and kill it. Shields green, lasers green, engines yellow, and oxygen is stable I think I will be able to take this guy.

Opens a private channel to Viper 12
Viper 11 to Viper 12
“Yes Rocket”
“On me I am going in for that last fighter, if I get hit pretty bad and can’t make the kill you take it okay.”
“Alright Rocket”

I pulled up by my wingmate, and went to find that last fighter. I find it only a few minutes. I start to chase after him.

“Strangler”
“Yeah”
“Hang back okay I think I can get this guy before he gets me alright.”
“Copy”

Now that that’s taken care off I can focus on this dame fighter.
I pulled behind him, but the he begins to try to do a u turn to try to get behind me, but I countered this by keeping up with him. I try to take a lock on him but he keeps weaving in and out of my missile rang.

Dame if only I could get a good lock on him than I would be able to end this now, oh well I guess I will have to hit him with lasers.
I punch up the throttle to catch up to him so I can end this as fast as I can. I catch up to the little weaver I start to hit with all of lasers that I can get on to him. After a few seconds I see that I punched though his hull and that he is ejecting.

“Viper 11 to all Vipers last fighter is down I repeat last fighter is down.”

OOC:

I hope this is a good post for the last fighters death. 303 words need to think more about my posts though.

"Viper 11 to all Vipers last fighter is down I repeat last fighter is down." Tomas heard over the comm and let out a sigh of relief before re-transmitting:

"That's it guys, well done." Tomas announced making one last check to confirm that they had escaped the conflict without a single loss to his squadron. This was extremely relieving for the new Squadron Commander considering the trials he had been through as a flight lead for Nazgul. Looking out his viewport, Tomas saw the star destroyer making its way towards the nearby asteroid field. With the preybirds off the board, and the Carrack cruiser floating blind and dead it was time to bring the fight to the pirates' home.

"I don't know about you guys, but there's a new club I've been hankering to go to, I'll buy you guys a drink if you decide to come along," remarked Mira, the new and increasingly frustrating pilot, "Consider it one of those moral, team coming together whatcha ma callits..."

"Viper Eight, you're making us really question your sanity..." Tomas  spoke up almost immediately in attempt to cut her off. He could hear a number of the pilots stifling laughs on the other end. As he expected, Mira wasn't done:

"Rather be insane for this type of work then sane. If you want to be boring then don't come, stay home and yank yourself, all alone, at least the rest of us will be out having fun. Misery is best fixed by a crowded room, boozes, and sexy members of the opposite sex." That's it she's crossed the line..., Tomas thought to himself before switching over to a private channel:

"Viper Eight, I'm going to have to speak to you after this mission."

"Sure thing, SIR, just look for the tall, blond, with blue eyes and you've got your girl." Tomas had had enough of this and switched back to the squadron channel: “Alright Vipers, form up it's time to provide the pirates with a bit of home renovation.” Tomas thought it probable Mira was muttering in her cockpit that they weren't quite done yet and he couldn't help but smile as a result.

With the remaining transports docked on the star destroyer, Viper Squadron escorted the capital ship in an ominous approach on the asteroid field. They had just passed the threshold, with the Suspense blasting many of the rocks that poised a threat when a short distance away a series of explosions could be seen, followed by a massive one whose shockwave produced slight tremors within Tomas' fighter. More explosions from surrounding asteroids started to cause instability in the area.

“Suspense, this is Viper Lead looks like they didn't want any company. It's getting a little too crazy in here, permission to pull out.”

“Permission granted, Viper Lead. We'll be right behind you.” And with that Tomas, along with the rest of Viper Squadron broke in uniform fashion and made their way out of the debris. With the pirates self-destructing the asteroid base, there wasn't much else for the TIEs to do. Once he had guided his fighter into the ISD's fighter racks, Tomas immediately sought out those in charge.

“Sir, any idea what happened to Wayfarer Delta?” Tomas questioned the officer.

“We're doing all we can, but at the moment we have no idea. They made a hyperspace jump, but beyond that that's all we've got.”

OOC:

575 words.

This isn't the end of the story, but feel free to do some character development for a bit. There's one last part of the story that will be wrapped up.

Landing in the racks back on the ISD he had come into the sector on was rougher than taking off had been. His ship had taken lots of flak, and it was difficult to steer. Hell, with all the damage the aft had taken, it would be a wonder if the exit port would open. He guided it, behind C-3PX2 and Tomas' lead, back to dock, and tried to open the hatch.

