The Executive Officer herein presents fiction submitted by the Squadron Commanders, Flight Leaders and Flight Members of the Emperor's Hammer.

Invasion: Relentless!
By the dedicated pilots of the ISD Relentless.
 

The stars always made Lieutenant Colonel Ace Pilot tired. Something about them gave him this feeling of peace and calmness and it didn't take long for him to fall asleep soon after. In fact, when he was the Wing Commander of Wing IX he had a special skylight installed in his quarters to make him fall asleep faster. However, now was not the time to get dreamy eyed. Wing IX was under inspection today from some of the higher ups and everything had to be in working order. Ace had meticulously cleaned his uniform and his room, making sure everything looked perfect. He slowly moved away from the window and rubbed his eyes. Suddenly a light from his computer blinked indicating he had to be in the shuttle bay to help greet whoever was coming. He headed down to the shuttle bay and met up with some other dawdling pilots as he came. They reached the shuttle bay just in time as the Lambda shuttle came into view.

"Sir," a tactician said to Lieutenant Colonel Satai. "The shuttle is on autopilot, it seems as if it's been like this for a while."

"Strange," Satai said. "Usually the Admiral pilots his ship manually. Lock on a tractor beam and pull the shuttle in."

The ship approached and touched down in the landing bay. Ace looked around. Many of the younger pilots had a mixture of anticipation and horror on their faces. Most of them had not seen an Admiral other than Jarak and this was an exciting day for them. The shuttle remained strangely quiet however.

"Lieutenant Commander," Satai addressed the Tactician. "Open the door to the shuttle at once."

The stress level in the shuttle bay escalated. People's breathing increased as they saw Satai was concerned about something. Personally Ace didn't think anything was wrong, the Admirals were just taking their time. Slowly the door to the shuttle opened.
 

Badlan sat, touching up the final brass buttons on his Dress uniform, shots began ringing across the bay, but as he looked out he saw nothing. Quickly stirring he pulled his blaster from the holster and cautiously walked from Sword's quarters into the light of the bay.
The Admirals shuttle was here. Good. But not, a feeling of shock and horror ran across his face, it was a Jedi trick, he had seen the future and as he watched the Lambda class shuttle's door opened and a whole regiment of Relentless soldiers poured out the fringe as they ran. Immediately Ace Pilot took a shot to the chest and flew back against the wall.
Badlan ducked running behind cargo crates perched against the wall. Ahkliat and Daro emerged from the Sword rooms and Ahkliat took a hit in the shoulder and was forced back into the arms of Daro who handed him to Stallion and joined Badlan at his side.

Red beams of light ran across the bay as the Rebel troops continued emerging, Badlan returned fire killing one as he emerged.
"I that was Kessler's shuttle?" Badlan asked to Daro who shrugged. Together they continued firing into the crowd of Rebels who were taking positions across the bay. Less experienced SLs were running for cover, Deck officers were falling as lasers tore through them.
Badlan noticed Ace. Wondered if Daro would let him, but Daro, Sith Warrior, looked at Badlan and indicated to Ace as he read Bad's mind.
Daro began laying down cover fire as Badlan skidded across the smooth metallic floor. Reaching Ace almost immediately, Badlan grabbed the Lieutenant Colonel and dragged him across the bay back to the position behind the food crate.
"Can you heal him?" Asked Badlan to Daro.
"You're the Light Jedi!" Daro snapped back as the shock troopers continued to invade the bay.
"My powers are limited to Telepathy, not Telekinesis." Badlan replied.
Daro pushed Badlan away and the two swapped positions, Daro began healing Ace whilst Bad fired into the on coming enemy force.
"Common!" Shouted Stallion through the Sword door to the three pilots. The now restrengthened Ace crawled through the door with Badlan laying down cover fire.

Warning sirens wailed across the Relentless bay and as they watched in amazement the surviving Sword Squadron and Ace watched the battle unfold from remote security cameras.
"This is bad!" Ace winced.
"Yeah!" Stall said scratching his head with his blaster.
"What are we going to do?" Asked Ahkliat who clutched his bleeding shoulder."
We may be able to stop them, but we need help from the Hammer's fist troops..." Daro said, but was cut off with a submission from Jarak Maldon, the Relentless commodore.
"All pilots: report to fighter bay 2, a small Rebel Task force has entered the sector, it appears that this is a plan to capture the Relentless!" Jarak ordered.
"Our fighters are in bay 1." Parck pointed out.
"They have spares." Daro said @#%$ing the blaster and walking down the corridor.
 

Lieutenant Alun Tringad jumped as he heard the sirens sound all across the Relentless.
Oh, great, another Rebel attack, thought Tringad as he ran for his Gunboat.

Tringad launched with the rest of Dagger, and as he did, saw that the Rebels had two Carrack cruisers, and three supporting Corvettes.

"This shouldn't be too hard," said Tringad into his helmet, "The Rel can take the Carracks, and Shield can go after the Corvettes."

He was setting his lasers on dual-fire as an X-Wing flew past and weakened his shields with some laser fire.

"Damn it! This is Dagger 2-2, I'm taking fire."

The Relentless's flight officer came over the comm-system, "Shield Squadron, attack the Corvettes. Sword, take the Carracks. Dagger, fly cover for Shield."

"Roger, this is Dagger 2-2, flying cover."

Tringad formed up on LC Ace Pilot's wing as they went in on Shield's first attack run. The heavy rockets of Shield Squadron were too much for the first Corvette, and her hull buckled.

Ace's voice came over the comm, "This is Dagger 2-1. I've got six A-Wings who want to play."

"Roger Dagger 2-1, this is Dagger 2-2. Let's show them a good time."
 

"So it begins," Jarak said.

The bridge of the Relentless was very calm, despite all that was going on below. Reports from the on-board stormtroopers told that the trick invasion was being suppressed, but not defeated. Rebel tricksters, Jarak thought, always wanting to make things hard.

"Sir," a young lieutenant said from the portside crew pit, "we have contacts on that inbound NewRep force."

There was a moment of pause. Jarak stared down the young man with his ice-blue cybernetic eye implant. "Well don't keep it to yourself, lieutenant."

"Sorry sir, I just-"

"Get to it, NOW!"

The young man hesitated for a quick second before he eventually gave his report. "Its a small force, sir. Reading two Strike Cruisers and... a captured Interdictor Cruiser."

"Starfighters?"

"Five squadrons detected, all X-Wings... wait, one of B-Wings. Looks like they're armed."

Jarak nodded and gazed aftward towards Satai Dukhat, newly promoted Lieutenant Colonel, still in his dress uniform. "Starfighter status, Colonel?"

Satai gazed down at his datapad. "We have all squadrons good to go. It would be nice if we had more... but pilots and fighters are short now-a-days."

"Good enough, get them out there."

Jarak sighed. This was one of the few times the Relentless had to operate alone, now during training missions. It was supposed to be Kessler's shuttle arriving to debrief the mission and send the Rel back to Battlegroup Command at Pirath... but now the Rebs had to come and spoil the day. So much for training.

"And tell those fighters," Jarak said while pointing to the large blood-red New Republic crests painted on the sides of the Interdictor Cruiser, "to shot those blasted things first!"

Seconds later a wave of advanced Imperial fighters poured from the hanger of the Relentless bound to attack the incoming Republic aggressors. Then a new shape appeared in the distance... a shuttle. Kessler's shuttle...
 

White-hot pain enveloped Ahkliat's shoulder as an errant laser blast caught him in the shoulder. "Are you all right?!" commander Daro asked as he helped Ahkliat out of the chaos that was quickly unfolding. "Life can be strange like that,” Ahkliat thought to himself. Strange that just moments before, Daro was admonishing Ahkliat and the other members of the squad for their lack of expediency "What kind of face do you want to show to the top brass? A polished, finely honed sword, or a blunt weapon incapable of even shaving with?" "You guys need to get on the ball and get those dress uniforms on in light speed fashion, or I'll have you work ‘in mess detail for the rest of your miserable little lives, do you get me?!!" "We get you sir!" the squad members replied.
        A mixture of pain and fear welled up inside Ahkliat, pain and fear that he knew he must conquer. "I must let my anger build and consume my being" Ahkliat thought to himself and with that thought he closed his eyes and began to concentrate solely on the wound. The sounds of battle and the screams of dying men drifted away as Ahkliat's Dark Jedi teachings took hold. Not many knew that Dark Jedi magics could heal as well as harm, as was now demonstrated as the wound began to close and scab over eventually leaving a horrid-looking scar. No one said that Sith magics were pretty, just effective.
        "How ironic, if we'd been quicker about following Daro's orders, we'd probably would've gotten whacked along with some of those troopers outside,” Ahkliat mused. His arm ached like hell, but not so much so that Ahkliat wasn't willing to grab hold of a blaster and mete out some much needed death to those New Republic bastards. "What are we going to do commander?" Ahkliat asked. "I tell you what we're going to do, we're going to get to our fighters in bay #1, even if that means we have to kill every son of a b*#@h between here and there" Daro retorted.
        "I swear Ahkliat, you can be so dense at times, are you sure you're a Dark Jedi?" Badlan stated with a hint of sarcasm. "What?! -If you don't believe I'm all that I say that I am, I invite you to prove me wrong!" growled Ahkliat as his cold hard stare landed on Badlan. "Cool it you two!!" Daro shouted at the two flight-leaders.
        "Have you guys lost your frick'in heads? We're in the middle of a battle here, and NOW you guys decide to go at it. Well not here and not now or you'll both be brought up on charges, got it?!" The two squad mates, turned and looked at their commander, "Yes Sir!"
"Since the two of you are so hot-headed, you can both take point, whilst the rest of the squad will make sure we don't get whacked from behind. Got it? Go!!" Daro shouted. The bay doors opened and with them, the stench of burning flesh and melting plastisteel assaulted their nostrils. The bay was awash in laser light as a New Republic and Imperial firefight was well underway. "Hey Ahkly, I'm sorry 'bout that comment earlier, I guess the fact that I'm probably about to have my guts splattered all over the docking bay has me in a f@#$5d-up state of mind" Badlan confided.
        With a firm handshake and a smile, Ahkliat replied, "Don't worry man, I know how you feel, but I'm not worried about you because I know you're the best TIE jockey I've ever had the privledge to fight beside. I say we go out there and show these scum who they're dealing with." "Long Live The Sword!!" Ahkliat and the rest of the squadron shouted as they barreled into the passageway, with their blasters ablaze...
 

Ace couldn't believe what had happened in such a short amount of time. He had been shot, and a few moments later he was piloting his ship, trying to protect the Relentless. The sensation in his chest burned. It actually burned for two reasons. The first obvious reason was the blaster burn and the other was the dark side power that had been used to partially heal him. Ace always felt awkward around Jedi and he shivered at the thought of some of it being inside him right then. The pain became unbearable and Ace had to leave the fight before he crashed.

"Flight II, join up with Falcon, I'm gonna have to sit this one out."

Ace navigated through the firefight until he reached a secure landing bay that had not been breached by the rebels. Who knows how many rebels were in the Relentless at that moment but Ace had to go to the med lab so he could heal. He landed and limped to the med lab, noticeably slowing down as he did. The dark side seemed to burn hotter and hotter inside him. He finally reached the med lab and almost collapsed. The medics pulled him up and laid him on an examination table.

"I need to do some blood work, let's see how bad this burn is," the medic said.

He drew some blood from Ace and quickly put it into a device that would read the blood.

"What do we have hear?" the medic said. His voice was concerned. "It seems like there is some kind of microorganism is this sample of blood. How could have this got on board, the Relentless is totally sterile!"

Ace's mind raced. The rebels must have brought something with them when they landed. Quickly Ace returned to his old days of being a Wing Commander and quickly told the medic to contact Jarak.

"Tell him to seal of all the places where the rebels are, I don't care if we have men there we need to stop this from spreading. Tell Kessler to get the hell out of here now!"
 

Badlan listened to the reports flooding in; apparently the following was going down: Disguising a Lambda class shuttle as Kessler's personal transport, several Rebel task force was setting up a CMD post to seize the Relentless. A Rebel task force was holding on the outer perimeter and Shield and Dagger was currently fighting and some unknown contagion was flooding through the decks. It appeared the Rebels were prepared, but the question was, 'Was the virus purposeful or accidental?'
It was impossible to know. Except it wasn't.

"Crew of the ISD Relentless, you're decks have been flooded with a deadly virus, only you're fighters are unaffected. This virus will kill in three hours and only we have the cure!" Said the Rebel CMDR.

