Chapter 1: Duty
1 BBY
Gray, it was all so gray. "That's just how the inside of an Imperial Ship looks, you know that", Mathian Calarn thought. It represented the Imperial Military well, countless protocol and a disregard for the individuals, who served there. He learned of these things, from his first weeks in the academy, back on Vardan, his homeworld. He had been scared back then, mostly because he was drafted into the TIE Fighter Pilot program, he never thought he had the courage and the reflexes to fly a TIE Fighter, but he had been wrong. Though he and the others had gone through reflex training, and the hows-and wheres of the TIE Fighter, he still felt a little uneasy about the fighters lack of shields.
But here he was, walking down the hallways of The Crow, an Imperial Light Cruiser, in a TIE Fighter Pilots gear. His lean frame encased in the suit, the helmet covering his blonde hair, and his blue eyes. Walking at a steady pace, he continued walking towards the barracks. He liked walking around the ships hallways, regardless if it reminded him of nature of The Empire, it helped him think. He turned a corner and saw a fellow pilot: Casradi Morint. She was wearing the standard jumpsuit of TIE Fighter Pilots, had discarded the "Box" and the upper armor, that were worn when in flight. Instead of a helmet she had donned a black cap, an imperial cap of course, it same style of cap, as the many officers of the Empire had. Additionally, she had of course tied up her long black hair, per imperial regulations, though her black eyes shining brightly.
He gave her a nod, she gave him a warm smile in return. They had been in a "thing", since the middle stages of their training, the two then 19 year olds, had almost quit literally fallen in love. Mathian remembered it like it was yesterday, he had almost fallen one of the first days, she had caught him, after saying his thanks and cracking a joke, he and Casradi over the weeks secretly became good friends. Mathian didn't know when exactly it evolved to love, he would admit he had been attracted to her before that. It had been a quiet moment, a rare one where they were allowed to be themselves, they had kissed, that one time was the only one, it had been at the end of their training, Both had taken a while to process it. Now they were in a military starship, the most they could give eachother was the occasional smile, maybe even a hug, but most of the time they couldn't show their affection for each other, in those small ways, due to the rules in the military.
Suddenly, The alarm sounded, and a voice came over the intercom, "All personnel get to your battle stations, we are under attack!" Casradi looked at Mathian, and told him to go, she wouldn't be far behind, she said. "See you there." Mathian said hesitantly, before running of towards the fighter airlocks.
He quickly entered a fighter, and powered it up, the roar from the fighters engines sounding ever so intimidating, even a little bit to him. Out of the fighters viewport, he saw, what looked like almost a dozen starfighters, and two transports. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another TIE, flying parallel to himself, he could only guess, but the most logical option was Casradi, although you never really knew with TIE's.
"Sword Squadron" came a voice over the com, belonging to their squadron commander: Kalor Onn. "The Marauders are attempting another attack, we have orders to hold them of until, The Crows ion cannons are ready. You have permission to destroy all ships, but the C-ROC Gozanti, The Crow will take care of it."
The Rodia Marauders, as they called themselves, a band of pirates, who had been attempting for the last months to get to the surface, of Iaen 2, the planet Sword Squadron was assigned to protect. They had tried in many ways, but it seemed they had finally decided on a frontal assault. Mathian never had liked pirates.
Debris hurled through the space above Iaen 2, following the destruction of a Z-95, at the hand of a TIE Fighter. Mere moments after the TIE had destroyed it's target, it was caught in a counterattack from another Z-95, it's debris now also floating in space. Mathian closed in on the fighter, along with his wingman, he quickly pulled the trigger and the Z-95 was blown to pieces. "Take that he" he silently thought. He had never been an imperial patriot, but the death of his fellow pilots saddened him nonetheless.
Suddenly a panicked voice cut through: "Fighter behind me, can't shake him…." That was one more pilot, they had lost today. "No..." Was the silent word the entered Mathian's thoughts, He had trained for such things, but in reality he never was prepared to lose a fellow pilot.
But the Marauders looked to be falling back, it was finally over.