The Strangler tried again to open the hatch. The servos were working, he could hear it, yet the door, as he had feared, had been welded shut by the laser cannon fire taken to the TIE Fighter. This wasn't funny. He tried the hatch again, but with no luck. And again. And again. And again. But it wouldn't budge. He would eject; that was too risky. He could break his neck and blow up something if he impacted hard enough.

So he started to beat on the door, with his fist.  Clang, clang, thud thud thud, clang clang. Some greasemonkey, an on-ship repairman, came to answer his thuds. Enzadi took his helmet off, and starting mouthing “The hatch won't open!” to the man. He scratched his head in reply. The Strangler sighed, perturbed. He thought fast, and breathed on the glass of the view port, fogging it. He wrote “IM STUCK” and looked for the repairman's reaction. He ran off, and a minute later returned, accompanied by some droid, which made it's way to the aft hatch and began to cut through the melted metal. The Strangler backed himself as far away as his girth would allow from the hatch, which was beginning to be cut through by the energy torch.

Enzadi glanced outside the view port, and saw that a few people were gathered, and that one woman, a very short, pretty one, was leading the crowd in a bit of laughter. At his expense. But he put that out of his mind at that moment and focused on not moving, and avoiding getting his arm cut off by a silly droid. The white hot metal was in a semicircle, cutting away the fused hatch. The white was tracing around, growing larger, and larger.  He glanced again to the crowd, and noticed that it encompassed the whole of Viper Squadron, and some bemused mechanics.

Wonderful, Enzadi thought. First day with a new squadron and I'm already the class clown. Great. The Strangler sighed, audibly, and contained the painful waiting for his release. It was almost upon him. The ring of white hot metal was almost complete, and he wondered if they were just going to cut away the hatch and reattach it later, after repairing the rest of the fighter. The ring was complete, and for the second time in minutes his rather sardonic predictions had come to pass. The hatch, and some of the surrounding chassis, fell away with a great clang, and the grease monkey's droid was spraying coolant on the white ring, to allow the Strangler to exit without melting the sole of his boot to the accursed Fighter. The Strangler stepped up after the droid was finished, and rubbed the ice that had formed a bit.

Hopping down deftly, the Strangler, trying to act nonchalant about being stuck in his Tie, crumpled on one leg, making himself look like a complete ass. He sprung up, and regarded the crowd, which was just Viper Squadron now. He smirked lopsidedly, and stiffening in mock military discipline, he shouted, like a newbie, “Enzadi Malko reporting for duty!”, earning laughs from some of the more seasoned Squadron members, and a nervous chuckle for some of the less new ones. The pack broke, making for whatever-had-to-be done, yet some were slower to break up than others. One to remain was the short woman who had been laughing at him from behind the glass. Or like he was on display. The Strangler continued to look, before realizing that he was staring. She regarded him with a bit of a gruff look.

“Got a problem, pal?” She asked him, her hands on her hips.

The Strangler's reply came in a pseudo-falsetto voice, “No! No problem!”, which earned another chuckle, this time in unison with him, from the woman. She had a certain seductive edge to her, and she had looks to back that edge up, but they were, perhaps, a bit outset among her short stature. The Strangler rolled his neck around, to get the kinks out of it from looking at her. She re-engaged him in conversation.

“So, what's with “The Strangler”? Weird nickname. Got some kinda past you wanna hint to people?” the woman asked. Enzadi chuckled.

“Nah. I just have really strong hands,” he replied, as his right hand closed up, pinky to ring to middle to index to thumb.

“Gotcha then,” she said, walking past him, perhaps bored with his conversation. Oh well. Enzadi wasn't really good at talking to girls, women. He had always hung with guys more anyhow. He scratched his head, blinked hard a few times, then put one foot in front of the other to follow the tide of the rest of the squadron.

OOC:

871 words

When nothing of interest happened Aleia grew bored and walked out of the hanger. Her feet tapping almost silently against the polished floor as she made a brisk walk back to her room.

"All the comforts of home.." She muttered, as she began to strip off her flight suit and toss it over the edge of her desk. Had it fallen she wouldn't bother to pick it up until later. Thankfully, under the suit she had learned to wear PT gear of her choice. The black and blue shorts and matching top hugged her form as she moved across to her closet and began to rummage threw it for something to wear.


Now was thew time for her to open up and relax before things started to get hot once more. Aleia smiled, reaching for her black boots. Shitkickiers as she remebered them being called once. Placing them tot he side she drew out a pair of black pants and a dark blue with silver trimmed sleeve shirt. Quickly dressing she then let her hair fall loose and lay against her shoulders before she headed out of her room.

