The second simulation came hard on the heels of the first.  Driver was still upset at the noobish way he’d been slagged the first time out.  He’d flown his first ship at nineteen; he’d flown his first fighter at 23.  At 28 he’d designed his first fighter, a TIE variant called the Mongoose; which had quickly been surpassed by the TIE Interceptor, and forgotten.  So, all that twenty years of flying had got him was two sim kills, and an “Imperial condolences” letter.  He vowed it would not happen again.

  The Nazzies synced up smoother and quicker this time out.  The flights formed up and began their graceful dance with the asteroid field.  G’s head was on a swivel from the get go.  The last sim had made him a little over cautious.

Gotta get past this, it’s just a sim. If you get this jumpy out there you’re toast

  The squadron weaved in and out of the slow tumbling space boulders.  G checked his scanner grids.  They were clean.  He knew they wouldn’t be for long.  A simulation of a normal, uneventful patrol did nothing for a pilot other than teach him anti-drowsiness techniques.  He wondered where the hit would come from.  He tapped out a quick text to Roth.

<\Keep an eye out, this feels bad.\>

  Roth pinged an affirmative.  The squadron continued through the field.  Driver’s bad feeling turned into a bad reality as Turbolaser bolts reached out and vaporized Shaz.  He instantaneously focused on the origin point on a nearby asteroid.  The battery opened up again and in a heartbeat Jeg joined Shaz as so much space dust.

  “Bogey, Bogey, Bogey! Break, Break, Break!” Driver screamed into his comm as he broke hard a starboard and dove for the deck.

  Suddenly he was the lone remaining FL, and this was now his battle.  With Shaz and Jeg gone he paired up Dante and Gingy, as they ducked behind an asteroid for cover. Girias and Lams had broken for the ceiling when the shooting started, and Roth was plastered to his tail.

  “Naz 2 & 6 take port wing, Naz 3 & 4 take starboard, we’ve got point.  Eyes up, we’re bound to have company.” He barked.

  “Bogies, on our 11, high.  A-wings, a dozen of ‘em.” Called out Girias.

  Within each of the TIE cockpits heads turned to search for the incoming foes.  Driver spotted them.  The fighters were coming in hot and fast.  He knew he couldn’t out run them, and he was about even when it came to firepower, so all that was left was skill.

  I’m dead

  “OK, boys and girls, here’s where we earn our checks.  2/6 go port high.  3/4 go starboard high. We’re hitting the deck.  Try to stay alive as long as you can, stick with your wingman and try not to cry when you die.” He joked as Nazgul broke formation to engage.

  Driver pushed the Equus into a hard dive and drew four of the A-wings to him.  Roth stuck close on his 5.  The Foe followed in suit, but half broke off the dive.  Blaster bolts seared past his viewscreen.

  G caught the move and radioed Leber, “They’re gonna try that trap move they worked on Dante in the last sim.  Barrel roll hard starboard on my mark.  Mark.”

  The TIE’s broke into a hard barrel as the other pair of A’s dove on them from the opposite direction.  Driver threw his fighter into a high g turn port and fired on the closest fighter.  His beams missed, but did throw the Foe off the tail of what appeared to be Gingy’s ship.

  Roth called out, “3 o’clock, low.”

  G saw the pair of opponents sitting pretty and let Roth lead the way.  Now on his wing’s 7 he could see the pair catch sight and high-tail it.  They ran for cover behind one of the larger asteroids.  Roth pursued. 

  “Watch for ambush.” Reminded G.

  It was a timely reminder, because the two Rebs had indeed been bait.  Their companions had been waiting to spring the trap.  Leber ruined it by coming around the ‘roid with all guns blazing.  This spooked the pair into pulling out before they had a good bead, and their consequent shots missed by a wide margin.

  Driver nodded approval as he shouted, “Nice work, now let’s see about taking the fight to them.”

  He took the point again and opened up on another pair of A’s as they shot out from behind an asteroid.  The shots missed the fighters, but hit the rock.  The exploding rock heavily damaged the lag fighter.  It spun off, out of the field, and out of the fight.

  It ain’t a kill, and it ain’t pretty, but I’ll take it.

  Turning in his seat he caught sight of Dante and Gingy engaged with four of their own.  They were in a bad way, and Driver knew he couldn’t reach them to help.  He watched as two more Nazgul’s became one with cosmos.  That bit of combat left only Lams, Girias, Roth, and Himself.  No one else had even come close to hitting one of the A-wings.

  Damn

  As if he had projected his thought on the lack of a kill, Girias got a Wing in crossfire with Lams.  The fighter flared and disappeared. 

  “Notch one for the Nazzies, good shooting…” his comment was cut off by a streaking enemy ship.  The unseen combatant sliced through Bomban like a hot knife through butter.
 
  It was now a 10 on three fight.  Those were not what you’d call “good” odds in any plane of existence.  He had two choices: stay and fight, more than likely dying in the process, or bug out and live to fight another day.  Choice two seemed the prudent one at this juncture. 

  He commed the remaining Nazguls, “Break, Break, Break.  Fall back to entry point.  You guys run like hell, I’ll give you as much rearguard as I can.”

  Lams and Roth pushed their TIE’s to the limit and headed out of the asteroids.  Driver saw that it was about to be a very bad day.  He punched up all of the anti-missile flares he had, and all of the protons, missiles and anything else that would make a very big ‘boom’. He flew across the tail of the retreating Nazzies and unleashed everything in a large, bright arc.  The resulting blast was enough to send the pursuers into divergent directions.

  Didn’t kill a lot, but at least we got away

  Unfortunately for G, one of the A-wings had taken a path outside of the blast.  A path that put him squarely on his six.  The simulator shuddered and went black.  The canopy slid open.  G stood up, took off his lid and met the unsmiling gazes of both Shaz and Jeg.

Oh, Damn

OOC:

1140 words, and an incoming ass-chewing.  priceless.

[

Dante sat in his sim cockpit again this time fired up for the mission to come.

The patrol in the asteroid field was similar to this. There will be more of course but then again there is more of us this time as well.

The initial system checks and everything started up and Dante switched on all his controls. Dante saw the oncoming asteroid field and switch fire to single. As they approached the field Shazam and Jeg were shot down by fire bases on the asteroid. Dante pulled out with a high g-turn as fast as he could. Dante felt one shot hit his left wing but it did little more then destroy the paint job.

Dante saw they were the only ones down and they reformed. Dante was stuck with Gingy as his wingman. Dante followed behind Gingy about 50 meters back. They saw as the dozen A-wings pulled into sight. He looked at his radar and saw them merge into one mess of ships.

Dante fired off a couples of shots at the nearest one, but all the shots missed. Gingy fired at the same one and hit two shots directly into the center of the cockpit. The first shot destroyed the shields and the second sent it up in flames.

Dammit! I missed my mark and that bastard Gingy got it. No STOP THAT! Thats your wing mate, this isn't a contest, you need to work together.

They made a pass as two A-wings and all four of them hit with their shots. One of the A-wings was blown up by a hit to the fuel tank, the other lost a wing and had to pull out of the fight and return to base. Dante's right wing had a hole in it and made it difficult to fly. Gingy's ship was hardly damages but two scourge marks were visible on his right wing.

Two more A-wings pulled up behind them, "Shit shit shit," Dante thrusted forwards and tried to out maneuver them. The A-wing's were as good at maneuvering as the Tie's so Dante and Gingy couldn't shake them.

Dante turned port side and dodged a couple of shots, he heard an explosion behind him and looked down at his radar. The dot that was his wing mate Gingy was gone.

Shit no Gingy!

Dante saw shot zoom past his view port as the two reformed on his 6. "I got to lose them," at that moment Dante saw a giant asteroid in front of him. "Thats it, I will use the ploy that saved me in the patrol last time!"

