Disclaimer: I don't own anyone recognizable. Well, some of you may recognize 'Ryll from another of my stories, but oh well. I'm not making any money off this so don't sue.

X-wing: Asynri's Song
by Jessa

I hate waiting. There is no worse punishment for me than to make me wait for a few hours. See, I'm the kind of person that has to be doing something. I don't have any trouble sleeping, but as soon as I wake up, I'm doing something. That's why I've been cursed with so many transfers from pilot groups. The commanders didn't know what to make of me. I'm a really good pilot, as long as I don't have to stay in the cockpit for more than an hour. After about forty minutes I start getting fidgety and I'm ready to run. That's when I know I'd better get out soon or I'm really going to flip. I start playing with switches and my S-foil actuators and basically drive my R2-unit halfway insane. The other Wraiths think it's weird the way I'm always moving. I'm not the only one, though. Shalla Nelprin moves around a lot, too, but I guess her whole family is like that, so she has a reason. I don't.

Commander Antilles has called me on my "annoying habit." I tried to tell him that it wasn't a habit and that I really couldn't help myself, but I'm not sure exactly how successful I was. Face asked me about it the other day, and now he cracks jokes about me and Shalla (though mainly me, because I don't think he has the guts to take Shalla on if he makes her mad) not being able to sit still. I hate it.

Right now we're all sitting in our X-wings, waiting to ambush some Imperial convoy that should be coming through here any time now. It's driving me crazy. I think I can sit here for another fifteen minutes without flipping out on my R2. I can't play with my S-foils, since we're on the ground and any attempt to open them would probably result in damage to my fighter and immediate transfer (or washout). We have to maintain radio silence and that's really killing me. I'm uncomfortable and I can't announce it. I'm about ready to kick in my engines and go for a ride. I can't, because then I'd get washed out of the squadron for sure. And I really don't feel like getting washed out of what's probably my last chance as a fighter pilot. This is something I'm actually good at. I've got more kills than anyone in the Wraiths (with the exception of Commander Antilles and Lieutenant Janson), and I'm a really hot pilot. Oh, how I wish I could get out and run! I hope that convoy comes out soon so we can mop them up. I'm so bored, and I don't even have a datapad with me to play games on to pass the time. I would rather watch a droch crawl across my canopy, that's how bored I am. I would rather be anywhere other than right here, right now. Hell, I'd rather be down in the spice mines of Kessel. . .except that its cold down in those tunnels. At least I would be doing something.

All right. Now I'm down to about ten more minutes of sitting still. If I don't do something soon, I'm going to go for a little spacewalk. That convoy had better come through real soon, or I'm going on a little Imp hunt, to heck with the spacewalk.

My sensors just picked up a ship at the edge of the system. Unfortunately, it's one of our ships. They've just hailed Commander Antilles. Sithspit! The convoy somehow found out we were here and won't show up. Looks like it's back to base for us.

oOoOoOo

"Come on, Loran! Is that the best you can do?" I dodged a right hook aimed at my face as I spoke. We've only been on leave for an hour, and I've already managed to pick a fight. Bad thing is, the person I picked it with happens to be a squad mate. Garik "Face" Loran, to be exact. This particular brawl has been going for a good ten minutes, and neither one of us has really landed a blow. I guess we're just too evenly matched, though I'm a good ten centimeters shorter than him.

I gave him one of the most annoying smirks I've ever done and got the reaction I was looking for. He struck out again at my face. I dodged and rabbit-punched him in the gut. He backed off, surprise more than pain widening his emerald green eyes. He backed into a chair and fell over it, landing in a tangled heap on the deck. I fell down too, but with a little more grace than him, and that was only because I was laughing so hard at how ridiculous Face looked that my legs wouldn't hold me up anymore, when the lounge doors snapped open and Commander Wedge Antilles strode in. Fortunately we were no decor, so rank didn't matter. Even so, half the pilots who were watching the fight rose from their seats.

"What's going on here?" Wedge asked as he surveyed the room. I was still laughing at Face's predicament when his gaze fell on me. "Something funny, Asynri?"