There wasn't that many places to go on the ship for much of anything and thus she headed down towards the one hangout that most if not all the pilots would end up being at.



The canting wasn't that great of a place. Yet it had a few of her favorite drinks and the music wasn't always bad. She was greeted by the light mix of music from a band that was at the moment popular in the galaxy. Blinking her green eyes to adjust to the light or slightly lack of she walked in and noted that it wasn't that busy but there were others in the room.


At least it's not a mass of tightly pressed bodies..


She thought to herself before making her way casually towards the bar. The barkeep there was of course cleaning what seemed to always be the same glass over and over. He gave her a small nod and smile before walking up to her.

"What can I get for you?" He asked while placing the glass down with a light tap on the counter.

"Just an Ale." She replied back. Reaching down to her belt and taking out a IC. Tossing it to him it was more then enough for what she wanted and then some. He smiled and hurried off as Aleia straightened her back. The vertebrae popping back in place as she added a stifled yawn.

Lord I hope this isn't the start of a boring time.. I so don't need to sleep right now..


She thought as the man returned with her drink. Nodding her head, Aleia thanked him and took the cool drink to her lips. Sipping on it at first before she let in a mouthful and savored the flavor as it almost seemed to burn going down her throat.

Immediately following his boarding of the star destroyer, Tomas had sought out a means to get in contact with the person in charge of the ship. On most of his previous missions, Tomas had made sure to study up on exactly what and who he was dealing with whether it was the enemy, the environment or the people who could potentially be responsible for bailing him and his squadron out of trouble. For whatever the reason though, the latter had not come up in his studies and he now stood at the communications unit with a rather vague idea of who he was trying to reach. In the end, this had caused a short delay in his achieving the objective, as he eventually resigned to contacting the communications operator and having the peppy voice on the other end connect him to the proper channel.

“Ah, Mr. Dagoram it's a pleasure. Commander Shodon speaking, anything I can do for you?” a voice spoke over the other end. The calm and friendly tone of the Commander threw Tomas off momentarily. Many of the senior officers he had had the privilege to meet during his service had been calculating and wordy; they had come off stuffy and almost robotic. This on the other hand, was a pleasant surprise.

“Greetings Commander, Sir, I was wondering if there is any idea as to what happened to Wayfarer Delta?” Tomas replied once he had recovered from the shock.

“We're doing all we can, but at the moment we haven't come up with anything. They made a hyperspace jump we know that much, but beyond that we haven't got much else. You're welcome to join us up here, perhaps share your view of the incident. It may end up helping to point us where to look.”

As a result, Tomas now stood observing the many communications personnel working diligently in an attempt to find out what had happened to the Wayfarer Delta. He had never actually been on the bridge of a star destroyer before now, and the sight before him left him amazed. Every crew member worked with his mates in such an organized and methodical manner that it seemed as though they were one entity in and of themselves. Each step in their search was efficiently performed and the results passed on seamlessly so that the rest of the team knew where to look next. Tomas had been hesitant to come here at first, but now that he was here he was thankful for such a rare opportunity.

“Commander,” one of the officers suddenly spoke up, “we're picking up some sort of communique over the comm. It appears to be a brief repeating tone, Sir.”

“Any idea where it is coming from, Lieutentant?” Commander Shodon replied.

“No sir, it may just be a remnant of the self destruct sequence from the pirate base.” the officer answered.

“Track it down Lieutenant, this may very well be the clue we've been hoping for.” The officer saluted the Commander with an obedient 'Yes, Sir' as Tomas watched from a distance. He couldn't help but hope that this new news would lead them to the Delta's whereabouts.

It took a fair amount of time, but the search slowly and surely focused in on the transmissions location only to come upon a dead end. It was identified as the Delta and seemed to come from the planet's surface, but beyond that they could not get anything further. Sandstorms seemed to cover a majority of the ground below.

“Chief Warrant Officer Tomas, we've got another assignment for you and your squadron.” The Commander said, addressing the young Squadron Commander...



Tomas sat in his designated seat behind and to the left of the podium. As the officer addressed the squadron, Tomas looked out at the small crowd. There were slightly more pilots than just his squadron involved as the Star Destroyer's support craft had also been assigned to the rescue mission. He had been in such a rush to get information on the Delta that he had forgotten he owed Mira a strict talking to regarding her attitude out on the mission. Scanning the faces of the audience, Tomas did not initially see any blonde haired women before spotting one off to the side of the room.