Dante's plan was to duck down below the asteroid and pull up and spin around the asteroid. Dante hoped the A-wings would not turn after him and he could get away scot free. The sound of a crash rang through out Dante's cockpit as one of the blasts from the A-wings guns connected with his backside. Dante's head shot forward them slammed back into his seat.

Dante's helmet cracked and some of the glass fell onto his face. Dante grabbed his face and wiped the glass off as fast as he could.

Wait a minute....oh noooo

Dante threw his hands onto his control yoke and looked out his view port. The asteroid he was going to duck under was about 3 meters in front of him. He release control of the ship and closed his eyes as the ship ran into the asteroid.

The cockpit shook violently and then went black. Dante cursed loudly and step out of the now opened cockpit. He saw Shazam, Jeg, and Gingy standing watching the rest of the squad fight for their lives.

Jegora glanced around, checking out the scenery. It was beautiful. Jegora had never seen such a place before, a place where everything was so pristine. The forests were perfect, the beaches white, the mountains glorious. Something was bothering the young pilot, though. He understood the mission: protect the colony. Still, he couldn’t help but shake the feeling that they were missing something.

Taking a moment to check his radar, Jegora glanced downwards. The radar was clear, showing a couple bird-sized profiles far below, but that was nothing to worry about. Continuing on, Jegora kept an eye on his radar. Finally, after several minutes of flying, the village came in sight. Jegora was surprised to see that when Shazam had claimed village, he had meant village. It was little more than a collection of houses, perhaps twenty or so, and a few larger buildings. Jegora found the village an unlikely target for any sort of attack, but then again it was a simulation.

Shazam opened a channel to the squadron, his calm and confident voice issuing over the radio. “"Nazguls- you have one mission; to protect the village on the north shore from destruction.  There are gun emplacements to assist you, but there may be multiple flights or squadrons heading our way.  I mark two flights of Ys and two flights of Xs bearing 37*42'12'.  Keep your eyes open and your fingers happy; the best to you all."

Jegora checked his radar again to confirm the targets. They were there, and progressing steadily towards the village. He spoke up. “Flights One and Three, focus on the Bombers. They pose the greatest threat to the village. Flight Two, we’re on the X’s. Lets take em out quick and neat.”

A chorus of affirmatives met his statement, and the squadron broke up. The ground turrets were spaced half a kilometer apart. There were two rings around the village, one close and one about four hundred meters outside that one. The turrets were spaced so that there were no gaps in the arrangement. The plan was to intercept the fighters just in front of the first circle and draw them back slightly into the middle, providing both turret rings firing opportunities at the New Republic ships.

Slowly the Nazguls moved towards the ring, watching the New Republic ships and attempting to time their meeting just write. As the two sides neared each other, Jegora spoke again. “On my mark, go full throttle. Let them pass between us,” he said, and then paused, waiting. When the fighters hit the inner ring of turrets, Jegora spoke again. “Now!” he said, and proceeded to follow his own command. Pushing his throttle to the max, Jegora was flung forward. In space, the G-Forces were minimal, caused by extreme maneuvers. On a planet, especially one like this with lots of heavy metals in its crust and core, the gravity caused for uncomfortable situations to say the least.

His TIE jumped forward, his flight following close behind. Soon he was passing between the X-Wings and Y-Wings, red and blue laser bolts flying past his TIE. The Interceptor provided a small target from the front, however, and the entirety of the Imperial squadron passed through unharmed.

Jegora pulled a long turn, which his flight should have followed with ease. Unfortunately, GBM had other ideas. The young pilot tried to pull a snap turn. The maneuver caused an enormous amount of g-forces on the TIE craft. Jegora watched through his starboard view port as a battle raged between the TIE’s structural integrity and the planets natural forces. In the end, the planet won, and one of the TIE’s wings snapped off. Jegora winced. The rest of the flight could only watch, helpless, and GBM’s TIE plummeted towards the ground.

There was silence over the radio for a moment. Each pilot was lost in his or her own thoughts, pondering the loss of a pilot not to enemy fire, but to natural forces beyond anyone’s control. Jegora, especially, was sidetracked by his thoughts. He was thinking about the loss of a pilot so early, especially since that pilot was his wingman.

Jegora remained lost in thought until the lasers started up again. Then he snapped back to attention, and burst into action.


*****************


The programmer grinned as he watched one of the TIEs try to pull a zero-point turn at full speed and tear itself apart. The imperial squadron had yet to draw any blood from the NR forces, and they were already down a man. The turrets had begun to open up on the NR forces, but they were inaccurate and the tech was content to leave the turrets alone for the time being.

Turning to his keyboard the man pressed a key. A window popped up on one of his screens. It was a difficulty selector. At the moment it was set on “Regular”, which the technician was content to leave be. He could always up it later. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, the man turned back to watch the fight.

Two of the Nazgul pilots had cornered one of the Y-Wings and were proceeding to beat its shields into submission with the signature green lasers. After a second of sustained firing the shields cracked and the Y-Wing went up in a flash of flame. Over the radio he had tuned to the Nazgul frequency he could hear the cries of triumph. Just wait, boys and girls, the programmer thought evilly.

Turning his attention to another screen he watched as two X-Wings closed in on an interceptor. Smiling, he waited for the Xs to finish off the imperial ship. Much to the techs disappointment the Interceptor pulled a fancy maneuver and managed to end up behind one of the X-Wings. Suddenly the situation was reversed, and the Interceptor unloaded its guns into the X-Wings shields. The fire only last a quick second, and the Xs shields held, but not by much. The programmer let out a low whistle. He had to give them credit: some of these Nazgul pilots knew their craft.

In another screen two of the turrets were bearing down on another Y-Wing. Although most of the shots were missing, the overpowered turbolaser cannons killed the shields in two shots and destroyed the chassis in another. Wincing as the Y-Wing lost an engine pylon and spun off out of control, crashing into the forest below.

The man shook his head. All in good time, he thought, all in good time.

"Excellent job, pilots- but I think it's time we changed it up a little bit. We'll be flying atmospherically..." And with that, the commander was off to his pod, the members of Nazgul staring on from behind. Then, after exchanging looks of "well?" with one another, Dante stutter stepped forward, his grin somewhat precarious and indicative of holy terror as he entered his pod, his fellow pilots slowly coming out of their stupor and vaulted to their positions.

Dante sat down in his cockpit, and waited for the program to start. Dante heard a knock on his door and opened it, to find a tech standing with a replacement helmet. Dante had forgotten that he had broke his last one in the previous sim. "Ughhh thanks for the helmet."

"Just don't break another one, they arn't cheap you know." The tech said and walked off. Dante closed his cockpit door once more and strapped himself in.

"You ready now Dante?" Shazam asked over the com system.

"Yes sir, I am ready," Dante replied turning on his ships systems. All the lights began flashing and he twisted knobs and flipped switches. He selected single fire and kept his missiles locked for this mission.

I would never hear the end of it if I hit the village, so just to be safe.

Dante watched as the view port's black screen became filled with sky. looking at his radar Dante saw no enemies yet so he took the time to look around. The place was beautiful, Dante had never even seen a place like this before. His home world was a giant cityscape with few trees but lots of skyscrapers.

"Nazguls- you have one mission; to protect the village on the north shore from destruction. There are gun emplacements to assist you, but there may be multiple flights or squadrons heading our way. I mark two flights of Ys and two flights of Xs bearing 37*42'12'. Keep your eyes open and your fingers happy; the best to you all."

Dante's eyes jumped from the luscious forest to his radar. Shazam was right! there were multiple flights of enemy aircraft going right for them, and more importantly the village. Dante sat straight up and grasp the control yoke firmly. Dante looked at the oncoming aircraft, there was a mix of Y-wing bombers with an equal X-wing escort for them.

