The characters you know are owned by George Lucas, all others are property of the Author.
Welcome
There you are!
I wondered if you'd gotten lost.
No, don't worry about it—I don't mind waiting.
Coruscant's a big place!
And you don't want to get lost in the lower levels.
That was some great flying in sim today—
You really took some people by surprise.
No, that's a good thing! Don't worry,
If you can keep us on our toes,
The pilots we fly against won't have a chance!
I'm glad to have you on my wing.
Trust me, I know how it feels to be new,
Not sure what to do to fit in.
But if there's one thing Rogues respect,
It's good flying,
And you certainly showed them that!
What? Oh, don't worry about him,
He has a bit of a temper
When he's shot down,
But mainly because he's angry at himself.
He'll come around.
He'll probably congratulate you tonight.
I'd bet he'll even offer to buy you a drink,
But the first one's on me.
I won't hear otherwise. Wingmate's prerogative.
You know, you remind me of someone,
But I'm not sure who it is.
Ah well. It'll come to me eventually.
Yes, we get together a fair bit
When we're on base
Of course, if we're out on Fleet assignment
We see rather too much of each other!
Space is tight, even on capital ships
And seeing the same faces for weeks
Or months on end can get pretty old,
But that's another story.
Where was I? Yes, we go out a lot
Sometimes, not all the time, depends how
Duty schedules fall, and so on.
We're all good friends,
Comes from spending so much time
Around each other;
And also from covering
Each other's tails!
On some missions,
All you have going for you is
Your ship, your astromech, and your wingmate
So you'd better learn to take care of all three!
That's a piece of advice
My wingmate when I first joined the Rogues
Gave to me, and now
You have it too.
That's it! That's who
You remind me of,
My first wingmate!
I can't believe I didn't see it sooner,
That double-loop you pulled
Was a trick he used
A lot, and no one
Ever did it better.
What a coincidence!
And you look a little like him too,
Just a little. You'd make him proud.
I don't know what I'd have done without him;
He really took me under his wing
That first year, taught me a lot
About flying; about life, too.
I never quite got the knack of his double-loop,
But the moves he showed me
Saved me more than once.
I wouldn't say he was like
A father to me (we got into
Too much trouble for that!)
But he definitely was like an uncle, at least.
What's that? No. He was killed
At Brensheva, flying cover so our cruiser
Could make the jump to hyperspace.
Saved my life; I vaped the TIE that got him.
Excuse me, there seems to be
Something in my throat—
Ahem! No, I'm fine!
Just a speck of something
In my eye; there. That's better.
I still miss him sometimes,
And a few others—
When you have to trust someone
With your life,
That makes a sort of bond;
And when you have to do it
Over and over again,
Those bonds last.
Even after the people are gone, I think.
Rogues are more than friends,
They're family.
Maybe even more than that.
But don't listen to me ramble.
Here we are; you'd never know it
From the outside,
But this tapcafe is one of
The best kept secrets in this sector
Of the city. C'mon inside.
Look! There, I told you
He'd be looking for you
In order to apologize. You see?
Nothing to be afraid of,
After all. Come on over.
Welcome to the Rogues.
And the first drink is on me.