Explosions roared elsewhere. Badlan leant over to Daro who was crouched behind a blockade with several Stormtroopers, his blaster held to his chest.
"What’s up?" asked Daro.
"Well, This is Fu***d up right here!" Badlan said.
"More specific?" Asked Daro.
"Um...We're surrounded by all fronts, ground, air a biological."
"A virus?" The Sword CMDR asked.
"Yup, I've served in the Old Republic for fifteen yrs and this is the most desperate situation I've ever faced. I see no option but to surrender or die!" Badlan said.
"I concur, almost all the Relentless' Hammer's fist were killed by the shuttle's blasters, the Rebels have blown away almost a whole Batalinet!" Daro said.
"Where's the others?"
"They're trying to get to the second bay." Daro said.

Ahkliat walked slowly, ground combat situations were not his specialty, but armed with a heavy blaster and a squad of Stormtroopers he felt safe. Stallion, Martelus, and Parck were close behind all carefully treading blasters ready.
"We're screwed!" The Stormie CPT kept saying with a metallic radio voice.
"Shut up!" Ahkliat said finally snapping and walking towards him.
"Easy fly boy, just stating the obvious." Said the Stormie CPT.
"I hate him." Said one of the Regimental officers.
Suddenly blaster fire sliced through the Stormtrooper CPT killing him instantly. Ahkliat, having already been shot once dived down.

The Rebels were pressing on the REAL Kessler shuttle, lasers slamming into its side. Fires roaring across the interior.
"Protect the damned shuttle!" Said Jarak.
"You heard him!" Falcon said, and he, Etras and Navacore fired at the incoming X-Wing squadron.
"It’s all going to hell!" Shouted an exploding Rel pilot.
Finally after several runs across the wings of Rebel fighters. The battle was heating up, the Rebel Capital cruisers were closing, and it looked pretty desperate, however Kessler was landing, into the virus and Rebel troops...
 
 

Talon, already patrolling the area, had just flown up to the bridge to give the a-o-k to Jarak when
the craft hypered in. "I can take these guys alone." He pressed the request for reinforcements
button, shouting, "X-wings at three o'clock!" Talon's gunboat veered to the right. Two squadrons of
X-wings came out targeting him. He saw the blinking yellow indicator. "This is nice, which one could
it be." he said. Talon drained all his beam energy and put his laser and shield energy to full. Then he
drained enough laser energy to his shields, shooting as he barrel-rolled through the crowded
wave of X-wings. Just then a shuttle came out of hyperspace, knowing his communications was out
he had to figure out if he just escorted the wrong shuttle. Every time he got to going toward the
shuttle an X-wing started hailing laser fire at him. I just can't get cl...
 

"Damn it!" yelled Tringad, "The Rebels are after the Fleet Admiral's shuttle!"

Tringad slowed down and whipped his Gunboat around to face another X-Wing that had gotten a little too close to Kessler's shuttle. He raked the fighter with laser-fire, and it's shields fell.

"Stupid b%*#@&d!" he screamed, "Get away from the Fleet Admiral, damnit!"

He followed the X-Wing as it tried to escape his cross hairs. Tringad fired another blast at the fighter, which caught an engine, and the fighter exploded.

"Take that, Rebel scum," Tringad yelled as another X-Wing took pot shots at him as he flew by.

Tringad activated his comm-unit and spoke into his helmet, "Relentless, this is Dagger 2-2. Where the hell is Sword? We could really use them about now!"

An X-Wing appeared on Tringad's rear scope, and he cursed under his breath. The X-Wing had a speed advantage over Tringad's Gunboat, but the Gunboat had heavier shielding. Shields, however, didn't permit Tringad to out-run the fighter.

Tringad slowed and turned, only to find the fighter was still on his tail. 'S$*t,' Tringad thought, 'this is not good!'

Just then Tringad heard a voice over the comm channel, "Dagger 2-2, looks like you're in trouble!"

A Gunboat flew right up in front of Tringad's front window, almost crashing into him, before doing a barrel-roll and clipping the X-Wing's port two wings off with laser-fire.

"Whoo hoo! Dagger 2-2, Dagger 2-4 just saved your ass!" It was Dan!

"Thanks Dagger 2-4. I owe ya one!" replied Tringad. Damn it was good to have buddies like that watching your back...
 

Daro ducked an incoming laser bolt and cursed. He looked up just in time to see a pilot of Shield Squadron who couldn't make it to the hangar to join his squadron take a blast to hip. He had experience in these combat situations from his time with the Toprawan Rangers, but most of the other pilots on the ship had close to no ground training. The pilots belonged out in their ships, not here playing laser-tag with Rebels. Looks like he was going to have to take the lead.

"Dammnit, when are those stormies going to start returning fire!" As if they read his mind, three stormtroopers rose from behind a console and let off a volley of fire. One rebel went down.

"Sh_t," Daro thought, "I thought those guys were supposed to be good. Alright, enough of this crap." Daro gathered his pilots and crawled over to where the contingent of stormtroopers were. It was only after Daro got there that he noticed that Stallion looked kinda sick.

"Stall, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just feel a little woozy. Must be combat stress."

"Or it could be the 3 helpings of nerf cubes you ate for dinner," Badlan retorted.

"Shut up Bads. We don't need wisecracks right now. Alright you jarheads here's the plan. There is a virus going around the Relentless and my guess is that the Rebels have some kind of antidote on board their shuttle. I'm going to take Stall with me and try to get into that shuttle. That means we will be going to the shuttle hangar. I'll need about six of you stormies to come with me." Daro selected six of them.

"Who's the most experienced trooper here?" A short but built sergeant by the name of Zimms raised his hand.
"Alright, Ahkliat you and Zimms lead the rest of Sword and the rest of the stormtroopers to the Tie hangar and get to your fighters. Try to target those interdictors."

"Gotcha boss," Ahkliat replied.

"Now, we gotta figure out how to get past these damn Rebels." Daro thought for a couple of seconds.

"Got it!." Daro pointed to a LT. "Trooper, hand me three of you flash-bangs."

"Huh?" the LT asked.

"Your stun grenades you bantha-brain!" Daro was getting a little impatient. The LT handed Daro the grenades.

"Okay everybody, after I throw these, count to four and come up shooting. Then split off to your respective assignments. Martelus and Parck, you take point until we separate."

"Sure," Parck replied, looking a little nervous.

"Alright!" Martelus was a little more enthusiastic.

"This isn't going to work!" a nervous private said. A couple of other stormies voiced their agreement.

"The way I see it, we have three options. One, we could die fighting. Two, we could surrender, which I feel is worse than dying. Or three, we could duke it up and take those Rebels out with extreme prejudice! C'mon you guys. You are Imperial Stormtroopers, the elite! This is what you are trained for." This last statement seemed to bolster their courage.

"'Kay guys, get ready." Daro pulled the pins on all three of the grenades and tossed them to Ahkliat who in turn whipped them over to where the Rebels were holed up. Daro counted to four and then, with a tremendous battle cry, jumped up and started running and firing along with the rest of the group. Martelus took a hit to the arm but kept on going, a haunting yell emerging from his lips. The stun grenades did what they were supposed to do. Half the rebels were out of the fight, three of them dead, one from having his torso blown apart. "Musta been at ground zero." Daro thought. "Funny how no one thought to use these things before.” The rest of the Rebels were taken out with little effort, with what the dazed state they were in. The group reached the point where they were to split off. Daro glanced back and was glad to see that they had only lost two people.

"Alright, here's where we part. Good luck you guys. My group, come with me."

"Good luck commander," Ahkliat said. "Don't get shot. I don't feel like being a commander yet." This last sentence was said with a shaky grin. Everyone knew the risk that the two groups were taking but they tried to remain optimistic.

Daro and his group made their way to the shuttle bay, encountering only token resistance along the way. At the entrance to the bay, Daro signaled for his men to stop and surveyed the situation. Only two guards were visible but there were bound to be more inside the shuttle. A quagmire of bodies from the previous firefight littered the hangar floor.

"Stall, you come with me, the rest of you stay here and watch for my signal in case we need backup. We're gonna try and sneak up on 'em. Gotta vibroblade Stall? We hafta do this quietly." Stallion checked his pockets and found that he had lost his vibroblade.

"Here," a stormtrooper said. "I've got one." He handed the blade to Stallion.

"Yesss," Stallion hissed under his breath. “I get to do some silent killing." Daro a Stallion crept into the hangar and circled around to the rear of the shuttle under the cover of some cargo containers. Daro made a fist, then pointed to the Rebel to their front-left, then made a raking motion across his throat. The meaning was unmistakable. Stallion nodded one in confirmation. Daro slowly fox-walked up behind his prey, not making a sound, and when he was a foot away, put his right hand tightly over the trooper’s mouth and cut his throat in one smooth motion. The Rebel never had a chance to make a sound. Daro looked to his left and saw Stallion creeping up on his quarry. He was doing pretty good, Daro saw, but just when he thought Stall was about to make a clean kill, Stall stepped on a shard of tranparensteel that made a loud scratching noise. Instinctively, Stall looked down at the source of the sound. The Rebel did too. He was swinging around, bringing his blaster to bear on Stall, but in that split second, Daro reached out with the Force and crushed the trooper’s trachea, killing him, and keeping him from making a sound. Stall let out a low breath and nodded at Daro. Then Daro signaled the stormtroopers and he and Stall run up the ramp and into the hold. As it turned out, there was only one Rebel officer inside, as well as three scientists. Stall quickly blasted the officer and, in his haste, one of the scientists.

"Don't f$%&in' move!" Daro was starting to feel the heat of battle. There was a row of vials on at a workstation.

"Antidote! Now motherf$%&er!"

"You won't get a thing from us, Imperial stooge," one scientist said with defiance as his colleague agreed. Daro Promptly shot him in the face. Suddenly, Stall dropped to the floor.

"Stall! What's wrong?"

"I'm sick," Stall replied.

"He has the virus," the other scientist said with a triumphant grin on his face. Daro's anger welled up inside him and, using his hatred and the Force, he picked the man up and threw him into the wall, leaving a dent in the wall and a bloody mess of the scientist’s head. Daro walked over to the vials and put his hand over them. He let the hate flow through him, let it permeate his veins and stopped his hands over a green vile.

"It's this one," he said. Daro then handed the vile to Stall who said a childhood phrase as he downed it.

"Through the lips and past the gums, lookout stomach here it comes." Stall drank about a tenth of it. The reaction was instant. Stall jumped to his feet, renewed in strength.

"I think it works boss," Stall said with grin.

"Great." Just then, Daro's comlink buzzed to life.

"Yeah! The Formidable, Monitor, and Ardent are here!" came the excited chatter. Daro ran over to the shuttles tactical board and smiled. The VSD's Formidable and Monitor, the M/FRG Ardent, and several corvettes had exited hyperspace and jumped into the fray. The ships were part of the Battlegroups support unit and weren't supposed to show up until tomorrow. Daro wasn't about to complain.

"Stall, take four Stormies and get that vile to the medlab for replication and distribution."

"No problem Boss," Stall said as he grabbed the vile, and his stormtroopers and hustled down the ramp.

Daro addressed the two remaining stormtroopers.

"Let's get to the Tie hangar. I need to get into this dogfight."

Daro had just reached the bottom of the ramp when he sensed something. The shot came out of nowhere but Daro was ready. He absorbed the blast and channeled it into a Forcethrow so strong that it flattened his attacked.

"Man I love this ship. So exciting." With that, Daro and the stormies went to the Tie hangar.
 

Stallion raced across the Relentless deck. His task was an important one. He had to get the antidote to the MedLab as soon as possible. Without that antidote the day would end on defeat, no matter how well the battle turned, both outside and inside the ship. A good thing he knew the Relentless like few others.
"This way" he said opening a nearby access hatch. The tunnel branched into several paths. Taking a few moments to remember the old path, Stallion took the right tunnel.
"Sir, do you know where are we going?" Asked one of the troopers that crawled behind him.
"Sure kid, I used these tunnels some years ago to visit our ship's nurse"
"Why the tunnels?" asked the stormie
"Well, you see, the Ship Commodore was interested in her too... It's a long story,” concluded Stallion
Soon they came to the end of the tunnel. Stallion looked outside.
"All clear kids, lets go. The MedLab is around the corner"
The Stormies came out and formed around Stallion.
"Let's go"
Two of the Stormtroopers were running ahead of him, two behind, ready to deal with any rebel resistance. Suddenly the troopers ahead came to a halt. The sound of blaster fire was unusually loud, and bright lights were ahead. Stallion gestured to the Troopers to move on. Time was short; they would have to deal with anything the rebels had in store for them as they went.
After turning the corner the group came upon a group of rebel soldiers. Their backs were turned on Stall's group, their attention was on a group of captured officers.
"Waste them"
The Troopers opened fire upon the unwary rebels, killing them instantly.
"Satai, going somewhere?" grinned Stallion, looking at one of the imperial officers his group just saved.
"Jarak's got the virus Stallion,” said Satai, pointing at fallen form next to him. Indeed, Jarak looked very ill.
"Well, I got the antidote. We have to replicate some more. There isn't enough left for one dose, I’m afraid"
"To the Med Lab then" ordered Satai.
Two Stormies picked up Jarak's fallen form, and the whole group moved on towards the nearby MedLab.
 