"No sir. Well, maybe Face." I tried to stop laughing, I really did. But every time I managed to bottle it, the look on Loran's face came to mind and I'd start all over again. By this time, Face had extricated himself from the chair. He tried to glare at me, but, as my mother always told me, laughter is contagious, and he ended up back on the floor.

Wedge obviously decided that getting anything but laughter out of me was just about hopeless, so he moved on to easier targets. Or so he hoped. Wes Janson was laughing so hard his face turned chirq red. Donos swore up and down that he hadn't seen a thing. Gavin Darklighter, from the Rogues, said nothing.

Wedge finally got part of the story from Corran Horn of the Rogues. But he'd been sitting in a corner on the other side of the lounge and hadn't actually seen much. I don't think the commander ever actually got the whole datafile. Of course, from what he did get, he could probably piece the story together. But he never got the details. Oh well. That much better for me, I suppose. If he'd gotten the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, I'd probably have been stuck on base for a month, which I really didn't want.

oOoOoOo

"Hey, Darian! How you doin'?" One of my best friends, Darian Starsearcher had been transferred, along with his squadron, to our base. We'd met on another friend's ship, Katrine Antilles's (no relation to the commander) Land's End, but that's another story.

"Not so hot, I'm afraid. Squad leader gave me a hyperspace puzzle to solve. So far, there's no way I can see to get from here-," he pointed at the starmap he held, "to here-," again he pointed, "in no more and no less than three jumps."

"Hmm. Mind if I try?"

"Be my guest. I'm getting a headache, I've been at this thing so long."

"Great. Let me see. . . You could go here, then--no, that wouldn't work. You'd have to go here, then. . .there. From there you could get to your final coordinates. Does that help?"

"Sure does. Why didn't I think of that? Thanks for your help, 'Ryll. Gotta get this to the commander. See you tomorrow for dinner?"

"Sure."

"All right. See you then. Later!"

"Bye!"

I watched him leave, then picked up a datacard from the pile on the table and put it in the reader. A book popped up on the screen. Since I had nothing better to do, I began reading it, even though it wasn't a type I normally read. I'd been reading for about an hour when Face Loran sauntered into the lounge.

"Hiya, Face!" I greeted him. He mustn't have been expecting anyone to be in the lounge because I swear he jumped a half meter into the air. The sight was so funny I thought I would die laughing. He regained his composure and gave me a dirty look.

"What did I do to merit such a look? All I did was say 'hi'."

"You scared about five years' life out of me that's what. It's late. I thought everyone was in bed except me."

"I'm a night person. I'll prob'ly be here for a while yet." I put down my book and thumbed through the stack of datacards, looking for something a little more interesting than the book. Finding nothing, I got up and walked over to where Face sat at a computer terminal. "What are you doing up this late?"

"Figuring out a hyperspace puzzle Commander Antilles gave me."

"Oh. You know, a friend of mine, Darian Starsearcher, was working on one of those earlier. Can I peek?"

"Don't see any harm in looking. Go ahead."

"Hey, that's the same puzzle. Of course, it's not really too much of a puzzle. I solved it in about five minutes."

"Really." I nodded. "Care to enlighten me?" I showed him the course I'd figured out for Darian. "Hmm. Not very long jumps, zigzag course--we'd lose anyone trying to follow us--and easy on fuel. You came up with this course all by yourself in five minutes? No help from the navigational genius or a navicomp? Hard to believe, but it works and it's good. Thanks for the help. That course is so easy, why didn't I think of it?" He shook his head. "How'd you figure that out in five minutes?"

"I just looked at the starmap Darian had. I didn't do anything special. It just jumped out at me. I'm no navigational genius like Piggy."

"Maybe you are and just don't know it. Anyway, now that this is done, I can turn it in to the commander and get some sleep. Thanks again. Goodbye."

"Bye. Sleep well."

I wandered the base's corridors for a while, then headed for the gym. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, so I worked out hard, then hit the shower and my bunk.