“Flights One and Three, focus on the Bombers. They pose the greatest threat to the village. Flight Two, we’re on the X’s. Lets take em out quick and neat.” Jeg called out over the com system. Dante nodded in agreement and broke off to the left with Shazam, Lousy and Lamel. Flight one with Dante and the rest had turned port side to attack the Y-wings on their left while Flight 3 had went Starboard to take their right side. That left Flight 1 with the middle and all the X-wings.

I really do hope that Jeg and them can take all of those X-wings. I really liked him too, not a bad pilot or fighter either.

Shazam was pulled off by a couple of X-wings that headed for them instead of Jeg's flight. He left Dante and the rest in charge of dealing with the bombers. Two of the bombers tried coming up from below and get behind them but Dante and lousy saw this ahead of time and pulled up. Not reacting quick enough Lamel was left behind as bait.

Shit Lamel! Awwww well if life gives you lemons...

Dante and Lousy pulled back on the throttle and slowed down to get behind the approaching bombers. When they targeted Lamel and went in for the kill the two Nazgul pilots struck from above in a hail of green rain. The laser cannon fire engulfed the two Y-wings in a fiery ball of death as the plummeted to the ground. "Hey Lousy, who do you think got the kills for that? Both or just one of us ha," Dante shouted as he pulled out and realigned with Lamel.

"Dante I need your help, your my wingman where the hell are you!" Shazam shouted to Dante on a private com channel.

"Coming sir, sorry had to help Lamel and Lousy." Dante turned his Tie off and zoomed away, leaving Lousy and Lamel to the bombers and their guards for now.

Scanning his radar Dante found his wing mate Shazam a click to the west. Dante also saw three red dots flying right behind him in a chase. Thrusting on his throttle Dante picked up speed trying to get to his wing mate before it was to late. He pulled up into the air a little to avoid hitting trees or anything while flying at speeds not meant for atmosphere combat. Glancing down at the radar he counted the green dots on the screen. One was missing, "Who went down?" Dante quickly asked over the coms.

Jeg responded almost instantly, "It was Gingy, that damned bastard tried turning to sharp and blew a wing." There was a moment of silence, "Let that be a lesson to all of you to watch it in here, this isn't like space combat like your use to."

Dante decreased his speed a little not wanting to make the same mistake as Gingy. Without even realizing he was there he saw Shazam's craft zoom past him, followed by three X-wings. Two of the wings broke off and turned around. Dante's target lock alarm went off. "Shit there on me now!"

"Dante when I said come help me I didn't mean to get two on your own tail."

Dante's breathe began to quicken and he grasped the control yoke tighter.

Well time to fly or die!

OOC:

954 words

Jegora grinned as he pulled his ship out of a turn. He loved this. Space combat was exciting, fast, and you could pull some major maneuvers, but atmospheric combat was true flying. Jegora loved the feeling as he pulled gravity defying maneuvers, the feeling that he was not only defying gravity, but the universe. So even while he was being shot at by two dozen X-Wings, Jegora was having the time of his life.

Pulling up sharply and rolling his craft, Jegora performed a classic Immelman, one of the easiest and most effective maneuvers ever created, both for space combat and atmospheric combat. Of course, the Interceptor had to cheat in atmo; because it wasn’t aerodynamically designed, the Empire relied on repulsor technology to keep the TIE in the air. As if to punctuate Jegora’s last thought his repulsors shorted out for a second, causing his TIE to drop almost fifteen feet before the lifts kicked back on. Keeping his rising alarm at bay, Jegora calmly checked his systems for any sign of trouble. All lights were green. Jegora sighed, relieved that nothing was going drastically wrong with his TIE. Still, he had a deep sense of unease he couldn’t root out.

Shaking his head, Jegora turned his attention back to the fight. Since GBM had tore himself apart it had just been Rusti and Jegora. Together the two experienced pilots had killed off several of the X-Wings, and Rusty had clipped a Y-Wing. Now, however, they had lost the element of confusion. The X-Wings had marked them as their biggest threats, meaning that now the majority of the eighteen X-Wings were screaming for the two pilots. With a cold resolve, Jegora radioed Rusty.

“Ready?” he asked simply.

Rusty’s only response was a rather nasty growl. Jegora figured the wookie was promising something along the lines of a beating, but he couldn’t be sure. Right now, he had bigger problems. At the moment he was traveling at a leisurely pace, taking stock of the battle below. One and Three flights were doing well against the Y-Wings. Jegora counted just over half of the old fighters still on his radar. There were eighteen of the X-Wings left. The Nazgul pilots had done very well, taking out their own number of Rebel fighters and more. But now Jegora had a feeling that the NR ships were tightening a noose. Over the last fifteen minutes he had been flying in long circles, picking targets at will. Now he was being forced to fly a certain path; beyond anything else, this worried Jegora. To fly where your enemy wanted you to fly was never a good idea.

Halfway through his last thought Jegora glanced down. The sight caused him to kick his TIE to full speed. No less than fifteen X-Wings were making a sharp climb to where Rusty and Jeg were leisurely circling the field. Again worry rose in the pit of Jegora’s stomach, but he shoved it back down. While the X-Wings were more heavily armed and armored than the Interceptors, the Interceptors could still outmaneuver them. Still, a lot of that advantage was lost due to the presence of atmosphere. It would be an interesting fight.

Rolling his ship ninety degrees onto its side, Jegora pulled back sharply on his control sticks. The move allowed the fighter to turn at a greater degree than was normally possible. Coming around, Jegora rolled back to parallel and tilted his fighter downwards slightly. He was now flying straight at the X-Wings. As he approached the large group he flipped on his concussion missiles. Soon his targeting computer was beeping every second or so, informing Jegora of lock after lock. Finally, Jegora picked a target. Pulling his ordnance trigger, Jegora let the missile fly and pulled up sharply.

The target Jegora had chosen was an X-Wing in the middle of the group. As Jegora let the missile go most of the x-Wings scattered, but three or four in the middle were flying blind due to the interference caused by the rest of the NR X-Wings. For a split second the missile would have been visible to the target, then it detonated.

The effect of the detonation in atmo was spectacular. The shockwave was three times as large, as was the actual explosion itself. The target X-Wing was literally disintegrated. The three X-Wings closest too it had their shields disintegrated, and they were knocked into uncontrollable spirals. Two of the X-Wings smashed into the ground, and a turbolaser turret finished off the third. When all was said and done, four X-Wings were out of the fight, and three more had no shielding.

With a feral roar, Rusty leapt back into the fight. Jegora had no choice but to follow the insane wookie into the fray, guns blazing. Jegora managed to destroy a Y-Wing that crossed his path, and Rusty shot an X-Wing down, but soon the two pilots were caught up in a fur ball the likes of which Jegora had never seen. It was all the two pilots could do to stay alive. Resigning himself to what appeared to be a brutal death, Jegora started searching for another target.

Just as a missile lock warning went off in his cockpit, Jegora saw salvation approach. Gshlecc and Roth were cutting a path through the X-Wings straight towards the two Imperial pilots. Using the distraction Flight Three provided, Jegora and Rusty once again went on the offensive. Another X-Wing fell to the pair before the New Republic fighters realized what was happening. The odds had turned. Now there were only ten X-Wings left, and Jegora could see no more than six Y-Wings on his radar.

With a  feeling of hope, Jegora threw himself back into the fight.


********************


The programmer grinned evilly. So far the Nazgul pilots had done extremely well. But that was about to come to an end. Pressing a series of keys on a separate keyboard, the programmer set into motion his failsafe. Cackling like an evil genius the programmer sat back to watch the show.