As his second briefing to the squadron, there was still some nerves involved as Tomas delivered the game plan. It wasn't going to be easy, as the surface of the planet was riddled with storms, though their actual intensity would remain unknown until they entered the atmosphere.

As he brought the briefing to a close, Tomas became engaged in a conversation with the superior officer while many of the pilots dispersed. As Mira left the briefing room, Tomas excused himself from the officer and followed her out the door.

“Mira? Crewman O'Riley!?!” when the pilot did not respond, Tomas quickened his pace and nudged her on the shoulder. “Crewman O'Riley, may I speak with you a moment?” The woman turned and simply looked blankly at Tomas.

“Mira? Sir, what are you talking about? I think you have the wrong person.” Tomas turned beet red as he apologized. From behind him came a short laugh, followed by a female voice:

“You've gotta stop hitting on every lass you meet”, the mysterious woman said. As Tomas turned he saw a woman with dark brown hair done up in braids. She was a bit on the short side as far as height was concerned, but all Tomas saw was the mischievous grin spread across her lips. Letting out a sigh, Tomas hung his head briefly. This is going to be a looong assignment.

OOC:

958 words.

OOC:

We haven't left for the mission yet

Jaden walked casually down the halls of the ISD, watching as everyone  aboard did their busy work.  It took a lot to run one of these ships, and just watching made him wonder what it would be like to be a technician aboard.  Nothing could ever talk him into doing such a thing.  He had too great of skills to ever isolate himself aboard a ship and run things.

Jaden stared at the name plate on the door of the office that he had been looking for.  'Viper Squadron Commander Tomas Dagoram' - was written on the plate.  Jaden smiled as he looked at the rank just below the name plate.  Chief Warrant Officer.

I was commanding a squadron by the rank of Petty Officer...things really have started to change around here haven't they?

The door slid open, revealing a much younger looking man sitting in the chair.  Jaden gave himself a moment to remember exactly what the man looked like.  It had been a while since he had served with him, and in the time that they were together Jaden really didn't remember ever meeting up with the man and having a conversation.

The young man was immersed in his work, looking as if he was ever so busy with something.  Jaden smiled, waiting for him to look up and acknowledge the fact that one of his pilots was standing in front of him.  Jaden didn't like to make things so formal when he was speaking with fellow squadron members.  The formalities were never something that he felt would let him get to know his squadron members better.  But, as of lately, he wouldn't dare have a conversation with one of the new pilots.  They were so...fresh.  Fresh was the word he was looking for.  Inexperienced and lacking maturity was something else that easily described the new pilots in the squadron, but Jaden could only laugh at the fact that most of them looked up to him as someone they could depend on and learn from, when in all reality he really didn't give a hoot about what they thought.

Tomas looked up from his desk and smiled.

"Its been a while, sir" said Tomas

"Rank doesn't have its status here, commander," said Jaden, sitting in the soft chair a bit in front of the squadron commanders desk, completely skipping out on the saluting and formalities.  "I don't believe that we've ever met face to face"

"I think your right about that," said Tomas, "What brings you to viper squadron?" said Tomas, lacking the manly tone that Jaden had foreseen.

"Well, being a veteran member of the squadron, I thought it would be a good idea to get in the ranks and show the younger pilots what traditionalism and respect really meant," said Jaden, "I'm sure you feel the same way?"

He shook his head yes after taking a sip from his coffee.  "Its good to have someone with the amount of experience that you have in the squadron.  It lets me know that I'm not handling this entire thing by myself, thought you haven't had any requests to be moved up in the ladder of positions.  Why might that be?"

Jaden took a moment to look the man in the eyes, letting him know that what he was about to reveal was very serious.

"I really haven't had much of a good experience in squadron commanding, well, according to some people within the Navy, and I really don't think I'm cut out for anything along the lines of commanding a squadron anymore.  But, if you need a flight lead for some reason, that'd be fine with me.  It doesn't give me too much to screw up."

Tomas shook his head back and forth, "You've got a clean record here man, nothing to worry about.  I'm not one to judge on hearing about what you've done, well, actually I am because your reputation does preceed you.  I've heard about your feats as a starfighter pilot.  Its literally impossible for you to be standing right here in front of me, having been through as many missions as you have."

Jaden laughed in his head at the fact that the squadron commander still looked up to him a bit.

"I really don't care much about what I've done, I just live my life from day to day.  Well...I've actually lost track of what day it is, if there really is a day to worry about."