The Shuttle's Hatch touched down and suddenly a blast of heat shot out of the shuttle. Lieutenant Colonel Ace Pilot started towards Lieutenant Colonel Satai, questions on his mind, when suddenly Admiral Theodore rolled out unconscious but alive.

An hour later a drowsy Admiral Theodore wakes up on a hospital bed. "Wha-a-a... Hap-pen-ed?" Asked Theodore and he slowly got up. "You fell out of your shuttle unconscious sir when you docked" Answered Captain Falcon. Falcon had always liked when head officials came to visit the Relentless and this time it was very exciting.
 
 

"Watch your back next time, Tringad."
Dan swerved his Assault Gunboat, lovingly dubbed the "Apocalypse" around to follow Kessler's shuttle, but a couple A-Wings were really bugging him.

"Hey 2-2, can you get Blue 3, I got Blue 1."

"No problem, 2-4."

A couple laser blasts and an advanced concussion missile later, and another alphabet fighter was space dust. Dan turned once again to the shuttle, at which, 3 B-Wings were firing Ion cannons.

"God damn it! Flight 2, those B-Wings are trying to disable Kessler's shuttle! Everyone, take a target! Take em' out!"

A few minutes later, the scene was reduced to the remains of a wing of alphabet fighters and a disabled shuttle.

"^&%$&*$!!!!" Dan swore over the comm.

"Relentless, this is Temporary Flight Leader Talon Ray Hunter, we need some kind of craft to recover Kessler." Talon sparked over the comm.

"Roger, sending the Corellian Transport Orion's Belt. Stand by."

The Orion's Belt Hypered in, to which, almost instantaneously, a whole slew of Y-Wings.

"These guys just don't quit, do they?! Dagger 2-4, breaking escort and attacking!"
 

Ace could hear blaster fire getting close to the medlab. Ace remained on the table in the medlab, still suffering from his wound. The medlab was pretty well protected so the rebels were having a hard time getting there but they were getting closer. The medics in the lab seemed not to consider Ace anymore. They were busy running around, getting ready for the pilots that were sure to enter the medlab due to battle room and sufferers of the virus. The medlab had been getting mixed transmitions about a possible antidote that was making its way towards the medlab. However, it seemed as though it might be too late for Ace. His chest wound had made the virus much more serious for Ace. Apparently the virus was slowly decaying Ace's vital organs. However, the virus was very slow and Ace was suffering quite a bit. Already the virus has attacked his heart, harming his aorta.

Suddenly the roof of the medlab started to rattle. Ace had one had on his blaster as a vent opened. Out dropped Stallion, Jarak and several other pilots and stormtroopers. Ace breathed a sigh of relief. Jarak collapsed on the floor and the medics put him next to Ace.

"You have the antidote?" Ace shouted.

"Right here." Stallion replied.

Suddenly the door of the medlab melted away as the rebels rushed into the room.
 

Meanwhile, outside the behemoth, the battle raged on.

Lieutenant Dan gritted his teeth as he endured a shot of laser fire. Just as he was turning to strike his oppressor, his missile warning light flashed.

The pilot swore loudly. But to no avail. The missile wasn't scared, and continued its approach. Dan pulled the "Apocalypse" into evasive. Moments later, he swerved his ship around and shot the missile down, a practice which he had mastered.

"You ok? You gotta teach me to do that." Lieutenant Alun's voice crackled over the comm.

"Take out that A-wing that's bugging me and I'll show you how to do anything! I'm going for the X-wing's squad leader. Cover me if you can." Dan replied.

A few affirmatives shot back and Dan began his approach. He watched as all around him alphabet fighters made attractive fireballs.

"GOD DAMN IT! Orion's Belt, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! We're in an intense battle, GET TO KESSLER'S SHUTTLE AND GET HIM IN YOUR SHIP!" By this time, Captain Falcon, the commander of Dagger Squadron, and all around easy guy to tick off, was getting, well, pretty ticked off.

"Flight One, cover the Orion's Belt. Now! Get those Y-wings off its tail!"

Three TIE Defenders swerved around into escort position around the Corellian Transport Orion's Belt, and almost immediately broke off to engage the enemy Y-wings.

Meanwhile, Lieutenants Dan and Alun were fighting through a wing of X-wings and Y-wings.

"There it is! You think you can just take away our Flight Officer? THINK AGAIN!"
As soon as Dan said this, he launched two advanced concussion missiles on the tail of the lead X-wing.

"Woohoo! It's gone! The commanding pilot is down!"

"Orion's Belt... commencing docking operation."

After about 2 minutes of the relative silence of laser blasts and alphabet fighters meeting their doom, the comm crackled again:

"Orion's Belt, docking operation complete. The Flight Officer is with us. Everyone clear away from his shuttle, it will self destruct soon to get rid of the flight logs."

Instantaneously to the shuttle exploding, a rebel light cruiser emerged from hyperspace.

When Talon Hunter noticed that Orion’s Belt had appeared he was going to ask Dagger to escort,
but CPT Falcon had issued his orders. Moments later CPT Falcon ordered Dan and Alun to destroy
the Y and B-wings with Flight I while parts of Flight II and III would stop the X-wings.

Just as the battle was going well, 2 Assault Transports hypered in and a B-wing, close
to the Relentless, fired a mag pulse torpedo knocking out laser energy. Jarak, thinking quickly, told the
Relentless's pilot to roll so the transports would crash into the side of her.
 

Kane glanced at his chrono. "Two minutes until real-space" he thought. "Ten minutes to get back to the Rel and dock Draco. Then five minutes to get to the showers. Man how I could use a shower after being cooped up in this suit for twelve hours. TWELVE F@#*&NG HOURS. Man if I could lay my hands on those Intel boys that said there was a rebel cruiser out by Devran VI. Ten hours of searching, all for nothing." He glanced at the chrono again. Thirty seconds. He started preparations to drop out of hyperspace. When the timer reached zero he pulled back on the levers and the glowing tunnel of hyperspace resolved into a star field. AS he looked around he noticed an explosion ahead. As he continued looking he saw two corvettes, two strike cruisers an interdictor and a cruiser headed towards the Relentless.
"Kane to Relentless. Do you need a hand?"
"Relentless to Kane, it’s about time you showed up. You were scheduled to return four hours ago."
"Yeah well if Intel hadn't stuffed up...."
"No time for complaints, take care of those ships coming at us. Our weapons systems are down temporarily. We're going to need some support."
"Copy that" switching to his flight's channel "Persson, form up on my wing. See those two corvettes? You take out the lead corvette, I'll take out the straggler."
"Got it Dragon, forming up."
"Engage overdrive, maybe it'll keep those fighters off our backs."
Kane felt himself being pushed back into his seat as he engaged the missile boat's overdrive. Switching to heavy rockets and linking the launch tubes, he dropped the targeting bracket over the corvette and a tone started to beep in the @#%$pit. Just as the tone went solid, he noticed another tone.
"@#%$, a missile lock. Too late to evade." As he said it he saw the A-wing targeting him streak past his left wing. Breathing a quick sigh of relief he let loose with the heavy rockets at the corvette. With his speed the rockets sped towards the corvette like a pair of proton torpedoes. The first rocket caused its shields to collapse while the second plowed into the middle of the ship causing it to break in half. Kane looked at the other corvette. It was already a burning wreck drifting through space. "Those fires wont last long,” he thought. He brought his attention back to the situation at hand.
"Dragon you've got a pair of X-wings on your tail!"
Without thinking, Kane slammed his foot down on the right rudder pedal while cutting his forward thrust to zero and switched to linked missiles. As he came about he throttled back up too one hundred percent and fired the missiles. They impacted with the lead X-wing causing it to explode in a massive fireball. His wingman burst through the explosion lasers blazing but they splattered harmlessly against Kane's shields. As the X-wing flew past Kane watched as two missiles streaked past him after it. Looking at the radar he watched as the X-wing disappeared. Then Persson flew past.
"Thanks Persson, I owe you several rounds when we get back to the Rel!"
"I'll hold you to that Dragon. Just make sure you survive!"
"Shield squadron. This is Ice; The Rel would like a way out of here if things get too hot. We need to take out that interdictor. Take a shot now if you can!"
Turning his craft around towards the interdictor he selected it as his target. He switched to his rockets again and headed towards the interdictor. When the lock tone became solid he fired off four rockets. He watched as they sped towards their target. He could also see the yellow-brown streaks from rockets from the rest of Shield squadron headed towards the interdictor. That thing was toast. As he began to scan the area for a new target Draco was rocked by an explosion. He quickly looked out at his right wing...who was no longer there! Still speeding towards the doomed interdictor, he tried to pull away but couldn't.
"Damn, flight control must be gone. This is Dragon to any Imperial, I'm hit and have lost flight control, requesting recovery." All he got back was static. Glancing at the damage report, he noticed that half his systems were down. Ejection system, communications, hyperdrive and flight control.
"Couldn't be any worse could it?" Kane tried to redirect energy from his engines to all other systems, but nothing happened, he continued at the same speed towards the cruiser. He glanced at it and saw several rockets smash into the hull. Explosions began to rupture the hull all along the ship, "maybe it'll blow up before I get there,” he said to himself.
He looked out at the battle as it raged on. He watched as Defenders from Sword and Dagger squadron (although there seemed to be fewer than there should be) dart in and out of the fireball. With each pass one or two alphabet fighters exploded or were taken out of the action. Kane marveled at the way the Relentless pilots worked in harmony. As soon as the slower gunboats picked up a tail, it was gone thanks to another Wing niner. He could see the frigate trading blows with one of the strike cruisers now, and the strike cruiser was already taking hits on its hull. Each laser impact caused small explosions to erupt from the hull. Kane looked back towards the interdictor, which now almost filled his forward vision. Quickly he switched to heavy rockets once more.
"I hope this works."
With that he launched ten rockets at the now crippled ship. Diverting as much energy as he could to his shields Kane watched as the first pair of rockets impacted with the hull of the interdictor creating a huge fireball. He saw the second pair enter the explosion. A few seconds later the explosion grew. With each passing moment, each pair of rockets entered the explosion. Soon it was to be his turn.
"Well here goes nothing...,” he said to himself. He closed his eyes as he entered the huge fireball extending from the cruiser's hull....
 

The battle was raging on, but slowing. Most of the Rebel fighters were destroyed, and the ones that were left were trying to protect the Interdictor. Then came Shield Squadron.

Shield burst through the enemy fighters to the Interdictor, and launched a deadly salvo of heavy rockets. The Interdictor entered its death heaves.

Once the Interdictor was gone, the rest would be simple. A few Rebel corvettes were no match for an Imperial Star destroyer and an entire wing of Imperial fighters. This Rebel task force had met its end.

Lieutenant Dan Malaktos swore under his breath as he was nearly rammed by a Missile Boat. Checking its IFF, he screamed over the comm:

"Hey Ice, teach your pilots to fly, will ya?"

Before he could finish, a huge ordinance of rockets exploded upon impact on the Interdictor.

"Ok, Dagger Squadron, the Interdictor's gone. Flight two, take the corvettes, flight one and three will cover."

Dan swerved his craft to face the first corvette and unloaded his lasers.

Pretty soon, all the corvettes were down, just a few fighters left. The Lieutenant shot a missile up an X-Wing's exhaust and before he knew it, the field was clear.

"YAAAAHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"

Captain Falcon slowly turned his Tie Defender towards the Relentless's hull. The Rebels had been defeated, the remaining cruisers annihilated. "Dagger squadron prepare to land, Falcon out." The hangar lights grew brighter as Falcon's Tie Defender approached the hangar, but as soon as the Tie Defender was at the lip of the hangar door Falcon saw little red flashs of light. "Rel Bridge why are those Rebels still alive and kicking?" " I'm sorry Captain Falcon but it seems that they are dug in troopers, and have lots of cover" Answered some small voiced bridge officer. "Ok Dagger we're going to try something here, we're going to fire at those Rebel troops inside the hangar". "Sir I don't think that is a good idea" piped in Lieutenant Dan. "Lieutenant what other choice do we have?" "Good point sir". Falcon turned his repulsorlifts up and floated there in the Relentless's hangar above tiny little troopers fighting with hate.