Dante dodges to port side, barely avoiding a whirl of red lasers that flew past his TIE. The X-wings were giving him quite a chase and Shaz was busy with his own X-wing. They had bin at it for about a minute now and Dante had luckily dodge everything shot.

I got to get rid of these bastards or I am done for! But how! That is the real question. Lets see here what to do? No no no no

Dante had to break thought for a moment and dodge starboard to avoid another shot that was fired at him. Dante yelled into his com, "Attention everyone, attetention, I have two X-wings on my six and can't shake 'em. I'm currently going north 2 clicks north of the objective."

Dante didn't wait for a confirmation and pulled up as fast as he could. The two X-wings followed him; they increase the gap a few meters though.  Dante leveled out and finished his Immelman maneuver and barrel rolled over to the left immediately afterwards.

Gotta keep moving and dodging, relief will come. Oh god I hope it comes! Wait what the awww

Dante's whole TIE shook violently as a shot connected with his shields. Some alarms in his cockpit went off indicating that his shields were down 25%. Dante pulled down into a second barrel roll, dodging three more shots.

I can't make it much longer, dammit where are you Shaz! God either him or I am a horrible wing man because I'm sitting here with two BLOODY X-wings chasing me all over the skys. Wait I got it! The turrets around the village, I can use them to shake them.

Dante pulled up again and used a half loop to turn around. Thrusting forward, Dante’s ship shook again. Another shot had hit his ship, this time it hit his wing and brought his shields down to 25%.

Dante looked down at his radar; he was only a click away from the ring. Dipping down a little, Dante managed to dodge a volley of fire that the two had sent his way. The rings of turrents were now in sight of Dante's view port. Dante shouted in excitement as he knew he was going to make.

The turrets soon opened up with a couple volleys of shots. About 15 shots had hit each of the X-wings and both of them went up in flames. Like fiery meteors the two X-wings crashed down to the planet.

Dante relaxed and looked at his radar to see the ever decreasing amount of enemy dots on his radar. All the sudden a friendly green dot vanished. Blinking to make sure what he saw was correct Dante spoke into his com system once again, "Nazgul 10 come in!"

The call was returned in static and silence. Dante was two clicks away from where the dot was last on his radar so it was out of his sight range. Dante called again, "Nazgul 10 are you there? Rothhhh!"

"He is down Dante they got him," a voice said over the com, but Dante couldn't figure out who it was.

That instant a flight of three Y-wings flew in front of Dante at a slightly lower altitude and speed. Seizing this opportunity to score his first kill of the season Dante clicked his targeting knob and locked onto the center ship. He unlocked his missiles and waited for his confirm lock signal.

As his lock settled the warning signals on the Y-wing must have gone off because it instantly turn starboard trying to break lock. Dante laughed, he fired the missile and watched as his spur of moment plan unfold. The ship he aimed at managed to dodge the missile, but that was the whole plan. Knowing how simulators worked Dante targeted the center ship so when it dodged then the missile would hit his wing man on whatever way he turned. Like moths to the flame it worked and the ship's left wing exploded and the Y-wing spiraled down through the air only to be ripped to shreds by one of the turrets on the ground.

Dante pulled out as the turrets fired a bunch of shots off into the other two Y-wings. None of the shots hit but Dante wasn't gonna risk being hit by a stray bullet.

When the turrets moved onto the Y-wings fighter escort that was strafing the turrets Dante moved back in and got behind the Y-wings again. They didn't notice him sitting behind them as the swooped down to commence a bombing run on the village.

Oh no you don't not on my watch. Wait what the!

The two remaining Y-wings were pelted with a mass number of green lasers. The shots quickly destroyed the shields and tore into the hull of the ships. They fell out of the skies as motionless masses. Dante's eyes jumped down to the radar and saw Nazgul 3 and 4 approaching from the West. "Wohoa good job Lousy, nice one Lamel," Dante cried as he say his fellow flight members come into view.

Dante shifted course and aligned behind them. "How many Y-wings are left guys?" Dante asked scanning his radar.

"I think only a couple of them left, there is still quite a few X-wings left as well." Lousy replied.

"What if another wave comes in guys," Lamel asked as they turned to hunt for more Y-wings.

"Then we would be screwed, we lost GMB and Roth to this wave and most of us have depleted or almost depleted shields to worry about," Dante said.

OOC:

930 words

Descending down from the heavens, firing at one of the three little X-Wings who seemed tiny but were growing very fast as they were gaining altitude like crazy. Each flight blasted their way through one of the X-Wings. Girias had the first shots,  he took down most of the enemy shield with Lamel blasting her way through the severely weakened shields.

"Nice shooting Lamel, you got 'em right in the cockpi ... What the heck ?"

He quickly pulled upwards, with one of the lasers from the planetairy cannons taking a small piece out of the left wing of his TIE Interceptor, this caused for a slight pull to the left side but he couldn't realise that yet. He heard the orders from Jegora and was very glad that he hadn't go through the whole bombing generator thing and got to kill more rebels. When the last X-Wings came flying up they dodge wat little fire was focused on them and several lasers from the cannons flied between the X-Wings in and were targeted for the TIEs. But each pilot has good reflexes and the agility of the TIE Interceptor led to an easy escape from the lasers. Girias was the first to break off from the rest as he started following an X-Wing from a higher altitude. The X-Wings was making a slow ascend, and not counting on Girias, followed the same angle for a while. Girias descended in a sharp angle and was trying to get a lock on the X-Wing. When he finally got his lock another part flew out of the left wing causing it to drag to the left, making him miss his shots.
Cursing he corrected the flaw by pulling more to the right but when he looked back, his target had disappeared. Another quick curse slipped out of his mouth as he started looking for the X-Wing. When he ahd finally found it, it was above him, preparing to do a very sharp overhead turn to get into shooting position. Girias reacted by diving but diving so that he was making a big loop de loop, catching the X-Wing off guard. He had flown further and now had Girias on his tail again, the roles had reversed, again.This time Girias wasn't taking any chances and switched from his main cannons to his Anti Fighter Missiles which take a tad longer to lock, but can't miss due to this small flaw. The upside down X-Wing was completely surprised and could barely maneuver to save its life. The missile lock came a bit longer than normal, due to the X-Wing wobbling a bit but without actually dodging it. A quick press of the button later and a missile dropped from the Launcher, only to activate it's main thruster a few feet under the TIE Interceptor and hit the left engine, causing an extra big explosion but the shockwave was even bigger, and Girias was caught in it. The shockwave pushed him and his TIE backwards, damaging it. While Girias was shrugging off the confusion and damage he suddenly heard a very annoying peeping noise, it was the lock alarm. Because of his descent to catch this X-Wing, he had flown back into the range of the cannons. He immediately pulled up and did some fancy flying including very sharp turns left and right, zigzagging and more which saved his butt. As he reached a very high altitude he shifted his engines to fly circles while he tried to find some spare energie in useless systems for his shields. He had escaped from battle, but would return just as soon as he would feel threatened, as he could target an enemy or if one of his Squadron Mates were in trouble.

"Guys, I'm out for a few seconds. I'm checking some stuff but I'll head back as soon as possible."

He looked through all active systems and found some programs that did nothing and rerouted every single piece of power that went through damaged circuits to his shields. His TIE had been damaged quite a bit but was still capable of flight and combat, And his shields were now back to 50-ish %. He smiled when he saw the small control panel for his shields and saw a good yellow colour surrounding the picture of the TIE Interceptor. The TIE Interceptor started descending again, looking for a new target or for assisting help to others while remaining at a safe altitude from the planetairy cannons.

OOC:

759, bit of a short one but I'm out of things to say ^^

Roth watched as his flight leader and a couple other Nazzies mopped up the Y wings with ease, and he laughed as Rusty drove one into a stand of trees. He nodded as they destroyed the system controlling the turrets, it was the best thing they could’ve done in the circumstances.

