No Place For Heroes [Republic Dominion of Surron]

[Aqulia Audax]

[Post=1/20]​

Aquila popped her cockpit hatch and slid down the ladder onto the flight deck. She yanked off her flight helmet to reveal blond locks now plastered to her head, and wiped the sweat from her pale skin. Before she could hand off the flight log to the crew chief, the booming baritone of the deputy wing leader's voice echoed through the hangar.

"Front and center!"

She froze and saluted, the ghost of a smile hovering just short of insubordination as the Twi'lek pushed his green face right up to hers.

He looked about as annoyed as any officer would who had just watched a vital training exercise go bust - all the more so when the order to face the enemy might come down any day.

"What in the three suns did you think you were doing out there?"

She hesitated as pilots exited the ships all around her. The expressions on their faces ranged from annoyance - the newcomer was causing trouble again? - to professional interest: how was their by-the-book commander going to handle the latest infraction by the squadron’s new problem child? She met his eyes, and grinned.

"Completing the mission, successfully sir."

"Successfully? The computers say different. You were destroyed. Along with half the squadron."

"Sir, we scored three hits on the Star Destroyer. Sir."

"Except that wasn't a Star Destroyer. That was a bunch of drones in space simulating the position of a Star Destroyer. And you broke formation to score those hits. After which you got annihilated."

"With due respect, sir, the calculations the wing leader sent in were off."

"And after less than fifty hours you're an expert at flying a Corvus? This isn't the same as smuggling off Coruscant. When we go into battle it won't be against some local security cruiser."

"Well, you'd know all about that, wouldn’t you?"

A moment of astonished silence. Then the Twi'lek drew in a deep breath to cite her for an inevitable disciplinary infraction. But before he could speak the klaxon sounded and the tannoy announced they were needed in Surron.

One day she'd have to explain she'd lied on the application form. She was a former Republic pilot, and had joined for the increased action. And the background of being a smuggler seemed more believable. And more fun a reputation to live up to.

 

[Verd Skirata]

1/20

Verd Skirata, Code-named Prudii, Which meant shadow in Mandalorian, Was in the longarm he had named the Ne'tra Gal. He had been in the neighborhood as Rogue squadron's assistance had been requested. He heard the signal to check in, and running towards the hangar, he switched to his R9 unit's comm frequency and said, "Gadget, do the preflight check and send the ship's feedback to my hud." Not 30 seconds later he had seen that it was running all green; switching back to squadron frequency, he stated, Six about 30 seconds from hangar, systems running in the green. [member="Juwiela Melec"] | [member="Thane Drexel"] | [member="stardust"]

 

[RC 212]

Location: Planetside
Enemies: [member="Gorgeous John"]
Allies: [member="Kaia Starchaser"] [member="Kaili Talith"] [member="Krasnaya Xue"]

5/20

More bugs. Great. Vassara whirled at the sound. and how had he hacked her commlink? Nevermind that. With one hand she threw it away, letting it fall into the wretched sewer waters. The man was a mad man, sending civilian bugs to their deaths against her. something was yearning inside Vassara to break free. A flash of anger or vengeance, she could not tell, but for a moment, she felt a great joy from the lsaughter.

No stop....

Yes, continue Raxis, for this is your destiny. The Jedi code does not suit you, but neither does the Sith code my dear....

Vassara felt a burning pain on her shoulder. The spiral scar lit up and the Nightsister who had possessed half her soul was here again, speaking into her mind.

Unleash your true power Vassara, let the waters be your ally.

"What?" She asked into thin air. The bugs were coming closer now, wielding their torches and pipes. Vassara was bracing, moving the saber into position when she felt a prickly feeling of ice in her stomach. The world went fuzzy, as if she was out of control. A single utterance of ancient magic came from her throat and the waters began to roar, whirling and thrashing. She was in the full grasp of the witches power.

