Chapter 1: Baptism By Fire

[Rogue 4]

Layla was caught between the blissful relaxation his fingers were offering her tense muscles, and laughing at the comment about their clothes. "What's wrong with my clothes, babe? It's not like I'm wearing anything special for the occasion."

She sighed overdramatically. "You humans are way too modest..."

[Drake 53]

He nodded, "It's true. I think modesty got jacked up a few notches with the Imperials. You know...with their shades of grey and cookie-cutter soldiers."

[Rogue 4]

"Kinda makes me glad Zeltros has always avoided a larger government..." She sighed happily as she began to relax. "You know, if this government work ever falls through for you you could make a ton of money as a massuese."

[Drake 53]

Tak laughed. "Only for you, babe."

[Rogue 4]

Layla laughed warmly, reaching up to give his hand a pat. "Well, we'd better get some rest like you said. Who knows what tommorrow has in store for us."

[Drake 53]

Takeshi tousled her hair. "Night kids! See you all bright and early for breakfast!"

He left the pilot's lounge and went to his room where he flopped onto his bed and quickly fell asleep.

[Rogue 4]

Layla watched him leave, then peeled herself from the couch. "Well, goodnight! Sweet dreams everyone."

She went back to her room, changing into her nightclothes and collapsing on the bed. She pulled her ear-buds from her nightstand, turning on some tunes to listen to while she slept, and pulled the picture she had shown the Captain earlier from her pants pockets. Smiling at it, she folded it neatly back up and placed it on the bedside table before falling asleep.

[Mara 29]

A long time later, Kaden tore his gaze from the holo and replaced it back in his pack. He reached into another pocket, pulling out another holo. Instead of a beautiful blonde, this one held three people: two adults and one small child. They were all darkhaired, but the woman had a more exotic look to her face.

I hope I'm still making you proud, Mom and Dad. I know I couldn't be all that you wanted me to be, but you had hope in me. I'm doing all that I can to further what you stood so proudly for: freedom.

I only wish you were here to see it...

He sighed and pushed the holo under his pillow, turning over and trying to get to sleep.

[Princess 35]

Nima headed back to the room that she shared with Atzena. She changed into nightclothes and sat at the desk and pulled out her datapad and pulled up the biometrics on Aeric. Everything appears to be normal. That's good. Wish I knew why he passed out though. She shut down her datapad and collapsed in her bunk. It had been a long day and tomorrow would probably be even longer.

[Bad furday 57]

Jya shut the door to her room and kicked off her heels, before sinking onto the bed.

Letting her hair down, she undid the intricate lacing of her pants. Going up the sides of her legs, they needed to be untied for the pants to come off easier.

Looking good for the Mynock pilots had taken some time, but it was obviously very much appreciated.

Arlan had walked her to her room, quite smitten, if she had read his facial features correctly.

"He was quite likeable," thought Jya, " Once you get to know him, and he lets his personality shine".

She had been just as pleased as he was at how well the prank on the Mynocks had turned out. It was as if making people laugh made him more...alive.

Unlike Kaden. Well, whatever was eating Kaden was certainly affecting his relationship with the rest of the squadron. It was rather brave of Layla to confront him like that.

Layla. Jya felt more comfortable with this young woman now than when they first met on the shuttle.

"That was awkward!" grimaced Jya to herself.

However, The Zeltron's personality made it hard for Jya not to like her.

"Layla could be my partner in crime..." mused Jya to herself. "We'd add Arlan too, and..."

She trailed off, suprised at how Arlan had entered her thoughts again.

She did find him attractive. Could she truly love someone?

Jya tried to think, tried to remember back through her past.

Her mind went back to her early years as a smuggler. There had been some lovers over the years, of course.

However, none of them had featured the extended teasing/flirting that Layla and Tak were making a habit of. From what Jya could remember, hers had had no chemistry such as that.

And then there was her secret.

Would Arlan still look at her and love her, once he knew what she was hiding?

Jya stared up at the ceiling, her mind thinking multiple thoughts at once.

"Someday, " she thought, " someday, I'll have to tell him."

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric awoke feeling renewed and invigorated. Perfect for today's assignment. He grabbed his stuff and quickly headed to Nima and Atzena's room. Politley, he knocked and got himself cleared for flying. He then told her to head to the briefing room immediatly after breakfast and left to retrieve Nat. Today was going to be a good day.

[Rogue 4]

Nat Riamor was still half asleep and staring down the surprisingly better food options the cafeteria offered. His sunburst eyes blinked a few times at the revelation, and he stared at it with growing discomfort. "I wonder if it's a trap...A katarn in nerf clothing..." His lekku were still too tired to respond adequately to that thought.

After eating his surprisingly good meal, he left the cafeteria to go meet Aeric, as they had planned the night before.

Edited July 18, 2007 by Rogue

[Drake 53]

Takeshi got up, got changed, and made his way groggily to the cafeteria for some food before being called to the meeting.

Edited July 18, 2007 by Drake

[Chickenman 9]

Aeric and Nat waited as the rest of the Revenants took their seats.

"Hurry up guys, sit down. Today's activity is going to be fun, as we'll be getting into our X-Wings for the first time as a unit."

The holoprojector in the center of the room lit up, showing a path through hyperspace broken up into waypoints.

"We will practice in this region, far away from Imperial space. Sorry guys, this one isn't going to be all that thrilling. The exercise will mainly consist of us flying around, getting a feel for our fighters."

The door opened.

"Hello Captain Slade." The Captain stormed down to where Aeric was speaking.

"Might I have a word with you, Lieutenant?"

"Certainly, sir."

He followed Slade off to the side.