He looked next to him, over to Gingy and remarked, “I bet you’ll never hear the end of that, eh? They’re gonna start calling that mistake pulling a Gingy.” He smiled at his own joke before turning back to the screen, just in time to see G pull a maneuver unfamiliar to him, then a fist blocked his view, as Roth leaned back a bit just in time. In surprise, Roth fell off his chair, and looked over at his fellow squadron mate, whose face was red, and he was pulling back his foot in preparation to kick Roth in the head.

Roth threw out his guard as he tried to stand, and just in time, the kick glancing off. Gingy grabbed the chair to steady him and tried to throw a punch at Roth while he was still trying to stand up. It connected, and Roth fell back down, this time using the momentum to roll backwards and back on his feet.

“You guerful, you’re gonna regret sucker punching me like that.” Gingy threw another punch, but this time, Roth was ready, and he caught the punch in the palm of his hand. He grasped Gingy’s clenched fist and pulled him in while throwing a punch with the other hand. Gingy caught it full in the face, a doubly forceful blow due to colliding action of the punch and the pulling in. Gingy flew back and landed on his back, but he wouldn’t stay down. He rolled to his chest and stood up. With blood streaming down his now broken nose, he threw himself at Roth, putting his body weight into a punch. It caught Roth in the gut, and he gasped for breath. He staggered a bit, giving Gingy another chance to attack, and he charged again, throwing another punch. This time, Roth dodged it, and at the same time used Gingy’s own momentum to throw him against a nearby wall.

Gingy stood up; holding his sides, apparently the force of the throw was enough to crack a rib. He grabbed a stool, and broke a leg off, and with one arm holding his side, charged Roth again, who sidestepped, letting Gingy come to a staggering halt. The fight was over; Gingy’s injuries were severe enough to convince Roth not to continue fighting. He walked over to Gingy, and took the stool leg out of his hand, tossing it aside. He walked over to a comm embedded into the wall and paged the medics to come and pick Gingy up. It would be about fifteen minutes before they would get here, and Roth tried to convince Gingy to stop fighting.

Gingy however had other ideas. He was slowly losing consciousness due to the pain caused by the broken rib and nose, but he refused to stop punching Roth. He shook his head and supported Gingy as he finally blacked out, blood everywhere. Just at that moment, Dante stepped out of his simulator, and gasped at the sight of blood, which Gingy sprayed everywhere after Roth broke his nose. Roth was in the motion of laying him down on the ground and Dante came running up to him, just at the same time as the medics broke the scene. Roth backed away from the angry looking Dante, holding his hands up. “Hey, I didn’t start it,” was all he had to say. Roth looked like he was going to throw up, when he spit out the fragments of a tooth.

OOC:

WC 632

Jegora cringed as he watched Dante spiral into the ground. Slowly but surely the Nazguls were losing pilots. He wasn’t too worried though, because so were the New Republic fighters, and at a much greater rate then the Imperials. Still, it was never a good thing to lose pilots, and Jegora wanted to avoid it as much as possible. Shaking himself mentally Jegora pulled out of his reverb just in time to dodge a string of laser fire that a passing X-Wing doled out. Swearing at his own fleeting thoughts Jegora tried to clear his head of some of the fatigue he was dealing with.

Plunging his interceptor into a downward arc, Jegora jockeyed for position with one of the X-Wings. Somewhere along the line he had become separated from the rest of the squadron, which was never good. Sighing to himself he dug into his energy reserves, hoping this was the last simulation the squadron was running today. He had known that functioning at full capability would be challenging with forty-eight sleepless hours, but he hadn’t expected to be so sluggish, his thoughts wandering off in every direction. Still, he was holding his own. It was hard to remember that he only had a few months on the rookies; it seemed like he was years more experienced. To him it was still amazing what half a year of combat flight duty could do to a person, both mentally and physically.

There I go again, he thought to himself, thoughts wandering all over the place. Focus Fal!

With a mental jerk he brought himself back to the present, and all the problems that came with it. He had another X-Wing coming up on his four o’clock and the one he was in a turn fight with at that particular moment had just pulled some fancy maneuver and had gained a bit of position.

Oh no you don’t…, Jegora thought at the NR pilot. Adjusting his power outputs to provide more thrust to his left ion engine, Jegora broke four or five rules of atmospheric combat with a gravity-defying maneuver that put his TIE Interceptor in prime position for a kill. It also caused tremendous stress on the aircrafts frame. Cursing, Jegora prayed that the ship would hold together. After a tremendous groan from one of the wing struts, the TIE settled down and Jegora let out a long breath.

He didn’t waste any time though. He was now literally right on the X-Wings tail, a prime attack position. His targeting computer required little adjustment to get a lock on the large Rebel ship, and with a tight smile Jegora depressed his laser triggers and watched as the green lasers arced into the X-Wing. The shields absorbed the first second or so of lasers, but Jegora dumped excess power into his guns and the bolts intensified, overloading even the powerful X-Wing’s shields and biting into the relatively weak plating on the engines of the large ship.

Suddenly something detonated in the X-Wing. Jegora quickly pulled his fighter into a steep climb to avoid the spectacular fireball. It never ceased to amaze him the explosion fighters caused when they exploded in atmosphere. In space the fighters caused small fireball, and only for a few seconds before the oxygen burnt up. But in atmosphere (well, in most atmospheres) there was no lack of oxygen, making for extremely exciting explosions and fireballs. It also made things dangerous for the pilots. In space a pilot could simply fly through the small and short lived fireball. In atmo the explosions would roast most fighters, save those with heavy particle shielding and thick armor.

Pushing his throttle all the way forward Jegora continued to pull back on his control sticks. The TIE Interceptor was almost at a ninety degree angle now, climbing up past the light cloud layer and into the brilliant sunlight beyond. He checked his radar; sure enough the other X-Wing was following him, albeit at a shallower rate of climb. Jegora continued to climb into the upper atmosphere, well into the thermosphere. The X-Wing kept following him, and Jegora let out a feral grin.

Because the X-Wing was more aerodynamic than the TIE Interceptor it had a bit of an advantage in atmospheric combat. By climbing into the upper limits of the atmosphere, Jegora had effectively eliminated the X-Wings advantage, while keeping his own speed and maneuverability. It was now a one on one fight between an X-Wing and a TIE Interceptor in high orbit; the outcome was almost predetermined.

The X-Wing was still a kilometer below him when Jegora slowed his ship, using his repulsor lifts to stall the Interceptor and maneuver it. With a deft adjustment of his left hand Jegora spun the Interceptor around and brought it face to face with the climbing X-Wing. With a feral snarl, he plunged downward.

Jegora did fire, but only a few distracting shots to keep the X-Wing pilot disoriented. The real trick came after the Interceptor passed the X-Wing. Stalling his ship again he spun it around and kicked it back into full throttle. Now he was behind the X-Wing. The enemy pilot realized his predicament and immediately began to perform random evasive maneuvers. Jegora’s ship was more maneuverable by far, though, and he stuck with the X-Wing until he got a lock with his lasers. He opened up on the Rebel ship, only to see the multitude of green bolts splash against the other fighter’s formidable shields.

Pulling a snap roll down and to the right the X-Wing managed to get away from Jegora for a brief second. It was all the enemy pilot needed, however. With a deft maneuver Jegora failed to predict the X-Wing pilot spun his ship around, opening up with his cannons before he could even get a lock. In the end it didn’t matter; the two fighters were close enough, and Jegora was traveling slow enough that the X-Wings multiple laser cannons managed to splash a few bolts of his shields. Kicking his throttle into full gear Jegora pulled up and away from the X-Wing, his ship in a dangerous spin. When he was safely out of the X-Wing’s firing lane Jegora took a moment to think out his next move.