Sssss...hh.... Went a green bolt from Falcon's Fighter as he lined up with a Rebel trooper, the green bolt hit the trooper and burned that docking bay a bit, but what was left of the trooper was only a black spot. "CAPTAIN FALCON WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!!!" Yelled the squeeky voiced bridge officer. "Ahhhh shut-up you snotty litte bridgy, I'm saving your troopers a^^'s" Yelled back Falcon, the bridge officer shut-up.
 

Suddenly a red bolt flew straight up into Falcon's @#%$pit blasting shards of glass everywhere. The laser bolt hit Falcon in the shoulder, sending him back into his pilot's couch. "Damnit! Talon take over for Dagger I gotta get to Medlab" Commanded Lieutenant Commander Talon Ray Hunter as he started his ship towards the hangar floor, blasting Rebels as he did. "I'm lucky that the atmospheric shield was up in the hangar or I would be smeered Falcon" Thought the Captain as he landed ontop of a Rebel trooper squashing him and pushing his buddy up against the hangar wall crushing his back. "I gotta get to the Medlab" thought Falcon as he started unbuckling his @#%$pit straps.

Meanwhile

Commander Daro kept firing at the Rebel Commando's but just couldn't get a good shot at them before they spitted blaster fire at him. "DAMNIT! I need to get to my Tie" Yelled Daro as he dodged another shot from the dug-in Rebels.

Suddenly Daro jumped up and started firing crazily taking one Rebel down wiht a head shot, blood splattered everywhere and Daro took in the burnt flesh smell which nearly made him gag. "Hey you two" Daro said ducking down and turning to his Storm Trooper escort "Lets blast these Rebels down and let me get to my Tie." "Are you crazy?" Asked the younger of the stormies in a scared voice. "There out there to kill" Answered the other "And you think your going to do any good just sitting and wimpering here?" Asked Daro sarcasticly. "Now here's the plan, you two are going to circle around left to right, and I'll cover you firing my brains out at those Rebels" "Commander do you think this will work?" "I hope so for our sake."

Daro counted to three and then both Stormtroopers started around the Rebels position while Daro layed down fire actually hitting two rebels in the chest. Suddenly red blasts came from the left and right of the Rebel's position, and then all was silent. "Hey Commander those Rebs are now just smeered black......" That was all the Stormtrooper said before a dying Rebel sat up and shot him in his face blasting a hole through his head and sending him sprwaling back. Daro jumped up and fired three shots into the Reb's chest blowing it open and spraying the other Stormie with a little blood.

Daro glanced at the board. No fighters left to kill. He had been in his fighter for only a half an hour since getting the antidote. He had vaped 7 fighters but he was still hungry for revenge. He ordered the rest of Sword to fly perimeter, and then went to the hangar. Since it would take to long to get guided into the Tie racks, Daro just landed the sucker right on the floor of the hangar. He hoped out.

“Man, I hope Stall got to the medlab ok,” Daro thought. Daro then saw LT Alun and LT Dan coming out of their fighters and climbing down the racks. The two seemed like brothers as they walked alike, talked alike, and they both had that youthful enthusiasm.

“Dan, Alun, what are you guys doing in here?” Daro asked.

“We had been out there since the beginning and CM Falcon told us to get back to the ship since we were running dangerously low on fuel,” Dan answered for the both of them.

“Well come with me then. Communications on the ship are jammed but I sense that something is wrong in the medlab.” The two followed Daro as he ran out of the hangar. On his way he grabbed eight stormtroopers who were on cleanup detail and took them with.

“Damnit!” Stall shouted, “They got us cornered in here. We need backup.” About eighteen rebel commandos had blasted through the door and were now trying to get to the inner medlab. Stall, Ace, and four stormtroopers were taking cover near the door to the inner lab. The rebels were holed up behind consoles, equipment, and anything else they could find, throwing a hail of laser bolts towards the defenders.

“We can’t call for backup!” Ace shouted back, “They have our comlinks jammed!” Ace duck down just in time as a bolt hit the wall where his head had been and showered fragments into his face. They burned, but Ace endured it and came up shooting, taking a rebel down in the process.

“So what the hell are we going to do?” Stall asked. Ace thought that that was a very good question.

*  *  *  *  *

“Almost there,” Daro thought. Another 50 meters ahead to the right. By now he could here the sounds of a blaster fight. Daro lifted his hand up and signaled for everyone to stop.

“Alright, we can’t just bull rush in there cuz we don’t know how many rebels there are, where they are, and where our guys are. I need a volunteer to sneak up behind the door-nitch and get me some recon.” Alun raised his hand.

“I’m one of the smallest here and it’s not like I’d have to be quiet. They’re making a lotta noise over there,” Alun said matter-of-factly.

“Ok,” Daro said. Alun took off his flight gear and, blaster in hand, crawled on his stomach over to the door-nitch. It was a long crawl but he made it without being noticed. Then he half-crawled, half-ran back to the group.

“I count between 16 and 18 rebel commandos shooting at an unknown number of our guys. It looks like they’re trying to get to the inner lab. Our boys are huddled up by the door, taking cover where they can. I think I caught a glimpse of Ace’s head but I’m not sure.

“Well, they can’t hold out that long. I don’t suppose any of you stormies have stun grenades do you?” Daro got negatory shakes from the heads.

“Looks like we’re going to have to do it the old fashion way. The rear assault. Hopefully, once we start shooting, the boys on the other end will pick up and we’ll catch ‘em in a cross-fire. Ok, everyone follow me.” They group followed Daro out into the corridor and had them all find a place to take cover. Then he, Dan, and Alun went to the front. They were within 5 meters of the rebels when Daro gave the order to fire.

*  *  *  *  *

Stall looked over at Ace.

“It was nice knowing you man,” Stall said through clenched teeth. Blaster fire was roaring around him.

“Yeah, you too Stall. Funny, I always thought I’d buy it in a dogfight, not like this.”

“Yeah,” Stall said with a resigned look. Just then, above the sound of the blaster fire, he heard a shout and then blasters opened up behind the rebels.

*  *  *  *  *

Before Daro even finished the order, his entire group opened up. They took out almost half of them in the first volley alone. Then the rebels started to turn their guns on his group but by then it was hopeless. Ace’s group had started firing and, just as Daro had hoped, caught the rebels in a cross-fire. Daro looked up to see Stall hurdle a console and take out two rebels. Dan and Alun looked like they were having loads of fun taking out rebels left and right. Apparently, these rebels didn’t know they were the only remaining rebels on the ship that weren’t captured. Making a clumsy mistake, Daro, wanting to capture one of the rebels alive, tried switching his blaster to stun only to have a bolt hit him in the full on in the inner shoulder. Daro managed to use the force to channels most of the energy away but it still knocked him off his feet and then there was only blackness.
 

Ace watched as rebels ran into the medlab. He raised his arm weakly and started firing at the rebels. A few fell but Ace would be no match for them. Suddenly the rebels started falling face down and behind them was a squad of stormtroopers to save the day. Ace looked out of the viewport and saw the remains of the rebel forces hypering out. We had won.

                                           -----------------------

*  *  *  *  *

Daro awoke later to find that he was in the inner medlab with a bacta bandage on his right shoulder. Medics were caring for the wounded all around him. He grabbed one.

“How long have I been out of it?” Daro asked.

“Five minutes. The fight is over. We have regained control of the Relentless,” the medic said cheerfully.

“Five minutes!” Daro thought. It had seemed like an eternity. Daro got up and walked over to the door and went out to where the firefight had been.

“Well, look whose up,” Stall smiled from across the room.

“It’s over?” Daro asked, still a little confused.

“Yeah,” Dan said, “The guy who shot you was them last of them and I took him out.” He wore a broad grin on his face.

“So it is all over,” Daro still couldn’t believe it.

“Yes,” a voice said from behind him. Daro turned to see VA Jarak along with LC Satai and FA Kessler walking towards the lab.

“The rebels have been routed and the prisoners are being interrogated,” Jarak said, “We thought we’d come up here and get our booster shots.” This last statement was said with a grin as Jarak and the other Flag Officers walked past him and into the inner medlab. Jarak turned around just before he went in.

“Daro, please call the fighters in. We’re going to be making a jump to the nearest EH outpost for repairs and med-evacs.”

“Yes sir.”

“And Daro?”
“Yes sir?”

“Get some sleep. You look like sh_t.” Jarak continued into the inner lab.

“Yes, sir.” And with that, the invasion of the Relentless was over. The crew and pilots of the Rel had fought long and hard and with much courage and skill. It would be a long time before the rebels thought about her again.

----------------------

Ace lay on his bed watching the stars, feeling tired. He had bandages wrapped around his chest where the virus ate away at him from the inside. The antidote had worked instantly at killing the virus and the rest of the crew that had been infected was also saved. It would take a while for the Relentless to get back up to full capacity but they proved they could handle anything the Rebels threw at them.
 

THE END

Name: Jaster Sadista
Rank: LT
Current Assignment: Rho Squadron Pilot
Scandoc Transmission Code: DrEvezan@aol.com
 Gender: Male
 Race: Human
Date of Birth: 03/29/84
 Place of Birth: Byss
Marital Status: Single
Family: Both of my parents were killed by pirates when I was two. I have one sister, but she defected to the Rebels for unknown reasons!
Social Status: Wealthy
Quote: "The end justifies the means." - Niccolo Machiavelli
Significant Events of Childhood and Adolescence: As I said, my parents were killed by pirates and my sister defected to the Rebellion. Other then that, not much. Since I live in the deep-core, not much happens, do to the fact that hardy anyone knows where Byss is.
Significant Events of Adulthood: Joining the Empire changed my life. It is helping me avenge my parents death by getting rid of all of the undesirables of the galaxy.
Alignment and Attitude: I live by the New Order. The galaxy can never really be free until order has been brought back. The only way the do that is to destroy the "New Republic"!
 Former Occupations: Not much, since I went to the Acadamy when I was very young. I never really had to do much, since the maids did all of the work.
 Hobbies: There is very little that I enjoy. I really like to read and learn new things, but there is one thing that I like to do the most: KILL REBELS! HAHAHAHA!
Tragedies: As I have said before, both my parents were killed by pirates. Also, my sisters a Rebel (that counts as a tragedy, right?).
Phobias and Allergies: I really hate all forms of reptiles. I am also allergic to most trees and grass's. What can I say, I'm destined to be an indoor (or in cockpit) person!
Personal View of the Empire and EH: The Empire must be the only law in the galaxy. There can be no others if peace and order are ever to be reached. The Emperor's Hammer is the only part on the Empire worth being in. The others are all run by "Warlords" and corrupt. They have lost the true meaning of what it is to be Imperial.
 Reason for enlisting in the EH: To avenge my parents death and to restor order to the galaxy. I am also looking for excitment and the chance to finally rid the galaxy of Rebels!
Other Comments: Whatever you do, no matter how bleak things look, remember one thing: You are a member of the Emperor's Hammer and you WILL restore the past glory of the Empire.
ID Line: FM/LT Jaster Sadista/Rho 1-3/Wing II/SSSD Sovereign ISM [HUSS] {IWATS}
Submitted: 6/20/2000 12:42:13 PM

Can you smell something!!!

Brandon yawned an collapsed back on his bunk, streching out as much as his body would physically allow before curling up into a fetal position and closing his eyes.  He'd originally jumped at the chance to be the bartender at the COL's bar on the ISD Challenge, a facility open exclusively to the highest ranking-members of the ship.  He loved it at first; pulling pints for WC Darklord, concucting martinis (shaken not stirred) for Manistas, a nice glass of ice cold milk for the COM and a never-ending stream of cocktails for his CMDR, Calli "This is my last one, honest" Bunny.  Plus, things were a lot quieter since Oldie transferred :P.  All things considered, it was a good job, good pay, free alci and he got to say cool stuff like "The usual?" and "What'll it be, gorgeous?"
However, the past two nights had been pure HELL!!  Every night started off the same, running as smooth as a Twi'lek's ass, but as the night progressed, something........strange...started to happen.  Bran guessed it could be just a one off the first time, the second time he put it down to coincidence......tonight, he started to get worried!!  As he cast aside his worries and drifted into unconsciousness, letting an uneasy sleep fall over him, Brandon feared for his life.....and his next shift in the bar.