"Any particular reason you keep doing that? I'm not a Lieutenant anymore."

"My apologies, Brevet Captain, but I have something more important to discuss. It seems your squadron is a batch of sore losers. They spiked my pilot's drinks with dye!"

Aeric raised an eyebrow. "And?"

"They pissed blue!"

"I see." Aeric turned away, glaring at his squadron. "So you guys thought it would be funny to spike your fellow pilots' drinks? You think that's funny? Hmm? Who's responsible? Who did it?" The squadron was silent. "No one feels like talking. Well rest assured, I promise you, I am going to get to the bottom of this." He turned to Slade. "And I assure you, there are going to be repercusions. Thank you for bringing this to my attention." He snapped a crisp salute. Slade returned it, glared at the Revenants, and marched up the stairs and out of the room.

"Come on guys, blue dye? Juvenile. Next time make it red so they think there's something wrong with their kidneys."

[Princess 35]

The Revenants all burst out laughing. At least Aeric had a sense of humor. It looked like he was going to be a good CO and not keep real tight to military discipline. Nima sipped her caf and pulled out her datapad to receive the information that Aeric was giving out. Her mind started to wander a bit though. She glanced at Nat and wondered about his history, what made him so aloof. Maybe it was because he was a true officer. She made a note to look into him, to see what she could find out. She shook her head out of her daze as she realized that Aeric was asking her a question.

[Mara 29]

Kaden had woken up as refreshed as he could have been, thinking about things until late. But he felt better after a shower and going to the cafeteria and getting some food in him. He didn't notice any difference, but everyone else seems to be enjoying breakfast a lot more.

When he finished, he and Artie headed off to the briefing room, but he left the droid outside the door, figuring he wouldn't belong in there.

As the captain explained what they would be doing, flying a real X-wing finally, Kaden straightened up a little in his seat. After all, this is what he was waiting for and probably the reason for him being on this secret base in the first place.

Captain Slade came in and Kaden was expected a firm punishment from him after Slade had explained everything, but he had just let it go. He kept his face motionless, glad he didn't speak up to say who was involved since he had seemed okay with everything.

He sat in his chair, waiting for the captain to continue from what he was saying before he was rudely interrupted by Captain Slade.

[Rogue 4]

Lieutenant Riamor wasn't entirely sure it was a good idea for Aeric to encourage them with a comment like that, but even he had to admit, Slade's group deserved a bit of torture after what they pulled. It also came as a surprise to him that in a unit barely three days old, the eleven people in front of him had all stayed quiet when pressed to rat out their fellows. It was a good indication that they were starting to gain a team mentality. He just wished they'd gained it over something less...childish.

He felt a pair of eyes on him, and figured that somebody was wondering if he was going to comment on what had just happened. Still, he wouldn't be brash enough to bring his objections up in front of the entire squadron.

- - -

Layla tensed up when she saw Captain Slade enter the room, having a good idea what this could be about. She miraculously kept the smug grin that threatened to take hold of her off of her face, gaze falling nervously on Kaden Staal. She wondered if he was going to say something, tell the Captains exactly who had been involved.

To her great surprise and infinate gratitude he held his tongue.

Tunon's next words made her uneasy. She definatly didn't want to be sitting in his office again, getting chewed out for something so insignificant. But when he cracked his joke, Layla had to laugh with everyone else. Relaxing back into her seat, she decided that everything consiered, Aeric Tunon was quite possibly the coolest Captain on this side of known space.

[Drake 53]

Tak grinned and sat back in his seat, waiting to hear about the rest of the mission.

[Chickenman 9]

"And, because this is going to be such a blue milk run, this is a short briefing. Anything you'd like to add, Nat?"

[Rogue 4]

Nat took a step forward. "As Captain Tunon was saying this is going to be a blue milk run. We expect you all however to pack whatever gear you would normally be taking with you, according to your specialties of course, into the cargo compartment beneath your seats. I want you to get used to having it with you."

"And on that note you're all dismissed. We'll be launching within the hour so I expect everyone to be ready. "

[Drake 53]

After the squadron gave their salutes and was dismissed, Tak got up and stretched out the last remnants of last night's sleep. He looked down at Layla and said, "So...our first mission. How exciting! What are you going to bring for this oh-so special event?"

[Rogue 4]

"If only you knew what my bag of tricks involved, you'd laugh." Layla stood, stretching. "It's probably no where near as technical as yours, but among a few other things I'll be taking my BlasTech DL-22, as well as my Quickfire holdout, a Cq-3.9x holographic image disquiser, and a miniaturized version of the EnhanceScan general purpose scanner. They've all proved useful for me in the past."

[Drake 53]

Tak nodded with a smirk. "A DL-22 for the lady. I've got a modified DL-44 heavy. I also have a Merr-Sonn J1 palm blaster and I like to keep a T-6 Thunderer in the X-wing at all times in case I crash in the middle of a battlefield. I think I'm going to bring one of my special weapons...a slug pistol that was passed down through my, err, family. Aside from firepower, I'll be taking my trusty utility belt full of secret things that helped me in my black-ops."

[Rogue 4]

"Well, looks like we've got our stuff all worked out." Layla threw him a charming grin. "Being as mine's all neatly bagged already, I've just got to stop back in the room and pick it up."

She ran a hand tiredly through her hair. The fact that they were letting her fly made her happier than words, and that came across her pheromones. "Can't wait for some real flying."

[Drake 53]

Tak smelled her excitement. "I agree. It's been a few years since I've flown as a squadron. It should be fun."

He added, "We should head back to our rooms then go to the hanger to get aquainted with our new fighters."