Tomas went back to his busy work a bit while listening to Jaden.  The veteran pilot continued to explain his reason for entering the squadron for a bit, keeping in good conversation with his commander as he helped him out a bit with some minor roster issues.  Then it came time to get ready for the mission at hand.

"Well," said Jaden, standing up from his chair, lighting up a cigarette, "I'm going to go get some serious concentration in before we've got to get out there"

"I respect that," said Tomas, standing up from his chair and extending a hand towards Jaden.

He took the hand with a firm grip and shook it while taking a drag from his cigarette.  The smoke filled the room, and Tomas didn't seem to like that too much.

"We'll be seeing ya soon," said Tomas, attempting what seemed to be rushing the man out of the room.

"Don't worry.  Bad habit, I know"

"New Guy?"

Ibram had only just sat down, and already a pretty brown-haired girl was talking to him. This should be interesting he thought. He felt a guilty pang as memories of Marisa came flashing back, but to the brunette, he simply grinned. "I hear you guys a Viper. I'm Ibram Tyrol. my shuttle was delayed so i couldn't join you guys out there, but  this time looks promising." 

  "Well, well, I guess there's a pretty boy in every squad," The woman commented dryly." Ibram resented being called 'pretty boy', but he thought he might as well try and get along with his squad mates. At least to start with.

  "Well, they say that the attractive people find each other in a room of people," he said.

  “You've gotta stop hitting on every lass you meet," she replied with a cocky smile and tapped Ibram's nose, "Because they might be able to kick your ass."

  What am i thinking? He mused as the brunettes attention was diverted by the CO. I've been here 5 minutes, and already I'm flirting with the local flirt? Marisa would kill me. And again, that pang as his mind tried to struggle with the reality that Marisa was dead. Killed by that dumb gak in the T-38. Ibram was still brooding when the pretty brunette came back and sat next to him "So pretty boy, what's your story?"

  "Well, for starters, I'm not a pretty boy" Ibram smirked, "But I'm from Yaga Minor. Passed basic training a few days ago, and I've been in transit ever since. Looking forward to finally getting some action." Ibram pulled out his datapad, and reviewed the mission data so far, along with the briefing he had just narrowly missed. I must remember to introduce myself to my new wingman, he thought whoever that is. It appeared that the Roster in his datapad differed from the one on the screen. gak.

  He still had some time to kill before he would go to the hanger to begin pre-flight, so he turned back to the brunette who had just sat back down. "So whats'a purty lil thing like yoo playin wi the big bois?" He said in an imitated southern Yaga Minor drawl.

The brunettes companion took his leave, commenting that Ibram shouldn't have said that, and by the look on the brunette's face, Ibram had to agree. Before she had a chance to smack him, or worse, Ibram left to track down the CO.

OOC:

Hey all, first post here in the story, hope it appears smooth. I thought it best not to do too much for the intro, in case something needs changing etc... Ill make the next post longer, once things really get going. RE: the roster comment, the online roster and the Wiki roster appear to differ, so i am unsure who my wingman is, if someone could clear that up for me, that would be great. Feel free to come talk to me :P lol

Jaden took long drags from the cigarette as he made long strides down the halls of the Suspense to meet his deadline of the pre-flight check.  He had already gotten himself into his flight suit earlier, which had come out to be a good decision because he would have been running a couple of minutes late.

Upon turning a corner very fast, Jaden was caught up by one of the younger pilots.  He shook the thought of the conversation off and puffed on the cigarette a little longer as he continued to get to a near jog down the corridors of the star destroyer, when the pilot actually caught up with him and stopped him.  Upon seeing the man the mans face, the pilot hesitated to say anything at all.  Jaden gave him a blank stare and waited for him to say something.

"Well uh...Hello there.  I'm crewman Ibram Tyrol," said the young pilot, "I presume your Lieutenant Jaden Khaar?"

Jaden paused for a moment to read the man.

"Your correct, what'd ya need?" asked Jaden

Man I knew this would happen.  Little new guy wants some pointers...wait...Ibram Tyrol...Wingman?

"The roster says we're wingmates, so I thought I'd introduce myself and hopefully get to know you a little better before we got out there and did our thing," said Ibram, "You have the time?"

Jaden shook his head no.  "We've got to start preflight within the next 20 minutes.  I've got to get to my fighter and make sure the techs on board didn't screw anything up, or else I'd have the time.  We'll talk via Com frequency in the fighters during preflight, alright?"

"Sounds alright to me sir," said Ibram, "I'll see you there"

Jaden began to walk away, "Forget the formalities Ibram, we're wingmates now.  Whether we get through this next mission alive or not, it's my pleasure to work with you"

The young pilot smiled as the two parted their ways.