"Hello my dear little monkey, another of your finest orgasms please"
Branny chuckled as he retrieved the Irish cream from the liquor cabinet.  Calli always loved to make him blush, but she tipped well, so he didn't really mind.  He smiled and hesitated slightly before pouring the strong-smelling, thick liquid over some ice.
"Don't you think you've had enough orgasms for tonight hon" asked the bartender
"Bah, I'm fine...*gulp* jussh gimme 30 little wittle minutes" mummbled his CMDR, winking and stumbling to look for her favourite "hunk" waiter.  Bran didn't have the heart to tell her he was a droid :P
It was nearing 11.30 and the night had gone without real event.  So far, at least.  Darklord had burst a couple of ballons, CoFo had fallen down while giving his drunken kareoke rendition of that damn Vengaboys song he hated and Tally had managed to sneak in and drink 2 bottles of Corellian Whiskey before anyone noticed, before shouting "Ni!" and running away.  Nothing out of the ordinary really.  However, just when Brandon least expected it.....IT happened.  His eyes grew wide with fear, his stomach and the nerf-burger he'd eaten earlier slowly turned in his stomach, his intestines growled and moaned like a rancor.  A bitter taste filled his mouth and Bran found himself gasping for air.  Slowly but surely, heads in the cantina started to turn.  All of a sudden, Kess brought a hand up to his nose, pinched it shut and began yelling.
"Sithspawn, what the **** ** ** ***** ****** *** (sorry, CoC's :P) is that infernal STENCH!!!"
It was then that Branny noticed all eyes were on him.  He opened his mouth to speak, took a deep breath....and filled his lungs to capacity with the evil aroma which was wafting around the room.  Coughing and spluttering, he keeled over on the bar, convinced he was ding (he always seemed to die or get injured on this ship :P)
The perfume a la death was further contributed to by lee emptying his guts onto the floor, further despairing the ill-fated bartender who would prolly be made to clear it up later, knowing his luck.
One by one the occupants dashed for the exit.  CoFo fell over a table, Calli started to whine when the waiter slipped in Lee's vomit and started short-circuting.  Manitsas raised an eyebrow.  Bran was left alone in the bar, doubled up on the floor.  Fumbling hands reached out and got a shaky hold on a half-empty vodka bottle.  Bringing it to his lips, he drained it in one long measure.
"Uh, I'm gonna need that" muttered the pilot, drawing his lightsaber and knowing what must be done.
Closing his eyes, Brandon the Sith Warrior ignited his lightsaber, drew upon the dark side of the Force.......and chopped his feet off!!

Lying in his Medcorps bed, Bran flexed his funky new articificial feet.
"Groovy, and I can't get verucas or fungus on these things" he asked
"Nope, their just like normal feet....well, they're metal and they'll melt if you step on anything to hot, and they may drop off every now and again, but apart from that...".  DOC Vexan shrugged and continued sipping her root beer.
"That's great Vexie, what can I do to repay you" said a jubilant Brandon
"Ah, no need, anything for a superior officer" she said, saluting
"Great, and...err, Vexie sweetie, lets keep this OUR little secret, ok" he said, giving her the cutest smile he could, batting his eyelids all the while.
Vexie's response was hardly audible as she zipped up her contamination suit and prepared to dispose of the.....evidence.

"I feel like sex on the beach tonight my little subordinate.....how about you"
Brandon went a bright shade of red and reached for a beer.
"Now Lee, you know only Calli has the charm and wit to make lines like that work, now take your beer and go see that whore over there"
"Wheeeeeee, where!!!" proclaimed the horny Wc, bouding away from the bar.
Bransta continued checking all his drinks and cleaning his glasses when Calli walked (not staggered!!) up to the bar.
"What'll it be CMDR?  Latin lover?  Long hard screw up against the wall?  Umm, Coke?"
"Nah, not for me, diet" she said off-handedly
Bran dropped the glass he was cleaning and yelped as it dropped on his foot, trying to make a dull laughing noise as it impacted at went 'Clunk'.
"Say, Branny, did you ever find out what that...awful...smell was" she asked suspisciously, looking him straight in the eye.
The flight leader flet his pulse start to race, his teperature increase and...well, you don't need to know about THAT :P
"Errr, eh, yeah, funny that.....umm, it was....the overflow tray, yeah, kept forgetting to change the thing that catches all the dregs of beer.  Causes a nasty whiff I can tell ya, sheesh, heh".
Calli didn't look convinced
"Oh, and Kirch was visiting the other night with some Sov peeps.  They farted" said Bran very matter-of-fact
Calli nodded and walked away, not hearing the loud sigh of relief from the barman.
"You get out of some weird situations" he muttered to himself as he turned to clean another glass.
All of a sudden msic blared from the speakers in the cantina and CoFo got up on stage to sing Mambo No. 5.  Everyones eyes, however, were on Brandon.  He's just started dancing like a madman....or at least the lower half of his body had!!
"Hey, this is how they dance where I come from" he said, shrugging and spinning about the cantina.
Everyone looked at each other, laughed, then looked at Brandon again.  He could feel himself start to sweat, his heart beating faster and faster.  There was only one solution.
"FREE DRINKS FOR EVERYONE"
......and no-one ever commented about strange smells or dancing ever again!
 

FL/CM Brandon/Typhoon 3-1/Wing X/ISD Challenge

Trial by Fire
 

General Davis awoke in his quarters, stirred by the pulsing beep emitting from his wrist. His eyes adjusted to his surroundings. He was aboard the newly commissioned VSD Savage. Wearily he rubbed his eyes and sat up, tapping his comlink.

'General Davis...' It was the voice of Lt. Commander Sizeman, 'Sir.. we've just received a priority one tasking message from Command.. And sir.. It's from the Flight Officer with direct orders from the Fleet Admiral.'

Davis rose to his feet abruptly, 'A tasking message!? Put it through to my quarters immediately.' He rubbed his eyes again and approached the holoviewer on the far wall. It lit up and he was presented with the image of Vice Admiral Sarriss.

 'General Davis.. effective immediately your battlegroup tasking and standing orders are changed to Recon.'

Davis blinked, 'Sir? We've got a crew of green recruits from Platform Daedalus, they've not been cleared for mission assignment.'

Sarriss frowned, 'I'm fully aware of the status of your ships and crew, General. As of this moment, they are cleared for temporary duty. Get the captain of the Cain and your Wing Commander to your ready room for briefing.'

Davis could only nod, "Yes sir. I'll have them assembled in 15 minutes.' Sarriss merely nodded and the screen went blank.

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

General Davis straightened his uniform as he slid into the head chair in his ready room. Moments later the door swished open and Major Thomas of the TIE Corps, and acting Wing Commander aboard the VSD Savage stepped in. He was followed by Major Ming and Lt. Commander Sizeman, both of the Naval Corps. Ming was the acting Captain of the Carrack Cruiser Cain, Sizeman was the appointed First Officer of the Savage.

It was Sizeman who spoke first as the door slide shut behind him. 'General, Vice Admiral Sarriss is standing by.'

Davis nodded and tapped the button bringing up a full 3D holo of the Flight Officer.

'Greetings Gentleman, no doubt you have been made aware of your sudden change in tasking.' Said Sarriss as the entering officers took their seats.
7
The Vice Admiral continued as the holo changed to a starmap, 'This is the Hyperion system. Hyperion is mostly barren, we have a small detachment of the Katana fleet in the sector along with Deep Space listening port Kobol 12.'

The holo image closed on the listening post before changing again to a computer generated image of the post, rotating around then changing once more to a picture of a strange vessel. 'One hour ago, we received this picture from the listening post, followed immediately by a message from the ships stationed there, stating they had encountered an unknown vessel, presumably this one. After that we lost our feed from the listening post and all contact with the ships.'
 

General Davis spoke up then, 'But why send a crew of cadets into a possible battle zone?'

Sarriss continued, 'There are a number of factors here General, first, your ships are the closest available ships to the Hyperion system, and second, we have checked all known records and cannot identify that vessels origin. We wish to try and intercept it before it can get away, or cause more damage. The ISD Challenge and her task force is already enroute to Hyperion with an ETA of 3 days. If we wait, we may lose any chance of even finding a vector of that ship.'

Davis nodded, while the rest of the officers before him sat in silence, listening intently to the briefing.

Sarriss spoke again, 'Your group is to set an immediate course for Hyperion and run a full recon and sensor sweep of the sector. Any and all findings are to be reported to command immediately.'

Once again Davis nodded, 'We can be underway and in Hyperion within two hours, sir.'

Sarriss smiled, 'Good.. While this is recon tasking, due to the unknown nature of the vessel, defensive rules of engagement are in effect.'

Davis shifting his gaze to Major Thomas.

Thomas looked to the holo image and spoke, 'The ships on the training wing are currently rigged for mock combat maneuvers, we can have them reset for active duty by the time we reach Hyperion.'

Davis replied promptly, 'Do so.' And turned his attention back to the holo as Sarriss spoke again, 'Very well. I'll expect a preliminary report in two hours then.' And the holo faded to the imperial insignia.
 

Davis stepped out onto the bridge in time to see the Lambda Shuttle carrying Major Ming back to the Cain.

After the briefing the officers returned to their stations to prep their personnel. Lt. Commander Sizeman, seeing Davis enter, rose swiftly to his feet, "Captain on the bridge!"

All other personnel rose then and General Davis murmured a simple, "At ease." As he approached Sizeman, "Report Commander."

Sizeman tapped a few buttons on a datapad and handed it to Davis, "Major Thomas is briefing the squadrons now. The Savage has a course plotted and ready to embark."

Davis nodded, "Good.. Once Ming is back aboard the Cain and they are ready, proceed with the mission and jump to Hyperion.. I'll be in my ready room."

Sizeman nodded and took the datapad back as Davis left the bridge.
 

Major Thomas paced around the pilot briefing room as his pilots assembled. Through his peripheral he looks at them, all young, all trained and talented, but all very green. Most of these pilots have never fired live fighter weapons, much less engaged in open combat. He frowned and glanced over his datapad, looking at the numbers. This made him frown deeper. 12 TIE Advanced, 3 Assault Gunboats, 3 Missile Boats and 4 TIE Defenders. Two squadrons.. Barely enough for an effective fighter screen. He stifled a sigh, no need to get the cadets worried.

As the final few seated themselves he stopped his pacing and turned to face them, "Good Morning Cadets.. Today is a special day for you all, for it is what the TIE Corps likes to refer to as a Trial by Fire."

Seemingly all at once, a look of confusion crossed over the faces of the assembled cadets and the Major continued, "What this means is that over the next few days, you will be flying in unsecured space. While we don't expect any hostile activity, your starfighter weapons have been reset with their firing codes. Your ships are live now ladies and gentleman, friendly fire becomes a real concern now, but I have faith that you all will excel wonderfully.'

The Major pressed a button and the holoscreen lit up with a focused starmap of Hyperion. "We'll be coming out of hyperspace here, in the Hyperion system. Hyperion is home to Kobol 12, a deep space listening post that the fleet has recently lost contact with."

Thomas looked over the crew, "Flights 1, 2 and 3 will be assembled as the Wraith Squadron, and flights 4, 5, and 6 will be known Ghoul Squadron. Cadet Silsti, you'll fly lead for Wraith, and Cadet Robinson will fly lead for Ghoul.'

The Major motioned to the map again, 'We'll drop out of Hyperspace here. Ghoul squad will launch immediately and begin a close support patrol near the Savage and Cain. Once preliminary scans are complete, Wraith will launch and fly to the last known position of Kobol 12. Anything abnormal is to be immediately reported. Orders from Command have put us under Defensive rules of engagement. Any questions?"

Cadet Silsti raised his hand, "Are there any known hostiles in the sector or nearby sir?"

The Major smiled, "Good question cadet, but no, there are no known hostiles within several light-years of the operation system." It was a good question, shows concern for readiness.

Another cadet raised his hand, "When was the last communication with Kobol 12, and is there any crew on board?"

Another good question, perhaps this won't be so terrible after all. Thomas nodded, "Last communication from Kobol 12 was almost three hours ago, and the post was manned by two maintenance and monitoring crew."

The pilot nodded and Thomas looked around, no more question. "Okay cadets. This is the chance to shine for the Corps. Get to your fighters and be at launch ready. We will be watching, and may the force be with you. Dismissed."

The pilots all rose, except Silsti, who was making some last minute notes on a datapad.

"Is there a problem Cadet?"

Silsti looked up and rose from his seat, "Sir, if I may be frank? The Hyperion system is in the fringe, and near controlling boundaries, why is Command sending a handful of Cadets into a live zone for training?"

Thomas frowned, "Cadet, our tasking has been changed from Training to Recon. Anything I've not explained is classified beyond your security clearance. Don't question command, follow them, understood?"

Cadet Silsti stood there a moment, staring at Thomas. He couldn't believe what he'd just heard, not a training mission? What the hell was really going on. "Sir.. Yes Sir!" he replied, turning on his heels and leaving the briefing room. He headed straight for the flight bay and began the external check of his TIE Defender. They drew straws before embarking on the excersise, and he suddenly felt extraordinarily lucky to have gotten a Defender.
 

