Falcon Squadron II, The Reform
by
CM Darksaber
The Imperial Guard, his face as emotionless
as a ferrocrate bunker, admitted Darksaber to the office. Behind
the desk, Vice Admiral Adrenaline, Commodore of ISD II Immortal, returned
Darksaber´s salute.
Adrenaline gestured towards the visitors
chair. « Commander Darksaber. Please sit. »
Darksaber took
the seat indicated « Thank you for making time in your schedule for me so soon
»
« It is not an
imposition » Adrenaline leaned closer, focusing on Darksaber, « I see no signs
of hangover on you, Commander. Must I conclude that you did not celebrate
adequately? »
Darksaber smiled
« Very adequately. Meeting old friends and new, telling stories until we
couldn´t string two words together. But I left the heavy drinking to the
younger pilots. »
« Wise of you,
well allow me the impatience of office. What brings you to me? Your message
hinted at - what was it? recommendations for the rebuilt of Falcon Squadron
into a new type of unit, particularly well suited to the search of Warlord
Darius »
« That´s correct,
I´d like to reform Falcon Squadron, Madame » After the Attack on the Sovereign
and the ISD Colossus in which Falcon Squadron has part of the defense while on
tour aboard Colossus for some Wargames, Falcon Squadron lost many pilots; LCM
Maverick, LT M. v. Richthofen, LT Sarin Krast, COL Armus, LT Olenar Ki-Aton and
LT Mantigrue perished in combat. LT TieGer was badly hurt and layed in a Bacta
tank. MAJ Sanj, former Falcon CMDR, transferred to SSSD Sovereign to help them
replace their lost pilots from experienced ones. Now CM Darksaber was CMDR but
had only 3 more pilots with him, LT Dark Hawk, his wingman; CM Mikkel Filla and
his wingman LT Tai Olrok. The command staff of ISD Immortal wanted to close
Falcon and transfer it´s pilots. It was Darksaber´s job to stop it.
Vice Admiral
Adrenaline smiled « Isn´t Heavy Assault enough for you? »
« Heavy Assault
will always be good enough for me, Madame. But in the last several years I´ve
bumped repeatedly into a glaring weakness in our military. I´ve tried to address
it before and want to try again. »
« Please
elaborate »
Darksaber leaned
back, settling in for a lengthy discussion. « You´ll remember when Falcon was
reorganized by COL Dras Hempor a few years back, he took the best pilots he
could transfer or steal .... but when it came down to choosing between pilots
of equal skill, he always chose the one who had useful ground-based skills as
well »
« Yes. He wanted
pilots who could also be commandos. »
« He got
them. And they did quite a workout as
commandos. »
Adrenaline
managed to smile again « You have certainly justified our faith in your
experiment. Falcon Squadron performed magnificently »
« Thank you.
Speaking for my men, I have to agree. But he´d originally thought that Falcon
Squadron would be used opportunistically: a strike mission would reveal a
ground-based weakness, and we´d have the training and supplies to go down and
perform the necessary ground mission. The way it turned out, we keep landing
full-fledged commando missions. So I think we need another Commando Squadron,
one where we choose pilots as to have a full range of intrusion and subversion
skills . The old Falcon Squadron was designed as a fighter unit first, commando
unit second; this time, I want to go the other way around »
Vice Admiral
Adrenaline´s expression, so far as wedge could read it, was dubious «
Historically, we´ve had few problems coordinating the efforts of commandos on
the ground and fighters pilots for aerial support. »
« I don´t agree.
Commandos can communicate strike locations to the pilots, but the pilots still
won´t have the familiarity with these locations that the intrusion team will.
Commandos who´ve had their extraction plans busted might want to seize enemy
spacecraft to escape; the way things stand, they can´t count on having enough
pilots to make that escape, while commando-trained pilots could. Normal pilots
follow orders and conform themselves to standard tactics and should! But a
commando unit might develop new tactics. New ways of mounting a even ordinary
raids and pursuits. New ways of anticipating assaults and ambushes. »
Adrenaline
abruptly leaned back from him, her eyes half closing, it looked to Darksaber
like a frown of concentration. « What made you say that »
« Thinking about
the subject on the long flight home, and during the time we were garrisoned on
ISD Colossus before that » Darksaber said « Even though the garrison assignment
was cut short from the two months originally planned, it still gave me plenty
of time to think »
« You haven´t
heard any news? »
« No,
Madame.
About what? »
Adrenaline shook
his head « Please go on »
« Well, that´s
actually about it. I can dress it up in a formal report for you. »
« There´s still
the matter of pilots. Fresh out of the Academy, their costing hundreds of
thousands of credits apiece. »
« No, madame. I
don´t want all new pilots. I want a mix of experienced ones and new ones. »
«Which is an even
more significant expense »
« No, madame, not
with these pilots. I want
Adrenaline stared
as if she couldn´t believe her ears. « In the name of the Force, Commander,
why? »
« Well, some of
them, of course, will be irredeemable. I´ll wash them out, too. Some of them
will be good men and women who´ve screwed up one time too many, who know theirs
careers are dead but would give anything for one more chance ... »
« You´re more
likely to get a proton torpedo up your engine than you are to get a functional squadron out of such pilots. The torpedo might be launched
accidentally ... but
that´s no com fort to a widow »
Darksaber spread
his hands, palms up, and smiled, « Problem solved. I´m not married »
« I know you´re
not. You know what I mean »
« Yes,
Madame »
« You´re
committed to this idea, aren´t you ? »
« Yes,
Madame »
Darksaber considered what he was saying
« I understand »
Adrenaline nodded agreeably « Request refused »
Darksaber
couldn´t speak; suddenly all the air seemed to leave his chest. He´d thought he
was so close, thought he had convinced the vice-admiral.
« Unless .... »
Darksaber found
his voice again « Unless? »
« I´ll make a bet
with you, Commander. You get your chance at forming this squadron. If, three
months after it goes operational, it has proven its worth - in my sole
estimation - you can do as you please. »
« And if I lose?
»
« You accept
promotion to the rank of General and join my advisory staff »
Darksaber kept
his dismay from his face « I would seem to win either way, Madame »
« Stop it. You´re
not fooling anyone. If you had your way you´d continue flying snubfighters and
commanding fighter squadrons until you were a century old. How many promotions
have you turned down? One? Two? »
« One »
« Well, if you
lose your bet, you accept this one »
Darksaber sighed
and thought it over. He needed to keep flying; he wouldn´t be happy in any
other way of live. But the Emperor´s Hammer needed this new tactic, needed many
new ways of doing things, before they became as tactically fossilized as the
Old Republic had been. « I accept, Madame »
Adrenaline ground
out a laugh « In a sense, you´ve already lost, Commander Darksaber. You´re
wagering your career for the good of the Emperor´s Hammer. You´re creating new
tactics, new weapons for the Emperor´s Hammer, not just for your squadron.
You´re already a General ... you just don´t know it yet »
« I guess I´ll
accept that remark in the spirit in which it was intended, Madame. »
« I have another
remark for you, Darksaber. News, bad news that you´ll have to take to your
subordinates. And I don´t envy you that task. »
CMDR/CM
Darksaber/Falcon/Wing XI/ISD Immortal