He had two or three options; first off he could turn his ship around and go in for a straight joust. It would be the quickest way to finish the X-Wing off, but the New Republic pilot would probably see it coming and vaporize him before he could get close enough to fire. Jegora’s shields were already down to fifty percent, and he didn’t want to risk dying. His second option was to pull a wide arc and try to take the X-Wing from behind. If he could build up enough speed and trick the X-Wing for a few seconds, this was doable, but it still presented a great risk. If the X-Wing pilot discovered what he was up to the X-Wing could merely pivot and open up on him. Jegora grimaced; he didn’t like either of those choices, but he was out of time to think.

With a roar the X-Wing was coming in at full speed, all cannons blazing. Jegora had to grin. He kicked his TIE up to speed and sped towards the X-Wing, his guns firing as well. Neither fighter could get a lock on the other without risking a direct hit, but the lasers were uncomfortably close. As the fighters neared, Jegora had another concern: neither of the fighters was appearing to pull up, and both were on the same flight line.

When the two ships had neared to within a hundred meters Jegora yanked up on his control stick. The TIE immediately responded, rising up over the X-Wing. Jegora then performed yet another gravity defying move: he rolled, turned, and pitched his ship all at the same time. The result was yet another groan from one of the wing struts, but it also put Jegora directly behind the speeding X-Wing. Wasting no time Jegora opened up with his lasers. The X-Wings already weak shielding gave out, and Jegora sent the New Republic ship spinning towards the ground in a fiery ball of death.

With a triumphant look in his eyes Jegora dove back down to the main fight. The triumphant feeling quickly dissipated as Jegora gazed on the scene below him.

There was a lone Interceptor struggling to survive against two X-Wings, both of whom appeared to be extremely skilled. The Interceptor was holding its own, however, trading shots every now and then and taking few red bolts, if any. Still, it was apparent that the Imperial ship wouldn’t last long. Jegora quickly readjusted his flight path and tried to mil even more out of his engines.

As he neared the trio of fighters Jegora drained some engine out of his shields and engines to bolster his guns. He would need to take the X-Wing out quickly, and for that he needed all the firepower possible without risking his life. Checking his sensors Jegora checked which X-Wing had the weakest shields, and dialed that one in on his targeting computers. It didn’t take very long at all to get a lock; apparently the X-Wings were so focused on the other Interceptor they failed to notice Jegora’s craft screaming in at them.

With a snarl Jegora depressed his firing control buttons, releasing deadly high-powered green lasers into the X-Wings shields. The already drained shields on the X-Wing gave out under the TIE’s increased firepower, and soon the lasers were scorching the armor of the craft. By now the X-Wing was trying to get away, but Jegora was determined to put this particular ship in the ground. Wiping sweat off his brow Jegora sped off from the fight right behind X-Wing. The pilot was skilled, alright. Twice he almost shook Jegora off, and once he managed to do so. Only a quick roll turn on Jegora’s part had saved him from the X-Wing’s cannons. Eventually though the superior maneuverability of the TIE won out over the X-Wing’s bulk, and Jegora managed to finish the New Republic ship off.

As he did so Jegora’s cockpit went black. Other pilot must have gotten the last one, then he thought to himself. With a weary shove he pushed the cockpit simulator open and climbed out. In the room beyond the rest of the Nazgul pilots were standing around, not watching the view screens as Jegora expected but talking among themselves excitedly. Jegora shrugged and walked over to where Shazam was climbing out of his own simulator.

“What happened there at the end?” Jegora asked the Captain. “We had numbers, and we were doing well.”

Shazam just shook his head, a tight smile on his face. “After you destroyed that X-Wing and led the other on a merry chase two of the X-Wings upped it a notch. They took out Rusty first from behind, seeing him as a threat I suppose. Then they systematically wiped everyone out. Gshlecc got the last of the other X-Wings right before he was destroyed, and I finished of the Y-Wings.”

Jegora nodded. He was definitely going to have a talk with the programmer when this was done. “Either way, it was a success, I suppose. They all flew better,” the young flight leader said.

Turning questioning eyes up to Jegora, Shazam spoke softly. “Tell that to their families after a real combat run. Granted, they did better, but it wasn’t a complete victory. Still, I think they’ll be alright,” the older man said.

Jegora gave a tight nod and moved off to see what all the commotion was at the other end of the room. As he got there he was Dante standing right in front of Roth, shaking a fist threateningly. Laying a massive hand on the younger mans shoulder, Jegora spoke.

“Alright boys, lets settle down,” he said, his voice lacking any emotion and laced with fatigue.

Dante was the first to speak, and rather vehemently. “Roth beat the crap out of Gingy!” he said, obviously disgusted with Roth.

Jegora turned his cold blue gaze onto Roth. “Is that true?” he said, his voice even harder, all traces of weariness gone.

Roth swallowed visibly under Jegora’s hard gaze. Slowly he nodded. “But it wasn’t like that. I cracked a joke, and he freaked out. Attacked me, he did. We ended up beating the crap out of each other, really. But he managed to break a rib, so I called medical to come and take him off.”

Jegora nodded. Roth did indeed look worse for wear. Still, fighting was unacceptable between squadron mates. They could fight with each other, but not against each other. The difference could mean life or death. With that in mind, Jegora spoke again. “We’ll talk later,” he said.

Roth just nodded. Turning his gaze back towards the crowd, Jegora looked for Shazam. The older commander was nowhere to be seen. With a sigh Jegora turned his attention back to the squadron. “Alright, let’s move out. We have a debriefing in 433a, straight down the hall.”

Without further comment Jegora took the lead, walking swiftly despite his fatigue. He made his way to the proper door, opened it, and stepped in side. He was greeted by fifteen or so seats, more like desks really, all facing a view screen at one e3nd of the room. Standing at the head of the room, next to the view screen was a rather tired looking man, about thirty years old. He was a NCO of some sort, though of what rank Jegora wasn’t sure. Jegora motioned for his squadron to sit, and then moved over to where the man was standing.

Extending a hand, which the man shook, Jegora studied the NCO. He was a little shorter than Jegora, thin, with brown hair that was going slightly gray. His brown eyes were alert, though. When he was done with his half-second inspection, Jegora spoke. “I presume you are to give us a debriefing on our exercises?” the Imperial pilot asked.

The man nodded. “Aye. I had the opportunity of watching your simulations, and I’m here to critique you.”

Jegora nodded and moved back to take a seat near the rear of the room. He wanted to watch his pilots’ reactions to the NCO’s critique. Jegora had sat through these before, and they were never pretty. They almost always, however, made the pilots better, and that was all Jegora was concerned about. He could make them feel better later, but they could have a mission at any time, and Jegora wanted his squadron mates to be as trained as possible. So with a sigh, Jegora settled in.

Overall, the debriefing went well. A few of the pilots, Dante and Rusty especially, were disgruntled to get called out on certain maneuvers they had made. Shaz was never mentioned, except in passing. Jegora received praise once and a reprimand twice. The first time was for almost tearing his fighter apart; the second time was when he left the squadron and climbed into the upper atmosphere. According to the NCO he had left his squadron without a much needed experienced pilot, and in hindsight Jegora had to agree. Still, what was done was done and Jegora wasn’t going to waste time dwelling on his mistakes. He made a mental note of what he had done wrong, and then pushed any form of guild out of his mind.

When the debriefing was over Jegora stood up, thanked the NCO and moved to the front of the room. “Good work today, Nazguls. You have some at ease time now. I suggest you all rest up.”