Silsti had felt the Savage lurch sharply as it left hyperspace. He stood there outside his TIE with his flight helmet under his arm as the massive durasteel baydoors slide open. He stared at the vast open space beyond the force shield that was the barrier between it and him. He watched as the 8 TIE Advanced and 3 Gunboats that made up Ghoul Squad launched before putting on his helmet and sliding into the cockpit of his Defender. He grabbed the flight stick with his right hand and flipped a few switched. The cockpit lit up and inside his helmet the virtual HUD showed him the various statuses of components. He felt the Ion engines power up and hum to life behind him. He became aware of his racing heart. Anticipation of his first live flight. Sure, he'd flown before, simulators and training missions in secured space using simulated weapons firing. But this.. this was the real thing. He'd heard Cadet Robinson state that the sector was cleared and they were moving into patrol pattern. Silsti flipped several more
 
 
 

switches, arming weapons, setting the engines into the flight position.

'Wraith One, all systems green, engines ready and shields on standby.' He said, the message being relayed to the rest of his flight, but also heard by the comms officer and hanger crew. He then heard the similar messages repeated by the rest of his Squadron. There was a bump and his ship began to move as the loading belt moved him towards the launch bay.

"Wraith One, this is the Deck Officer, your docking clamps have been disengaged. Move into position and launch when ready."

Silsti inched the throttle forward lightly moving into launch position. He flipped another set of switches bringing the shields fully online and removing the safeties from his weapons. As finished its turn, now facing the open bay doors, Silsti slid the throttle smoothly into its fully open position. The G force from the sudden acceleration sent him deep into his flight seat, he loved the feeling. Some of the force was gone the moment he passed through the force shield and left the artificial gravity of the Savage. He slide the throttle back and slowed into cruising speed while he waiting for the rest of his squadron to launch. As his units formed up he glanced over each instrument again to make sure everything was in order. Tapping his console, he spoke on his squadron frequency, "Okay fellas.. Follow me, and keep it tight, we want to look good for the brass." He manipulated the flight stick and turned his craft and headed towards the coordinates of Kobol 12.

Everything was going smooth. He could see the training group and Ghoul squad far behind him on his radar, a good 10 klicks away. But still no sign of the listening post. "Flights 2 and 3, fan out to maximum scan range, lets find this thing and check it out."

The ships broke off and spread out, and it wasn't maybe two minutes later when he heard, "One, this is Five, I think I found the post, or whats left of it."

Silsti turned his ship towards Wraith Five, and said into his com, "Wraith Squad, converge on Five's location."

As he approached, he could see why it didn't appear on radar. There was little left of it, but floating debris.  "Uhh.. Savage, this is Wraith One. We have located the.. remains of Kobol 12. Transmitting Coordinates."

The VSD Comm officer replied, "Acknowledged Wraith One, any signs of vessels or remains of them."

What the hell does that mean, Silsti thought, "Negative Savage, this debris appears to all have been part of the listening post, and no signs of escape pods."

"Acknowledged Wraith One, Take up patrol with Ghoul squad."

Silsti turned his ship once more, "Your heard the man, lets go join the patrol."

It was about that time that he saw the huge silver vessel come out of hyperspace right next to the capital ships. It was sleek and shiny, like nothing he'd ever seen before.

On the radar he saw Ghoul squad turn and close on the ship and he shoved his own throttle into full power. As he and his squad closed on his capital ships, he saw the laser flashes from Ghoul Squadron, and heard the Wing Commander shouting over the com, "Ghoul Squad, seize fire and stand dow.. holy!" The ship let out a single blue beam that seemed to incinerate Ghoul squad entirely. Silsti couldn't believe it. A whole squad annihilated with a single laser burst. Then he saw the next, a bright orange bolt from the huge ship and everything went black.

General Davis stood on the bridge of the Victory Star Destroyer Savage. He'd heard Major Thomas shouting into a com but he didn't hear the words. He was standing there in awe of the huge ship filling his viewport when he saw the blue laser fire from the ship and Ghoul Squadron was destroyed before his eyes. The he saw the ship powering up for another shot and his knees went weak. He started to pray when the orange blast went through the ship and everything went spinning, then black.
 

Davis' head was pounding. That could only mean he was alive.

Slowly he opened his eyes and realized he was in the familiar surrounding of the bridge of the Savage. He summoned his strength and pushed up to his feet. He could see the rest of the crew, most of them coming to as well. He moved to his chair and sat down in it, staring out the viewport silently.

Once his crew was awake and somewhat recomposed, he spoke. "Damage report."

"Uhh.. None sir.. The engines, weapons and shields are offline but there is no structural damage."

Davis arched a brow, "What the hell just happened, how long have we been out? Whats the status of Wrath and Ghoul Squads?" his voice carried a sense of urgency to it.

The sensor officer was the first to respond, "Wraith Squadron is in the same condition as us."

The com officer was next, "I'm trying to raise them now, sir."

Davis responded, "Try to bring all systems online."

A voice responded,  "Systems ARE coming on line sir."

Another voice said, "Wraith Squadron has revived and brought their engines online, they are returning to their patrol."

"Very good." Replied Davis, "Tell them to maintain a tight close support form. Whats the status of the Cain."

There was no response and Davis rose to his feet and headed over to the operations station where both the Coms officer and Sensor officer just stared at their terminals. "REPORT!" He demanded.

"The Cain.. its.. gone sir."

Then the sensor officer spoke again, "And sir.. we uh.. we're not in Hyperion anymore."

Davis actually blinked, "Where the hell are we?"

"I.. uh.. I don't know sir.. I cannot get any positional information from subspace."

Davis turned and walked to the viewport, staring out. In the distance he saw a dim red star. Definitely not Hyperion, that system has a yellow star. "Com, send a message to Command and alert them of the situation."

"Aye sir." Came the immediate reply.

Without another word, Davis stalked off the bridge to his ready room.
 

FM/LT Jorg Silsti/Daleth 3-2/Wing III/SSSD Sovereign

AURORA PRIME:  THE AFTERMATH

It was, COL Domi admitted to himself, a brilliant strategy.  It’s just a shame Blue didn’t go for it.  The battle would have been glorious.  As it was, however, the ISDs Challenge and Colossus had taken the EH home world Aurora Prime without ever firing a single laser.
The strategy, as everybody now knew, was to use the Challenge and Colossus as bait to draw the Blue fleet out into a trap where, hopefully, the Red fleet would catch them unprepared and destroy their ships.  Sadly, Blue fleet did not take the bait and Red was reduced to winning the competition on points, rather than the decisive victory they yearned for.
“Still,” reflected Domi, “a win is a win.  It matters not how or why.”  So saying, the veteran pilot from Typhoon Squadron slowly made his way along the corridors of the massive ISD Challenge.
He had been down in the hanger ensuring his fighter, a T/D named Allie, was properly berthed, cleaned, and rearmed.  Sure the techs did all that, but a pilot liked to be sure everything was in order before taking off.  The heat of battle was no time to find out someone forgot to load the missile racks or something.  Besides, with the competition over, he had some leave coming and he planned on taking his ship back to his home system.  Considering this took him through Rebel space, it was a good idea to make sure the Allie was battle ready.  The T/D had been with Domi for a while now, having been given to him by the Sovereign Commodore way back when Domi served there.  That was many years ago and Domi sort of forgot why Kramer had given him the ship, perhaps in consolation when his Wing had been closed down.
The silence aboard the Challenge was almost deafening.  The clanging red alert claxons had been silenced.  There was the usual hum of activity but nothing out of the ordinary. The only sounds of celebration came from the Challenge cantina; but that was neither new nor surprising.  Such sounds were normal as pilots either celebrated a safe return or saluted their comrades who failed to make the return trip after a sortie.
It was to the cantina that Domi was heading when he noticed his CMDR, Col Callista, striding purposefully down the hall toward him.  Snapping quickly to attention as he had been trained to do so long ago, he saluted his commanding officer.
“Greetings, sir,” he addressed her.  Inwardly Domi always found it somewhat amusing to refer to a female officer as ‘sir’ but hey, that’s what he was told to do, that’s what he did.
Callista returned the salute, a radiant smile on her face.  It was immediately obvious that she hadn’t taken part in the celebrations yet.
“Hello, Domi,” the always friendly Callista said.  “Are you heading off to the cantina?”
“Yes, I was just going there now. Would you care to join me?  I’m reasonably sure the other squad members are already there, celebrating our phantom win.”
Calli laughed and grabbed the older pilot by the arm, “Sure, let’s go.  Phantom win, eh?  It wouldn’t have been so phantom had Blue showed up in force like we expected.  I’m not sure we could have held them off.”
Domi chuckled a bit and replied that he had no doubt that if Blue had taken the bait, they would have won.
“Their superior starfighters would have proven too much for us, even though the Chal has TDs and Boats too.  We took a big risk doing it this way, but getting those points is what won it for us.”
With that Domi and Callista made their way to the cantina to join their squadmates.
Entering the noisy cantina, Domi was struck by two things, the noticeable odor of stale booze, and a hug-tackle from a rather tipsy Brandon.  Laughing, the elder pilot embraced his long-time friend.
“Darn it all, Brandon,” he laughed, “your aim is off again.  Calli is beside me.”
Brandon gave his friend a lopsided grin, “Sorry about that mate.  Didn’t want you to feel all left out.  Come on, join us at our table.”  With that Brandon escorted Calli and Domi over to where the remainder of Typhoon sat, steadily drinking the cantina dry yet again.
Before taking his seat, Domi silently thanked the Force that Blue hadn’t taken that bait.  He had lost many a good friend in his career but this squad had achieved a level of closeness that he had never really encountered before.  Losing any of them would be devastating, even to him.
Turning his attention back to comrades, Domi smiled and began ordering drinks for his friends. Prior to the taking of Aurora, these same pilots had sat in their cockpits, nervousness and anxiety putting a stop to their bravado.  They had no way of knowing that Blue fleet wasn’t in the sector nor did they anticipate that Blue would allow the capture of their home planet without a massive and immediate counter attack.  The Typhoon pilots, like those of all the other squads aboard the Challenge and Colossus had been prepared to fight and die, if necessary.  Luckily, that wasn’t necessary—this time.
There would be other times.  Times when squads would come home flying the missing man formation.  Times when squads simply didn’t return at all.
Now, however, was the time for jubilation.  The battle was won.  Red had emerged victorious.  The drink would flow and everybody would be happy.  Now was the time to party for soon the claxons would sound again.
 

FM/COL Domi/Typhoon 2-2/Wing X/ISD Challenge

This is only a Test
by J.G. Ahkliat

"This is whacked!" Ahkliat said loudly, "I mean, why do we have to
participate in this exercise anyway?" the lieutenant commander protested.
"Because we have our orders from Jarak and that's that!" commander Taf'ron
Daro retorted. "I want you men to understand something, these exercises
aren't meant as a punishment for something you've done wrong" Daro commented
as he looked out at the faces assembled before him. The members of Sword
Squadron sat there in the dim light of the briefing room, gazing at their
commander will dull looks upon their faces, looking for all the world like a
bunch of stupid monkeys, Daro had to supress the urge to laugh but managed to
maintain his stern exterior. "As I was saying before I was so rudely
interrupted by the lieutenant commander, is that operation Imperial Storm is
an opportunity for you men and this ship as a whole to showcase what you have
learned from all those hours of drilling I put you through" Daro said with a
smile. "But boss, why don't we just go out and smack down some New Republic
guys instead of going though a simulation?" lieutenant commander Stallion
asked. "While it may be true that operation Imperial Storm is only a
simulation, it is much more difficult than a standard sim in that you will be
flying against "live" opponents who think, feel, and react in ways that no
sim can match" Daro commented.
"By engaging in these excises, you'll be better able to deal with
whatever the New Republic can dish out" Daro Advised. "We're going to be
dropping out of hyperspace shortly, and when we do the Aurora System will
never know what hit 'em!" Daro said smiling from ear to ear. "Get suited up,
and get to your ships!"

Having completed his final systems check, Ahkliat sat there in the
cockpit of his missile boat "Babylon Whore", and began the little ritual he
always performed before takeoff. "Nah' Nachkisss, Kai weeto emok senkradda"
which roughly translated into: "Glory to the Dark Lords, may darkness come"
It was a kind of mantra that Ahkliat would mutter to himself over and over
again before being thust into the cold vaccuum of space. No matter how long
Ahkliat had been a pilot in the service of the Empire, he could never get
used to that feeling that seized him when being ejected from the "Tube", he
hated the sticky sweat that made his flight suit cling like a shroud to his
body. He despised that sudden rush of g-force that slammed him against his
seat, threatening to crush his innards to goo, quickly accompanied by the
sudden weightlessness of open space. It had made him ill on more than one
occasion, at least he managed to quell the urge to vomit more often these
days. Clearing his mind, Ahkliat regained his bearings, and focused on the
mission at hand.