She felt her palm extend as the last syllable was spoken. And with a sudden roar the waters rose ad surged, with the fore of a tsunami down the pipes. She lost her footing, closed her eyes and a thousand pounds of pressure flushed her, the bugs and everything in there through the sewer at a blinding pace.....

 

[Kaia Starchaser]

Kaili was one of Kaia’s favorites, in the Brat Pack, Covenant, or LAA. Sure, the girl couldn’t fly, but she made a good co-pilot-heavily-focused-on-not-flying-co-pilot person. And that was good. Kaia sometimes needed people to watch her back. She really wanted to help the other fly, but… well, it wasn’t the most intelligent move.

“I’d rather the bug spray. Lightsaber can do the work of the rifle. ‘Sides, who knows, these bugs might be really big!”

She stuck her tongue out and smiled as she pushed her throttle. They were going to go in with what seemed to be an attack squad. They hit the ground, see what they could find, what would be useful for the Covenant and get moving. Helping the Republic? Sure, if they started to push the Dark Side back. Kaia was a crusader.

Four

[member="Gorgeous John"]
[member="Vassara Raxis"]
[member="Kaili Talith"]

 

[Lugus Porkins]

[1/20]

Unlike the rest of the pilots, Lugus sat in his cockpit for a moment. He blew the air at of his lungs as he sat and stared at the gauges and dials. He was no longer an Angel. Not an Angel but a Rogue. It seemed to fit better with all that he’s been through with the last months. He was surprised he was able to walk away with discharge papers but the let him. He’s still a republic citizen. A former republic pilot. He still owned his loft on Onderon.

Lugus attention was drawn away when he heard the angry question asking what someone was doing. The being must have been made considering Lugus could hear him through his helmet and from the cockpit. Lugus descended the latter and joined the onlookers watching as Audax was about to get another infraction. He curled his lips as he took his helmet off. He kept his eyes adverted away. She was distant and enjoyed working alone. Her wingman in the angels understood this by either letting her or backing her up. This wasn’t the angels. Lugus got a front row seat to watching her wingman take the first round of fire. Lugus went down fourth because of his own wingman. He wasn’t Trix. Trix always had Lugus’ back. Porkchop and Trix. Lugus looked around to find his wingman 10 clicks out of range then looked back to his own ‘death.’ Well a quick maneuvering with an extra 3 seconds added to his short time. That would have never happened with trix.

Lugus looked around to find his wingman who quickly and pridefully turned his eyes. Lugus then watched the back of Aquila’s Wingman. His helmet still rolling on the ground. He must have threw it down. Lugus shook his head as his attention turned back to the officer and Audax. He wasn’t one to tell. He almost did but he caught himself. Here she was a smuggler. Lugus didn’t know her from the angels or he wasn’t supposed to. He pretended. He didn’t speak to her much before so that was easier. The officer grumbled and turned from her after the klaxon started to sound. His eyes finding Lugus.

“Great flying out there, Pub,” He shook Porkins' hand.

“Thank you, sir,” he secretly hoped Pub wouldn’t be his new callsign. He actually like Porkchop. He didn’t want to be branded as a Republic pilot for the rest of his time. However now he wish he had said something else like Audax had. He could have even changed it in the records with his new found hobby.

The man was quick to leave. Lugus’ eyes found their way to Aquila. He wasn’t upset with her but his eyes didn’t hid the pain he still felt from the loss of his sister and how he was treated before. He nodded lightly, “You’re smart. Ridiculously smart. You always have been…” He sighed. “I guess we’re heading back up?”

[member="Aqulia Audax"]

 

[Sannika Brynn]

"Rogue Three, standing by." Sannika offered a snicker following her leader's habitual threat to all those the Rebels were not particularly fond of. Same Rogue Leader. Best leader ever. "I've got your eight, as usual, Lead.