With that the 6’2” flight leader left the room, his face hard with fatigue, but his posture tall, his back straight, his footsteps controlled and graceful. The squadron watched him go, wondering where he was going. Then the wookie stood up and let out a roar. Everyone let out a laugh. They all knew where he was going, at least.

OOC:

2,680 words

Jegora sighed as he made his way back to his quarters. It had been a long last few days. He had lost his squadron commander, gotten him back, lost him again, ran a squadron, and had absolutely no sleep what so ever. He was exhausted, angry, happy, sad, jealous, weary…but most of all he simply wanted to sleep.

As he walked down the various corridors of the Atrus, trying not to get lost,  he thought about his recent confrontation with Roth. The lad had proven trouble from the start, but he had also proven to be an able pilot.

Listen to me, Jegora thought to himself, the kid is probably older than I am. Sheesh. I just must feel old.

Jegora let himself smile slightly at that one. Yes, he wasn’t much older age wise than the new recruits, but he had six months of combat flight duty underneath his belt, and that counted for quite a bit. Yes, Roth and gotten into two fights, but Jegora knew the second one was something he had no control over. Jegora wished he would have kept his temper under control instead of threatening the boy with a discharge. It was something that would never happen for a simple fistfight, but still…maybe it wasn’t a bad thing. Fighting wasn’t well tolerated by Officers, and the Phoenix Wing Command had stricter standards than most. Perhaps it was for the best that Jegora had threatened him. That way he was less likely to do it again.

With a resigned sigh he shook his head. He had finally made it to the Nazgul section of the ship, passing through their At Ease lounge, the small mess area, and into the corridor that housed them all. His room was about a third of the way down. It wasn’t a large room, but it wasn’t the smallest either. Keying in his code, Jegora pushed open the door…and froze.

There, standing in the middle of his room, was Nell. Jegora had to blink a few times, and even went so far as to shake his head. It had been almost two days since he had last seen the Senior Crewman, when she had attacked him for ‘killing’ Iron. That she was here at all was shocking; last Jegora knew she had been discharged for attacking a superior officer. Still, Jegora kept calm, as always. That is, until he pulled a pistol up to bear on him. Then he began to panic slightly.

The panic slowly faded to anger as he recognized the gun. It was his own DC-15 Blaster pistol he kept with his flight gear for emergency situations. The damn woman had gone and stole his gun, and was now pointing it at him. That was something that no man could go through calmly.

Jegora gritted his teeth and tried to stop himself from saying something that would only antagonize the woman. Still, it was a hard process, made even more difficult by Jegora’s fatigue. He managed to subdue his anger, however, and much to his satisfaction the smug grin Nell had been wearing slowly slid off her face, her excitement at seeing him upset replaced by anger at his lack of emotion.

Jegora took a hesitant step forward in Nell’s general direction, only to have her bring the blaster more fully to bear on the large Flight Leader. Gritting his teeth again, Jegora tried to talk her out of whatever she was planning to do.

“Alright Nell, now what?” he said. “Go ahead, shoot me. See how far you get before a squad of Marines track you down and put you up against a wall.”

Much to Jegora’s dismay the young woman hardly seemed phased. Instead, he was grinning again, the barrel of the gun pointing directly at Jegora’s head. Swearing to himself, Jegora shifted his weight. The move seemed to go unnoticed. That was good, he thought to himself, but it wasn’t going to help unless he could distract the crazy woman with the gun. Opening his mouth, he tried to talk to her again.

“So how did you get out of the Brig?” he asked casually.

Nell seemed startled by the question, but the gun never wavered. She did answer, though, in her high pitched voice. “Easy. Once I explained the situation to the guard, he let me slip out.”

Jegora had to pause and think about that. What kind of lie had she concocted that let a highly trained Military Police officer let her escape? Jegora could only assume, but his assumptions were bad enough. He was quite sure he didn’t want to know the truth, and he was quite sure he never wanted to meet this guard. Jegora took another half step backwards. Even though it was unlikely that the guard had actually come with her to Jegora’s room, the Imperial pilot wasn’t about to take any chances. He figured that if he could get safely to the door way, then he could make a break for it. The DC-15 was set for close range, and Jegora was fast enough that if he got a few second lead he would be out of range before Nell could even get a shot off.

That was his hope anyways.

Jegora took another slow step backwards. This time the gun snapped up. She was actually sighting down the barrel. What the hell is happening here, Jegora thought to himself. Things had suddenly gone crazy. Maybe he had passed out or something, and this was all a hallucination-

That thought was cut off by the burning singe of a blaster bolt into his shoulder. Letting out a roar, Jegora collapsed from the pain.

Then everything went black.

OOC:

900 something words, bit short but I’m tired. Hence why this probably didn’t make much sense, but I’ll finish it up tomorrow with the conclusion of the mission. No one is to write about me unless I give the all clear. Thanks, and remember: this is over TOMORROW!

Roth woke up with a start as his chrono blared into his ear. He resisted the urge to crush it under his fist, and sat up on his bead. He cursed when his head hit the top bunk. He stood up and rubbed his head, then found his shoes and put them on. He half stumbled out of the dorm room, and went into the hallway. There weren’t many people in the hallways, they were probably still asleep. Roth cleared the bleariness out of his eyes, and made his way to the mess hall. The eggs and milk hadn’t done much to soothe his appetite.

He entered the room, and looked around, only two or three people in there, and none he recognized. Grabbing a platter, he loaded up his plate with pancakes, butter and syrup, meat of some kind, and a cup of coffee. He took a bite of the meat, and chewed it on his uninjured side, thinking reflectively. Though the NCO in the debriefing last night didn’t say anything directly to Roth, he knew he screwed up big time in the simulations; he didn’t even last long enough to make any difference. He thought back to the ambush in the asteroid field, and what an idiot he’d been to forget about the gun emplacements. Forget! How in the hells did he forget something that fracking important!

The more he thought of that, the more pissed he became, the more preoccupied with his thinking, and eventually, a sharp pain moved up and down his jaw, then his entire body. He looked down and realized he’d practically bitten the fork, but fortunately it didn’t cause anything more than pain to his jaw. Roth quickly and quietly finished his breakfast, and headed out, holding onto his jaw.

While he was walking, where to he didn’t know where, he passed the med bay, and saw Gingy asleep. He continued walking, but stopped short a few feet away, and thought he’d better check in on the injured crewman. The doors slid apart with a slight hiss, and Roth stepped inside. A med droid he didn’t recognize rolled forward to greet him in hushed tones that had a slight buzz to it.

“Good morning zzir. What may I do for you?” Its bright orange eyes stared at Roth a quizzical tilt to its head.

“Yeah, I just wanted to check and see how Crewman Gingy is doing today. He had a fractured rib, and a broken nose.”

The droid replied, “Oh. I zee, shall I wake him for you, zzir?”

Roth shook his head negative, “No, but would you tell me his status already.”

Orange eyes glared at him for a second, “Azz you wish zzir. Crewman Gingy’zz ribz are healing, they were put back into placze last night, az waz hiz noze. He should be able to report back to work in a day or zo.”

Roth nodded, and headed for the door, but stopped suddenly, “Hey, what happened to that droid that was here earlier this morning?”

The droid gave him a cryptic stare, “He waz taken in for...” There was a long pause, then, “maintenenze, zir.”

Roth thought about that statement for a minute or two, and then left the med bay with a confused look on his face. He continued on his walk to nowhere, looking at this and that, and he noticed there were a few people in the hallways now, the early risers, or the late night boozers, he could tell just by the look on their faces.

He passed a well lit room; it was on the side, next to the door, in small print, was a sign, ‘Navy Rec Room.’ Roth walked inside, and noticed many different gaming devices. One of the forefront, most obvious items was a pool table. His face lit up, it had been ages since he had last played, and he thought back upon it with fondness...