Daro:
"Okay suckers, the party has begun, you'll notice that we have a date for
the dance, the Challenge has decided to join us in the accquisition of the
Aurora System. So let's play nice with them and help them out."

Badlan:
"I copy that sir, but I notice that my navcomp readings are different
from yours, why is that?"

Daro:
"That's because you boys with the big payloads are going to have some
real fun while we T/D's slug it out with planetary defense, that's why."

Ahkliat:
"Man, this system is virtually defenseless, what's up with that?"

Daro:
"Let's just say that Intel knew that Aurora was gonna be ripe for the
plucking! Okay you mooks, you have your orders, I'll see you all back in the
Stardrifter Lounge when this is all over. Oh, and remember, this is only a
test."

END?
 

FL/CM Ahkliat/Typhoon 2-1/Wing X/ISD Challenge

Adrenaline wasted

It was hot and stuffy in the small simulator Cal occupied at present. No doubt every single pilot on the Challenge was secretly complaining about the uncomfortable seats and the lack of fresh air. Their only comfort was that soon, they would forget all this in the heat of battle, pure adrenaline pumping through their veins and arteries.
Red Team under the lead of Vice Admiral Jarak had changed its tactics. In spite of the great risk to lose all their battleships, the Battlegroups had split up to take Blue Team’s territory while it was most likely insubstantially guarded. The danger was not to be neglected. Judging from the bit of information on Blue Team’s tactics Red Team had gathered, they were jumping from one planetary system to the next, keeping their forces in one big bulk, hoping to find Red Team at some point and to annihilate them in a short fight. Red Team didn’t fool itself by thinking it could beat Blue Team the usual way. They had the Sovereign Class Super Star Destroyer Sovereign with 6 Wings of squadrons on it, and the Super Star Destroyer Avenger including its starfighter defenses, whereas Red Team had comparably tiny Star Destroyers the Sovereign would have for breakfast. But Red Team’s tacticians were clever – they knew they could only win Exercise Imperial Storm by points for taking over Blue Territory, and such was the tactic at present. No one dared to think of the fate the poor battle ships meeting the Blue Team first would encounter. The Battlegroups had a reputation to lose, even if all this was only a big simulation and nobody was killed anyway.
The ISDs Challenge and Relentless were assigned the probably most difficult task at this point of the operation – they would jump into the Aurora system and capture the homeplanet of the Emperor’s Hammer. While Blue Team’s movements had shown that the Sovereign and Avenger were currently not in orbit around Aurora, nobody assumed they had left the planet defenseless. So now each and every pilot on board the Challenge and the Relentless was in his or her TIE Fighter, waiting for the fall of the two Star Destroyers into real space. They would launch without further delay, clearing what planetary defenses might have been left by Blue Force. No one knew exactly what was awaiting them, but common opinion ranged from at least one modified frigate to the whole of the Blue fleet that had laid an ambush for Red Team, luring them to Aurora.
‘Pilots, get ready to leave the hangar as quickly as you can as soon as Tempest is out! We don’t want them to get the best bits, do we?!’ Commander COL Callista shouted into the intercom on Typhoon’s channel.
Her pilots all let out a battlecry in perfect unison, ready to fight and kick some Blue Force ass.
Cal could have sworn she felt the tension around her in the other cockpits as the countdown for the fall into real space approached the big zero. Her heart pounded faster, impatient to be thrown into a good fight over life and death. If the Sovereign was here, the Exercise would be over for them.
Cal felt her hands grip the lever harder than usual.
A computer generated voice sounded through the pilots’ headcoms:
‘Fall into real space in .. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...’
A split-second later, the atmosphere in the hangar disappeared, and Tempest Squadron’s flights speeded out into space.
‘LAUNCH!’ Cal shouted through the intercom, and Typhoon squadron followed suit.
Behind them, Inferno got ready to take off.
‘Break out of formation and pick the nearest target! Remember we’re not here to take prisoners!’
Flight I’s Defenders broke off to the left, the Missile Boats headed towards the planet and the Advanceds turned back to the Challenge to check for bombers with the capital ship as target.
‘Break off operation! All squadrons break off operation!’ Wing Commander Darklord’s voice sounded through the comlink on the main target. Inferno Squadron stopped their launch.
‘What?!’ Commander Dark Talon shouted. ‘We haven’t even started yet!’ Confusion and anger was voiced by all pilots through the comlinks. After all this exertion they were called back into the hangar without a fight?
A short look on her radar showed Calli why Lee was calling them back. Disappointment replaced her excitement.
‘Affirmative, Major, breaking off operation. Typhoon, let’s go home.’
‘Calli? What’s wrong?’ Vexie asked.
‘Have a look at your radar, everyone. Anything striking on there?’
‘No green dots.’ Vader said.
‘Exactly. They’re not here. Back into the hangar bay, pilots.’

‘I can’t believe I put on my flight suit for nothing.’ Vexie complained, sipping at her third rootbeer.
The Typhoon pilots and most of the other squadrons were in the Challenge’s cantina, all a drink in front of them. This hadn’t been a good day.
‘I was so much looking forward to a fight with those braggards from the Sov, and now this. It’s not fair.’ Talon said.
‘Now we’re sitting here, and the Exercise is most likely over for us without a single confrontation. Now the others will have all the fun.’ Ahkliat added.
‘Well pilots,’ Calli started, ‘you’ve got to see it the other way round. We’ve taken the Emperor’s Hammer’s homeworld without any resistance. Our excitement may have been for nothing, but we’re taking home a decisive victory, don’t you think? And after all, we got away without any casualties. Imagine we’d have encountered the whole of Blue Force there, we wouldn’t have gotten away with our lives.’
Her intention to cheer her pilots up wasn’t very successful. She herself knew that life wasn’t worth anything anyway if you didn’t have a good fight every now and then.
LT Flechette, Typhoon’s newest pilot, came into the cantina. He was still a bit inexperienced with the flightsuits and helmets, but wouldn’t allow anyone to help him put them off, so he was late. Seeing the general disappointment with the mission, he said:
‘Hey guys, I heard we arrived at Aurora only a couple of minutes after Blue Force had hypered out! They must’ve gotten word of our plan and fled from us!’
After a moment of disbelief, everyone broke out into laughter.

1.044 words
native language: German

CMDR/COL Callista/Typhoon/Wing X/ISD Challenge

Imperial Storm: The Aftermath

7.4.00: Journal Entry - William Flechette

Well, I’m still aboard the Challenge, and I’m still Typhoon 1-3, that is, I’m Typhoon Squadron’s third flight member of the first flight. While it seems like a lot of the upper-brass got promotions and recognitions, most of us pilots who do the real work are still where we are before the operation. At least the Mithril Blade, my TIE Defender, got to see some action for once. And overall, I have to say the Admirals of Red Team did a good job.  I wish I could’ve been there when they took down the SSSD Sovereign. I heard the Sovereign’s fighter complement really did a number on the Aggressor Strike Force, though. So I guess it was better that I was not there, at least I still have my life, right? I did get action at Aurora though. I admit, it was a gutsy move by the Admiral. If we had screwed up our timing, we risked total annihilation of our task force. But I guess that’s how war is. What is it they say? “He who dares wins?” Well, I guess it paid off for us this time. There was almost no resistance at the home planet. Not enough to stop us at least. The Mithril Blade got a few kills painted on her hull. A few more and I’m an ace, I think. I’m not sure how many kills I actually have – most of my combat experience seems blurred. I don’t think when I’m flying – I just do it. Too bad we didn’t get a shot to take down the SSD Avenger  -  I bet we could have if we had the chance. Anyway, for post- and pre- Imperial Storm seem very similar. I’m still where I was before, and I still hold the same rank. The only difference would be I’ve escaped death a few more times and I’ve caused the death of a few others. I’ve gotten a few letters back to my family now that combat is over.  Our main job is now patrolling. I don’t expect anything, to be truthful. And if we did encounter something, I’m sure we could handle it.  If our commanders could take on two Superships and their support craft, I’m sure we could handle anything the damned rebels throw at us. I think I’m just skipping from topic to topic now though, and I’m way off of Imperial Storm….
 

FM/LT William “Misfit” Flechette/Typhoon I-3/Wing X/ISD Challenge

FM/LT Frederik Greyson Junior/Typhoon 3-3/Wing X/ISD Challenge

Some hours after the end of Exercise Imperial Storm, Typhoon squadron arrived from their patrol duty . Because Typhoon was one of the full manned squadrons, they had to patrol the area around the Challenge . Colonel Callista climbed out of her Tie Defender : " Ok guys , it´s party time . Make sure that the maintenance crew can take over your fighters in a short time and then let´s go to the cantina . " The most Thypoon members hurried to the cantina .

Callista noticed that not all of her pilots were on the celebration party . She missed the Lieutenants Greyson Junior and Flechette . She wondered where those pilots were and started to look for them . She went into the main hangar of the Challenge . There she listened to two members of the maintenance crew : " See , those pilots can celebrate their victory only we have to work . Typical for these officiers . Sometimes I wonder if they will ever notice that they are nothing without us . " The Colonel knew that these two guys were right but right now she had to look for her pilots . She went over : " Greets , did you see the Lieutenants Flechette and Greyson . " " No , ma ´am . " The other pointed at a corner of the hangar : " I think I saw Greyson behind these crates . " Calli nodded : " Ok , thank you . "

The Colonel went over to the corner where she found her two Lieutenants : " What you are doing here ? Boys , it´s party time ! " Greyson took away his book, and so did Flechette . Calli looked over : " What is this ? " Greyson blushed : " Our diaries , ma ´am . " The Colonel had to smile , young pilots even : " Hey boys , that´s ok . You had no real life before becoming pilots . On the one hand you are still kids and on the other you are men . It´s not easy and when you promise me not to tell a secret around then I tell you something personal . " Flechette smiled : " Promised . " and also Greyson nodded . Callistra sat down on a crate next to both : " When I joined the Emperor‘s hammer years before I acted like you : I also had a diary and you will not believe it, in the beginning I had enourmous problems to find sleep after the battles . " " You ma ´am ? " asked Greyson surprised . " Of course , I´m as human as you are . Ranks don´t mean much , I started like you , believe me it will become better in the times . " Both Lieutenants looked surprised at each other . Calli continued : " Dont think too much about it . Let´s go celebrating , you shouldn’t miss such a victory party. Bring your diaries to your quarters and then we go to the party. That´s an order ! " She had to smile as she saw her two Lieutenants running to their bunks .

Then she returned to the Cantina and took a look around for those of her pilots  who were still standing . She called Colonel Domi over : " Prepare some crates of the beer and grab some pilots . We will give them to the maintenance crew as a little thank you . " Domi nodded , in this moment Greyson and Flechette arrived . Domi ordered both to help him with the crates . Flechette grinned : " Well , here we were already . " The maintenance crew were surprised but they took the present and invited the squad to celebrate with them . Finally the whole party moved from the Cantina to the hangar and it was the best party the Challenge ever saw because all members of the ship were involved .