*****

Within the next ten minutes Jaden had arrived in the hanger and was now giving his fighter the last overview before he started his preflight.  A minor crack in the hull was all that he could find, and the techs had it repaired within minutes of the complaint.  Nice and speedy service aboard the Suspense.  Ironic with the name of the ship.

Upon once again entering the standard issue TIE, Jaden felt at home.  The fighter smelled musty and worn, and the seats were far from not having ever been used.  Jaden thought to himself about the fact that this fighter could have very well been flown in the battles of Yavin or earlier, and possibly Endor.  He hadn't had his own chance to do it early in his life, but he felt some sort of connection with the fighter as if it had been through a lot and could handle quite the bit more.  With the specifications he had added to the fighter there was no doubt that he was one of the riskiest pilots within the Vast Empire Navy.  No shields and a boost to the engines and weapons was seen as a very good idea, but he was flying naked the entire time.  The eyeball wouldn't last long against an entire flight of fighters by itself, but with the help of wingmen and stategic domination, it came out to be some very successful modifications.

After doing an early preflight check, Jaden had come to the conclusion that he would meditate until further orders were pressed.    There was still a large margin of time until the rest of the pilots would have their preflight checks in order and done, and all he could do was wait for his wingman to arrive so that they might converse for a while before the mission began.

Jaden popped the hatch off of the TIE and sat on top of the fighter with his legs dangling over the viewport.  He grabbed his pack of cigarettes and shook it around, hoping that he wasn't out.  To his surprise, one lone cigarette sat in the soft pack.  He drew it out and lit it up, taking a long drag from it.  It made his body relax all over; sort of releasing all the tension he had been feeling since before the preflight.  The man relaxed back on the fighter and began the waiting process until the mission.

"Forget the formalities Ibram, we're wingmates now. Whether we survive this one or not, it has been a pleasure serving with you."

Ibram watched as his new wingman walked off towards the hanger. He looks and sounds like a veteran too He mused. It's as almost like he's always expecting to die.

After quick timing-it out of the briefing room to escape that small brunette's wrath, Ibram had talked to the CO to find out his wingman was this scarred brooding veteran. Despite his rough demeanour, Ibram thought he would get on well with Jaden. He reminded Ibram of the pilots he used to hang around with after-school, when his dad still worked at the spaceport.

Ibram decided to stop by his quarters to pick up his flight suit, and then headed to the hanger to do his pre-flight checks along with his wingmate. Gotta stay ahead of the game, he thought. Ibram also hoped he would get a chance to talk to Jaden.

He stopped as he entered the hanger. It was abuzz with pilots and deck hands a-like, all doing their preps for the up-coming mission. It had been a while since Ibram had been in a hanger like this. Pausing a moment to take it all in, he checked his datapad, to find the location of his fighter.

The closer he got to it, the more he got a shivering feeling at the pit of his stomach. This is it, he thought. The real deal.

He walked over to the deck hand assigned to his station. “Hi, my names Ibram Tyrol, I’m new here.”

“John Sierra, pleased to meet you. I’m the mechanic assigned to your fighter.”

Ibram started inspecting his fighter. “How does she hold up?”

“She holds up pretty good, one of the better ones I think. Although that Mira girl banged her up sumin fierce in the last battle. We’ve fixed the shields, and the flight stick seems to be normal, however the missile launcher doesn’t always fire, so be careful.”

“This Mira….is she a small brunette by any chance?”

“Yup, but don’t be fooled by her cute appearance, she’d string you up by your balls if you crossed her, sure as sure.”

“Great….well, let’s get the pre-flight over and done with.”

“Right you are sir.”

Ibram scrambled up the ladder, opened the hatch, and jumped inside his fighter. Just like the simulator, he thought. Except that it wasn’t. Deep down, Ibram was acutely aware that he was in command of a very real, very lethal, and very destructible Imperial TIE Fighter. Gak.

Ibram tried doing the calming exercise Marisa had once taught him, which seemed to work, and so he went about doing his pre-flight check. He took a little longer then usual this time, making sure everything was set, and he calibrated the controls to the way he liked them. Speaking into the mike he said, “Everything’s green my end John, how about you?”

“Everything’s green my end sir.”

Ibram smiled. So far, so good. “Control, this is Viper 8. Pre-flight check is complete. Viper 8 is green.”

Fiddeling with the controls on the radio, he found the frequency for Jaden.

“Hey Lieutenant, you there?”