He was with his usual friends, a crew of maybe four young boys...

He shook his head, now wasn’t the time for remembering bygone eras. He was in the Navy now, he couldn’t afford to space out. He racked up, and moved to the other end of the table, and placed the cue ball. He realized that this game was a good substitute for accuracy training, and that thought made him smile, he could see himself doing this fairly often, either by himself, or with others.

He lined up his shot, and pushed the stick forward, however he’d forgotten to chalk up, and he miscued, barely missing the felt, tearing it would be disastrous. He looked around for the small square chalk, and finally found it between the cushions of a sofa. He chalked up, hearing the slight squeaky sound that was a result of the dusty chalk hitting the cork of the cue tip. Once again, he brought the stick down, and lined up a shot, this time, firing the cue ball into the center of the rack. Balls skittered everywhere, and he was lucky enough to have one drop.

He walked around the table, thinking carefully about the next shot, what kind of spin to put on the ball, and where he wanted things to end up. He leaned down, and took another shot, unfortunately he miscalculated the english on the ball, and the target ball hit a bumper and was sent askew. The cue ball ended up at the lip of a pocket, and it made shooting the next shot that much harder. He didn’t bother aiming, and he gave the cue ball a solid thwack, sending it into a cluster of pool balls. He smiled, and muttered to himself, “Cluster bomb...”

He took a few more shots, and soon cleared the table. He put away the cue stick, and left the chalk on the edge of the table. Walking to the couch, he flopped down, and flipped through a few magazines, and finding nothing too entertaining, he decided to leave the rec room. He started walking again, noting there were several people in the halls, and Roth figured he should head back to his dorm and get into uniform.

He wanders in the general direction, thinking to himself once again about the simulations. He was happy to be placed under G, he seemed very competent, and worthy of being a Flight Leader. Roth found his way back to the dorms, and put on his uniform. He sat down on his bed and looked at the chrono, still a little bit of time. He pushed himself between the top and bottom bunk, leaning against the wall.

“Well, I guess I’ll just wait...”

OOC:

Word Count; 1,111.

Slowly Jeg opened his eyes. He didn’t know where he was, but it wasn’t his room. He glanced around, but his vision was so foggy he couldn’t make out anything more than blurry splotches of color. Jegora blinked a few times, and his vision began to clear. This were still hazy though, and his eyes felt like they had sand in them, but he could make out his general surroundings now, albeit without any detail. Still, it was enough to tell that his first suspicions had been correct; where he was, it wasn’t his room.

Turning his head slowly, Jegora kept blinking his eyes, trying to get a better view of  his surroundings. As the world began to come into focus he heard someone enter his room. He turned his head and stared hard at the figure advancing towards him. He could tell it was a woman, shorter, with dark hair, but little else. Jegora went into panicked mode. Unlike most gunshot victims, he remembered the incident, and who had shot him. Nell had been short, with dark hair, and definitely a woman.

Muscles tensing, Jegora prepared to lash out with his legs as the woman neared. He kept blinking his eyes, attempting to get a better view of his assailant. How the hell did she get in here? he thought to himself. It didn’t matter. He wasn’t going to let her shoot him again.

Just before the woman reached Jegora’s range, however, two things happened. First off, Jegora’s eyesight cleared enough to let him see that it in fact wasn’t Nell who was approaching. The second thing was that the woman spoke, and Jegora knew instantly that it wasn’t Nell. He would never forget that voice anywhere, and this voice was definitely not Nell’s. Nell had a high pitched, whiny voice. This voice was smooth, alto…Jegora would describe it as beautiful.

Jegora’s vision was getting better by the second. He felt like he had been asleep for days. Turning groggily towards the woman, he tried to speak. “WharamI,” he said, slurring all his words together. Frustrated, he tried again. “Where am I?” he repeated, this time his words a tad clearer; clear enough, anyways, for the woman to understand.

“You are in the Majere Medical Wing of the Super Star Destroyer Atrus, Petty Officer,” the woman said, all the while taking vital signs.

“I remember getting shot…” he said, trailing off at the painful memory.

The woman simply nodded. “Yes, and you were lucky the blaster was set on low power and that the woman who was shooting couldn’t hit anything,” she said. “Otherwise, you’d probably be dead.”

Jegora nodded, familiar enough with blasters to know that he had been lucky. Experimentally he tried to move his left arm, which belonged to the shoulder that had gotten hit. All the motor function seemed to be there, which was a good sign to be sure. Still, his left arm was in a half-sling, and the nurse was checking an I.V. in his arm.

“What kinda situation am I in?” he asked, rather worried he wouldn’t be able to fly.

“Not that bad,” the nurse answered. “You’ve been sleeping for nearly four days, so most of it is already healed. We only gave you minor sedatives too…” she trailed off as she gave him an odd look.

Jegora winced. He was going to have to remember that two days without sleep and lots of traumatic incidents led to too much sleep. Still, he felt like he was at a hundred percent at the moment, and the last thing he wanted to do was stay in the sick bay for three or four more days, or however long they decided to keep him.

“So,” he said casually as the nurse finished checking his vitals and such. “I can leave now?”

The nurse giggled and threw him another look. “I’m ‘fraid not. You’re stuck here till the doctor comes to check on you,” she said.

Jegora swore quietly under his breath as the nurse left the room. There was no way he was staying here. Throwing another glance around the room, Jegora made a decision; a rather bad one, he had to admit to himself, but he felt fine and his shoulder worked perfectly. He decided that he rather not stick around and let the doctors poke him some more.

Closing his eyes, Jegora slowly pulled the IV out of his arm. It came out without incident, and Jegora swung out of the bed. He found a bandage in one of the cupboards, along with his clothes in a dresser. Quickly he bandaged his arm, got dressed, and left the room.

He stepped out into the corridor. He had no idea which was out, so he turned right. For some reason, right felt like the ‘right’ direction. Jegora soon found himself even more lost than before, somewhere deep in the bowels of the medical facility.

Jegora stopped and looked around. Nurses, doctors, and visitors passed him by with relative frequency. Jegora waited outside one of the rooms for a visitor to come out; his plan was to follow the other being out of the med facility. Luckily he didn’t have to wait long. Soon the door opened and a Chief Warrant Officer stepped out, followed by a shorter Petty Officer. Jegora waited until they were about ten yards away, then started following them.

They walked for almost five minutes without incident. Jegora followed them all the way out of the facility and into the main corridors of the Atrus. He made his way back to the Nazgul section, only getting lost twice. Soon he found himself in the at-ease lounge. To his surprise, Trevor was there.

Jegora moved over to where Trevor was sitting and pulled up a chair. “I thought you were gone for the week,” the young flight leader said.

Trevor smiled and offered Jegora a drink. When Jegora shook his head, Trevor shrugged and spoke. “Eh, leave was boring. I decided to come back and spend the rest of it on the Atrus.”

The young flight leader nodded. “Eh, not much better here. Just some simulations. They went fairly well though.”

“So I hear,” the older man said. “Hopefully we can get back to combat duty here pretty soon. I don’t like having to sit here and waste away.”

Jegora nodded again. The two spoke for quite some time, different squadron members them joining as the day progressed. Jeg received several inquiries into his arm, but he shook them all off, saying it was nothing. Eventually he even took the sling off; his arm felt fine.

The squadron mates sat there and talked for quite some time. Jegora was actually enjoying himself, much to his own surprise. He knew, however, that this was as good as it got. Eventually, they would be getting shot at again.

But secretly Jegora enjoyed that part of the job too.

OOC:

1156 words and a rushed ending. This thread is now officially CLOSED. Mission is deemed a success as we all didn’t kill each other and out-posted everyone else. Keep an eye out for the poker tourney. Good work.