"Who's taking bets on how fast we get this biz done?" The eager twi'lek was feeling a lot less hesitant with the trigger after the bloodshed she had witnessed recently, all courtesy of insane, fanatical types the likes of this John guy who was apparently was busy drinking in his five minutes of fame. He had just invited the Rebel Alliance to his front porch. She was confident they would make short work of this crass gangster wannabe.

She messed around with some of her manual air pressure dials, her Corvus fighter being relatively archaic in systems and devoid of any of that fancy autopilot junk. Sure, Sannika had initially worked in modernized ships and the convenience did help a pilot focus on the most important tasks without worrying about keeping from getting toasted inside the cockpit. But the RAAF-1 had grown on her, and she was really appreciating the customization and freedom it afforded her. It felt like it was herself, not something that was loaned to her. Kantankerous Kill was synonymous with Rogue Three, and its scuffs and kill marks proved its place in the Rebellion.

"Like, no one can really control minds. I mean, think about it!" So stupid. This was real life, not science-fiction. Duh.

[member="Juwiela Melec"], [member="Thane Drexel"], [member="Aqulia Audax"], [member="Lugus Porkins"], [member="Verd Skirata"]

 

[Stardust Solus Skirae]

She had been silent listening to the man ramble on like he owned the place"gods above he speaks to much"she switched to rogue channel and listened to [member="Sannika Brynn"] "hey whoever gets the least kills buys drinks" she said with a chuckle before sighing, she really needed that laugh especially since a lot has been going on, from her husband disappearing again to being here she had grown to be silent

 

[Aqulia Audax]

[Post=2/20]​

The Wing Commander strode over to them both. Rotund and red-faced, he made up for his lack of warrior physique with reflexes and mental agility. He was known across the fleet as a first-rate leader of pilots. Yet right now it was all he could do to keep them from killing each other.

"I’m going to pretend the last five seconds never happened," he said."Because the newbie’s right. My numbers were off." Aqulia started to reply, but the Commander cut her off: "But instead of hot dogging in there, you should have told us what you were doing first."

"Sir, I didn't have time-"

"Then make time."

He said it with such steel that she knew better than to question him.

"The whole point of a squadron attack is that the combined ships act as a force multiplier. If we integrate our attack vectors, we have a far better chance of finishing the mission successfully — and alive. Understood?"

"Yessir."

"I don't think she understands at all," the Twi’lek muttered.

"She did get the job done, Lieutenant; nobody ever said this war was going to be easy." The Commander turned back to a chastened Aqulia. His black eyes reminded her of her adopted father. They had that same look of disappointment that set a lump in her throat.

"This is not your personal war, Audax. If I thought it would do any good I'd revoke your flight status right here and now, but frankly we don't have enough pilots as it is."

He pitched his voice a little higher, letting it ring out across the hangar floor.

“As it stands, I've just received our orders. Now’s the big show. The fleet moves immediately. But we won't be participating in the main assault. We'll be safeguarding the fleet's lines of communications and guarding the rear—.”

"Rearguard?!?" Aqua couldn't hide her disappointment. "I didn't come all this way just to—‘.

"Enough. We have our orders. Dismissed."

He turned on his heels, and strode off the flight deck. And Aqulia slunk back to her ship.

 

[Ras'kala'han]

Post 1 / 20
Allies: Rebel Alliance (Tentatively), Galactic Republic (Allegedly)
Enemies: Gorgeous John and company

The moment Trystis heard this "John" speak, he entered a detailed fantasy involving the separation of the criminal and his limbs and organs. And who knows, that fantasy may yet be fulfilled. He was, of course, supposed to be chaperoned by some Jedi or something, but this wasn't the time to wait for anyone's approval to jump into the carnage.

"You ready to see some action on the ground, troops?" The commander said.

"Sir, yes sir!" The Sith said with his 'comrades'. He was lucky to have found a uniform that fit. Only the Force knew now what Gorgeous John had waiting in store for him.

[member="stardust"], [member="Aqulia Audax"], [member="Sannika Brynn"], [member="Juwiela Melec"]