Falcon Squadron II, The Reform
CMDR/CM Darksaber/Falcon/Wing XI/ISD Immortal
(darksaber_mpk@hotmail.com)

The Imperial Guard, his face as emotioneless as a ferrocrate bunker, admitted Darksaber to the office. Behind the desk, Vice Admiral Adrenaline, Commodore of ISD II Immortal, returned Darksaber´s salute.
Adrenaline gestured towards the visitors´chair. " Commander Darksaber. Please sit. "

Darksaber took the seat indicated " Thank you for making time in your schedule for me so soon "

" It is not an imposition " Adrenaline leaned closer, focusing on Darksaber, " I see no signs of hangover on you, Commander. Must I conclude that you did not celebrate adequately? "

Darksaber smiled " Very adequately. Meeting old friends and new, telling stories until we couldn´t string two words together. But I left the heavy drinking to the younger pilots. "

" Wise of you, well allow me the impatience of office. What brings you to me? Your message hinted at - what was it? recommendations for the rebuilt of Falcon Squadron into a new type of unit, particulary well suited to the search of Warlord Darius "

" That´s correct, I´d like to reform Falcon Squadron, madame " After the Attack on the Sovereign and the ISD Colossus in which Falcon Squadron has part of the defense while on tour aboard Colossus for some Wargames, Falcon Squadron lost many pilots; LCM Maverick, LT M. v. Richthofen, LT Sarin Krast, COL Armus, LT Olenar Ki-Aton and LT Mantigrue perished in combat. LT TieGer was badly hurt and layed in a Bacta tank. MAJ Sanj, former Falcon CMDR, tranfered to SSSD Sovereign to help them replace their lost pilots from experienced ones. Now CM Darksaber was CMDR but had only 3 more pilots with him, LT Dark Hawk, his wingman; CM Mikkel Filla and his wingman LT Tai Olrok. The command staff of ISD Immortal wanted to close Falcon and transfere it´s pilots. It was Darksaber´s job to stop it.
Vice Admiral Adrenaline smiled " Isn´t Heavy Assault enough for you? "
" Heavy Assault will always be good enough for me, madame. But in the last several years I´ve bumped repeatedly into a glaring weakness in our military. I´ve tried to adress it before and want to try again. "
" Please elaborate "
Darksaber leaned back, settling in for a lengthy discussion. " You´ll remember when Falcon was reorganized by COL Dras Hempor a few years back, he took the best pilots he could transfer or steal .... but when it came down to choosing between pilots of equal skill, he always chose the one who had useful ground-based skills as well "

" Yes. He wanted pilots who could also be commandos. "
" He got them. And they did quite a workout as commandos. "

Adrenaline managed to smile again " You have certainly justified our faith in your experiment. Falcon Squadron performed magnificently "

" Thank you. Speaking for my men, I have to agree. But he´d originally thought that Falcon Squadron would be used opportunistically: a strike mission would reveal a ground-based weakness, and we´d have the training and supplies to go down and perform the necessary ground mission. The way it turned out, we keep landing full-fledged commando missions. So I think we need another Commando Squadron, one where we choose pilots as to have a full range of intrusion and subversion skills . The old Falcon Squadron was designed as a fighter unit first, commando unit second; this time, I want to go the other way around "

Vice Admiral Adrenaline´s expression, so far as wedge could read it, was dubious " Historically, we´ve had few problems coordinating the efforts of commandos on the ground and fighters pilots for aerial support. "

" I don´t agree. Commandos can communicate strike locations to the pilots, but the pilots still won´t have the familiarity with these locations that the intrusion team will. Commandos who´ve had their extraction plans busted might want to seize enemy spacecraft to escape; the way things stand, they can´t count on having enough pilots to make that escape, while commando-trained pilots could. Normal pilots follow orders and conform themselves to standard tactics and should! But a commando unit might develop new tactics. New ways of mounting a even ordinary raids and pursuits. New ways of anticipating assaults and ambushes. "

Adrenaline abruptly leaned back from him, her eyes half closing, it looked to Darksaber like a frown of concentration. " What made you say that "

" Thinking about the subject on the long flight home, and during the time we were garrisoned on ISD Colossus before that " Darksaber said " Even though the garrison assignment was cut short from the two months originally planned, it still gave me plenty of time to think "

" You haven´t heard any news? "
" No, madame. About what? "
Adrenaline shook his head " Please go on "

" Well, that´s actually about it. I can dress it up in a formal report for you. "

" There´s still the matter of pilots. Fresh out of the Academy, their costing hundreds of thousands of credits apiece. "

" No, madame. I don´t want all new pilots. I want a mix of experienced ones and new ones. "

"Which is an even more significant expense "

" No, madame, not with these pilots. I want
Adrenaline stared as if she couldn´t believe her ears. " In the name of the Force, Commander, why? "
" Well, some of them, of course, will be irredeemable. I´ll wash them out, too. Some of them will be good men and women who´ve screwed up one time too many, who know theirs careers are dead but would give anything for one more chance ... "
" You´re more likely to get a proton torpedo up your engine than you are to get a funcional squadron out of such pilots. The torpedo might be launched accidently ... but that´s no com fort to a widow "

Darksaber spread his hands, palms uo, and smiled, " Problem solved. I´m not married "
" I know you´re not. You know what I mean "
" Yes, madame "
" You´re committed to this idea, aren´t you ? "
" Yes, madame " Darksaber considered what he was saying

" I understand " Adrenaline nodded agreeably " Request refused "

Darksaber couldn´t speak; suddenly all the air seemed to leave his chest. He´d thought he was so close, thought he had convienced the vice-admiral.

" Unless .... "

Darksaber found his voice again " Unless? "

" I´ll make a bet with you, Commander. You get your chance at forming this squadron. If, three months after it goes operational, it has proven its worth - in my sole estimation - you can do as you please. "

" And if I lose? "

" You accept promotion to the rank of General and join my advisory staff "

Darksaber kept his dismay from his face " I would seem to win either way, madame "

" Stop it. You´re not fooling anyone. If you had your way you´d continue flying snubfighters and commanding fighter squadrons until you were a century old. How many promotions have you turned down? One? Two? "

" One "

" Well, if you lose your bet, you accept this one "

Darksaber sighed and thought it over. He needed to keep flying; he wouldn´t be happy in any other way of live. But the Emperor´s Hammer needed this new tactic, needed many new ways of doing things, before they became as tactically fossilized as the Old Republic had been. " I accept, madame "

Adrenaline ground out a laugh " In a sense, you´ve already lost, Commander Darksaber. You´re wagering your career for the good of the Emperor´s Hammer. You´re creating new tactics, new weapons for the Emperor´s Hammer, not just for your squadron. You´re already a General ... you just don´t know it yet "

" I guess I´ll accept that remark in the spirit in which it was intended, madame. "

" I have another remark for you, Darksaber. News, bad news that you´ll have to take to your subordinates. And I don´t anvy you that task. "

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