Greyson‘s final sentence about that day in his diary was : " And so we stepped over the invisible frontiers between pilots , officers and normal navy crew . We all noticed we win together and we lose together . It was the first time I had the feeling that I´m not alone anymore . It was one of the best days in my life . A drunk but happy Freddy out . "

words : 766 ( I hope I counted correct )
native language : German

''Broken lights, basement's and tunnel's, smoke and dust, all combine to create an environment that can mean night-time combat-situation's eaven though the sun is shining in the streets outside.''
As the Rebellion (or as they like to call themselves ''the New Republic'') grows in offensive capacity, we have to anticipate attacks on our population centres and infrastructure. The use of remote controlled  weapons, terrorist threats of various kinds or surprise pinpoint strikes with very competent elite units or sophisticated weaponsystems can be implemented with very short notice and before we have been able to increase our Defence Status (Defstat).  The treats are to the targets witch will yield the greatest damage and fastest decisive victory - larger city's and important infrastructure.
Seen from a military history perspective hardly any war has been won without important city's or other urban areas have been exposed to combat. The aggressor has in many cases started the war with bombardment and/or occupation  of  strategically important city's with the purpose of achieving a political and military collapse.
The importance and symbolic value of controlling or being able to effect the day to day life in the opponents Capital and his more important infrastructures has been clearly shown in recent  conflicts on Earth: Groznyj, Sarajevo, and Belgrade. Larger city's, in particular Capital's, are almost as a rule both decision-, information-, communication-, economic and resource centres. To take out a country's or a planet's command-system is therefore a natural and high priority goal for any aggressor.
THREE DIMENSION'S:

It is doubtful whether any combat environment  in such a clear way shows the consequences of the fragmented battlefield as urban combat. The successful implementation of this sort of combat is extremely  complex and  the building up of a sufficient capability  for it demands a continuous development, not just in combat-technique, tactics, organisation and materiel but also in training methods and training-facilities.  No battlefield is harder to master or more difficult to oversee then that of the megacity.  Pro primo: The ground combat is three-dimensional. It occurs on rooftops and on or under ground. There are no clear frontlines, no clear borders.
The battlefield constantly changes looks and character  - houses collapse, streets are blocked, bridge's are blown up. No matter were you are on this kind of battlefield you risk to draw enemy fire and in so doing, expose civilians to it as well.   In a normal urban area the combat distance varies from the very short, a few meters or in worst case close-combat, with short targetexposure-time, to extremely long distances in witch you only with great difficulty can determine friend from foe and/or civilian.
In order to survive and win it takes that you master the three fundamental basics of combat, fire, movement and cover, in this type of environment.   That this is a complex combat-environment that demands special training, equipment and practice, was shown with extreme clarity during a training exercise in Stockholm Sweden in the late spring 1999.  On the defending side was a City-infantry company together with a few support units totalling half a company ( 1 mortar platoon and 1 logistics platoon). They had to face a qualified  opponent -a fully equipped mechanised battalion.
GREAT LOSSES
A large number of experiences and conclusions where made during this exercise, chiefly:
? The defending units ( fighting a delaying action) caused heavy casualty's on the attacking mechanised units by working in small and independent units over the entire  theatre of operation.
? The tempo of attack was significantly slowed down by the well prepared delaying combat. The attacking battalion had obvious difficulties in co-ordinating the battle in order to get the full effect of its superior firepower. This in combination with the defending units working in the entire area lead to that the battle was decided on platoon level and only occasionally on company level. The Battalion-Commander's possibilities to review and co-ordinate the combat within the battalion and between the company's were often very limited.
? Buildings important to the enemy's continued advance was defended by a fluid mowing combat from well prepared defensive positions. This forced the attacking units to leave their armoured transports and start a house to house clearing action, witch is a time and resource demanding form of combat that quickly causes heavy casualty's and lowers the attacking units combat-value.
? Some of the attacking units had the very unpleasant experience of suddenly finding the enemy popping up in a building they had thought cleared and safe ( the defenders used the sewers to get behind them!) and having their supply-lines cut of, forcing them to place heavy escort on their lines of supply, further reducing their manpower for use in the attack.
? The defenders superior knowledge of the area and his well prepared defensive positions proved the day. The enemy's lead company suffered a staggering 75% losses during the first four hours of fighting with only a 10% loss for the defenders. The attackers indirect fire was in some cases directed towards his own troops, they having moved further then was known to the indirect-fire forward observer or him not knowing his correct position.
As we can see a good ability to conduct combat in an urban environment demands a comprehensive and broad competence, not only in the single soldier and his commanding officer but also in they who are responsible for their training.
The soldier must be able to use his weapons in an environment that has both disadvantages and advantages. The possibilities to use the Merr-Sonn PLX2 "Plex" and the Blas Tech CSPL-12 " Caspel" (AT-4 and Carl Gustav on Earth) and other anti-tank/missile weapons are limited in houses and buildings as the range is often shorter then the minimal firing-range (50-70 meters).
At the same time there are good possibilities to conduct advance and withdrawal under cover and protection and also to get close to your opponent and this from other directions then normal, like from rooftops or sewers.  Broken lights, basement's and tunnel's, smoke and dust, all combine to create an environment that can mean night-time combat-situation's eaven though the sun is shining in the streets outside!
LOCAL  AREA KNOWLEDGE

The possibility  to get close to ones opponent is also valid for the enemy! In some case's you get so close to him and your sphere of movement is so limited that you are forced into close-combat (avoid at all cost if possible, it can get rather nasty). Last but not least you have to know in every instant your exact location and position to other units,  and this in an environment that can be changed quickly by rubble and fire and were the enemy may suddenly control what you held to be a safe passage between buildings. The ability to manoeuvre your unit with a superior local area knowledge, to lead and co-ordinate airsupport, indirect and direct fire with the movement of your unit's and handle any civilians who get in the way, are all examples of the basic competence needed in order for the commanding officer and his unit to survive and be victorious in the art of urban combat.
PROPOSITION

To be able to conduct urban combat must not be the exclusive ability of a few elite units within the Emperor's Hammer, any of our planets can in theory come under attack from the rebels. Therefore I suggest that all planetary Governors should send their ground units (on a rotating schedule)  to a special training facility to be built on Carrida II so that all our units at least has a basic competence in fighting in this environment. The Hammer's Fist should get the most of this training since they would be the other units "enemy" in both attacking and defending exercises.
Your most humble and ever loyal officer.

FL/CPT Roger/Epsilon-2-1/Wing1/SSSD Sov (CAVL) ISMx4, LoCx3, OV-2E (IWATS-SM1)

The SSD Avenger Story

 AD FireFox was walking from his room to the Bridge of the Avenger. As the officers of the ship salute VA FireFox as step’s on to the bridge.  He salute’s them back, and ask, has there been any contact form the ISDII Inferno. No sir, there has been no word form them. Send out a search party I want that ship found within the next 24 hours.
Yes, Admiral FireFox.  As the squadron Hunter is sent out to find the Inferno. As hunter squad jumps into hyperspace.
 
 As the Inferno is stuck in deep space Commander Ryo sends out Probe Driods to search the surrounding systems for life and technology. He finds a system named Leidecker as the Inferno makes it way to the system. Ryo grabs the comminute and says all fighters, be prepared for immediate launch if the negations go bad. As Ryo heads for his shuttle and climbs aboard.   As the shuttle takes off followed by two escorts they make there way to the orbiting space station. As the leader in charge General Couser, comes over the comminute he says, welcome Commander Ryo I look forward to helping you with your ship repairs. As commander Ryo thinks to him self, man this guy want’s my ship. A few minutes later squad of Planetary Fighters fly out from the station. Ryo hits the switch next to him and the immediate launch from the Inferno. As Ryo instruction the pilot  to fly back to the inferno and tell them to ready my fighter. As the shuttle docks Ryo runs out, and grabs his flight gear. He then dress up and heads for the
Tie Advanced. He starts her up and fly’s roaring out of the hanger. He sets up his targeting computer for the Generals ship. As squad after squad is being launch form both base. A transmission comes over Ryo’s comminute.  Hey Ryo need some help, it was Commander Madien. Glad to see you hear, take out the rest of the fighters and leave the General for me. As Ryo heads full throttle at the General he fires a par of Torpedoes at the Shuttle which blows it to pieces. Ryo then says to himself, “right negations are complete the station will now be taken under Imperial authority.    Later AD FireFox ship arrives, welcome back Commander Ryo and good work on the capture of a hidden rebel base.
Admiral the Inferno needs the Hyperdrive rebuilt and also a promotion to commander madien to Captain.  I look into it and it good to have you back.

 As the Inferno and Avenger take the rebel prisoner to a hold cell. Madien gets the rank of Captain. As for Ryo he is a know as the Greatest Imperial Commander in the Galaxy.

FM/LT Ryo/Yod 1-4/Wing IV/SSSD Sovereign

SSD Avenger Story 2

 With the new Wing about to open abroad the SSD Avenger pilots can’t wait to take positions in the second wing. Cpt Ryo who was promoted by AD FireFox due to the capture of the Secret Rebel Base in the Leidecker System, he hopes to take command of squad that will attract pilots from all over the galaxy.  The scene takes place where Ryo ask FireFox for a Squadron Position.

 Admiral, yes Captain since Wing 2 aboard the Avenger is opening back up, I was wondering if there is a squadron position open. I’m sorry Ryo, but you are in command of the Inferno and I’m afraid that is where you must stay. Yes Admiral, thank you for your time. He salutes FireFox then turns around and makes his way to the Hanger. He comes into the hanger and boards his shuttle.  His shuttle takes off and proceeds to the hyperpoint where it then makes the jump to light speed. Ryo thinks to him self, the AD is right I worked hard to get the Inferno and I’m not about to let it slip away so easy. As the shuttle comes out of hyperspace it makes it way to the inferno. It comes within 2 clicks and proceeds to land in the main hanger. Ryo walks out and it greeted by Cpt Madine. Crix informs Ryo that a small group of Rebel ships attacked the Inferno. Ryo tells Crix to send out a small group of fighters to search out the rebels. If they are found inform me at once. As Crix salutes Ryo and heads for his ship, Ryo salutes back and then makes his way to the bridge. As a incoming message from AD FireFox is appearing as Ryo enters the bridge. Sir incoming message from the Admiral yes put it through. Cpt the Avenger is under a attack assist at one. Yes admiral were on our way, inform Cpt Madine of the situation, yes sir.  As Cpt Madine is informed of the situation the Inferno makes the jump into hyperspace. Madine informs the rest of Hunter Squad and they set in their coordinates for the SSD Avenger.  The Inferno comes out of hyperspace and begins launching fighters. Ryo makes his way to his Tie Advanced and hops aboard, he starts it up and makes his way out of the hanger. As Crix squadron comes out of hyperspace, them immediately head for the squad of X-Wings as Ryo and his squad head for the B-Wings attacking the Avenger. As Crix fires a pair of Adv. missile at the X-wing it blows it to pieces. As the Hunters hunt down all of the X-wings, they make there way back to the inferno. Ryo takes down most of the B-wings and leaves a few for his squad to clean up. As both squad meet back up in the Infernos hanger. A special medal is awarded to Crix and Ryo for the Bravery of protection the Avenger.

 The Story ends with Crix and Ryo getting a Commendation of Bravery for their excellent piloting skills in the protection of the Avenger and also for the most kills.

FM/LT Ryo/Yod 1-4/Wing IV/SSSD Sovereign

The SSD Sovereign

LT Ryo has just transfer from the SSD Avenger Wing 1 to the SSD Sovereign Wing 4. He is thinking to his self and hoping that people will accept him once again. Also he is hoping to get in touch with so old friends of his.  The Shuttle lifts off from the SSD Avenger and heads out to make the jump to hyperspace. Lt.-Ryo thinks to him self here is were memories come back.

LT Ryo is sitting in the back of the Shuttle as the 2 pilots in the front have switched to auto pilot and just let the ship navigate it way through hyperspace.  As the pilots just chat away about how they want to fly Vader or GA Ronin around all day and see what he is really like and other things like that. As the red button starts to beep loudly, they jump back to their seats and make preparations to come out of hyperspace. As the come out of hyperspace and the commander of the shuttle says, LT Ryo welcomes to the SSD Sovereign. As Ryo comes out of his seat and looks at his new home and is thinking to him self, she looks the same. As the GN Ricardo comes over the COM system of the shuttle is ask what is your cargo and destination?  Are destinations is the SSD Sovereign and our cargo is a LT Ryo who has transferred from the SSD Avenger. The pilot waits a few minutes and then Ricardo comes back and says, alright clear to land in the hanger bay, roger that. As the shuttle makes a landing preparations and heads towards the hanger. As the tractor beam pulls the shuttle in and then hey land in the hanger. GN Ricardo greets LT Ryo. As he says well back LT Ryo or better known to me as LCM Thrawn. As LT Ryo and Ricardo chat as the are walking through the hanger, all of the ships are being cleaned and equipped for any upcoming battle’s. GN Ricardo says, ready to meet your squad, LT Ryo nods and then both walk to the door at the end of the hanger. GN Ricardo goes through first followed by Ryo. They take the lift down to the flight room were everybody from each squad hangs out. He calls Commander Jon of Yod squad and tells him that his new pilot LT Ryo has just transfer from the Avenger. Lt. Ryo this is your new commander. As both of them shake hands and then Jon takes Ryo and introduces him to the rest of the squad. Ryo gets a drink at sits at a table and gets to know the rest of the squad.

As the time pass and people are heading towards their quarters to get some rest. Ryo takes another slip of his drink and then walks out of the flight room. He looks on the sheet that was handed to him from Ricardo. As he follows the directions and comes to his quarters. He knocks on the door and Jon opens the door. As Ryo enters and then talks with Jon some more, he gets ready for bed and hops up to the top bunk. He gets cozy and then says to himself that thinks will work on fine here. He then close his eyes and trys to get some sleep.

FM/LT Ryo/Yod 1-4/Wing IV/SSSD Sovereign