Entry 010: Something Old and Something New...
Ahsoka returned to the fleet toward the middle of the week. While she docked in the Emancipator's forward hold, she soon transferred to the Liberator. Tensinel wasn't upset that he was called to move his fighter for half an hour to free up the dock. In the end, he did a quick sweep on the sensor perimeter to ensure the capital ships were properly attuned.
I had been helping Serim replace a component in the navigation/tactical planning room and was making my way back to my quarters when I passed her. She smiled and nodded as she always did, heading toward the bridge to meet with Commander. I didn't know what they were meeting about, or really care. All I knew was that I had an appointment with the medical droid because scooting on my back on the floor probably reopened some of the deeper gashes.
Onebee told me that I was good, but to keep my vest on while in uniform, regardless of what I was doing to add a buffer against rubbing the wounds. He also had to give me an immune-booster because mine was out of date. Then again, the Academy medical records weren't available to him, so we only had my memory of the last time I received one.
Later that day, I pulled an uneventful patrol to Lothal and then onto Garel to keep tabs on the Imperial presence there. Once the group hit Garel, we split for another location. Twelve headed to Vyndal, a primitive world that was free of the Empire. Eleven went to Camson. Ten headed for the desert planet Zyzar. I had the task of scouting the aquatic world of Quila.
In short, it was a boring flight with absolutely nothing happening. Though, I did see some water on Quilla, and waves. Did I mention the oceans? I think there were some seas, too. I swear that my scanners even got bored of scanning the absolutely ball of nothing that was the wet planet. Though, my return trip to the fleet was full of thoughts of MaDall. If I concentrated hard enough, I could still smell her. Though, that was only in my head.
Ahsoka intercepted me on my way to the rec room. We spoke about what happened while she was gone. She was quite interested in my encounter with MaDall on Oon. I tried skirting the subject, but she wouldn't let up. Finally, I admitted to the tryst that we had.
She seemed genuinely surprised as I related a 'cleaned-up' version of the details that I had bragged about last week from the very chair I was sitting in across from Ahsoka. She told me that she had a history with the Zygerrian's in her youth and found it very difficult to trust MaDall when she learned of the slaver's change of heart.
It was then that Ahsoka surprised me even further. She asked me if I trusted MaDall. My initial response was yes, but then I thought about it and said that I didn't know. The both of us were attracted to each other because of her heat which made her pump out pheromones and take a better interest to me with my pheremones. I told her to ask me after my next meeting with the former slaver and I'd let her know then. She simply nodded.
We sat in silence for a time with Ahsoka helping me go over flight logs for the group. I saw her enter some notes on Vyndal, flagging it for further examination by Rebel Intelligence. She even made me some caf, which I was grateful for. It had been a long day.
After a few sips of her own caf, she asked me the oddest question, "do you know what that crystal is around your neck?" I raised my hand to my vest, wondering if I had slipped it out without knowing it. I felt it press against my skin; it felt slightly warmer.
I undid my collar and pulled the crystal out. I looked brighter somehow, catching more of the light in the room. I handed it to Ahsoka and told her that I found it in a broken lightsaber when I was a kid. I related the details to her, and saw the expression on her face when I said the saber was cut cleanly in half.
We talked about it a little, also about what the agricorps village was. She handed it back to me and closed my hand around it. She told me to take care of it, because it was special. I smiled and told her that I knew it was. That's when I revealed to her the day it began to shine.
When I told her about that day, she looked more interested than she previously was. I felt the pressure in the back of my head like the first time I met with her those couple months ago. She rose and smiled at me, calling me very curious. I returned the smile and asked what she expected; I was a pilot, after all.
The next day, Cresh was on patrol when the Ghost returned. I got back to the fleet just in time to see it depart from the Liberator. Truthfully, I was glad to see it go. It was using the same tube I was scheduled to dock with and I had a bit of a refresher emergency building.
After chow, I met our new addition. He was an older gentleman named Rex, a Captain. Something about him both looked and sounded familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on exactly what it was. He was bald and had a shock white beard. He also wore old clone armor that I remembered from holodramas about the war.
Ahsoka introduced him to me. For an old guy, he had a strong handshake. Before I could say anything, he asked me why I wasn't wearing my sidearm. Glancing down, I could see he was sporting a pair of DC-17 hand blasters. I told him that we were aboard a friendly ship and there was no need for them. He bellowed out that kind of thinking would be changing soon enough and then went off in search of Commander Sato.
The next day, all personnel were required to attend mandatory weapon qualification on the Troop Deck, Deck 1. I had my Merr-Sonn Model 57 strapped to my hip and saw that Tensinel's backup pistol was on Thaema's hip, a Merr-Sonn Model 44. Tensinel was sporting his DL-44 and Olivar was equipped with a sleek-looking Kueget LN-21. Other crew members were in the area, most with the standard armory-issue DH-17, except for Serim who was carrying a BlastTech DH-23 "Outback" (which was just a modified version of the DH-17).
It took close to an hour before our group was up. Because of the small size of the range in the Deck 1 Barracks, it could only hold four at a time. Rather than the entire group firing at once, Captain Rex had us go one at a time. He was critiquing our stance before he even let us fire.
Tensinel and I both passed, though he said that Tensinel should hide the fact that he was carrying two additional blasters a little better and his two vibroblades. That shocked me because I only knew of one of Tensinel's additional pistols and only a single blade. Ten was told that he was standing too loose and that he wouldn't be able to hit anything. Thaema was all kinds of messed up with Rex giving her a quick lesson in proper firing position that was right out of the Imperial Academy handbook, word for word.
When it came to the actual shooting, Tensinel scored a perfect hundred out of hundred. His heavy blaster only had fifty shots, but he didn't even break his shot timing when he holstered it and drew his second and then this third. Even Rex was impressed by his shooting.
I was second place with ninety-one and Olivar came in third with eighty-seven. His firing stance was loose on purpose because he went from standing to crouching for the second half of his targets. Twelve didn't pass at all. She scored only sixty shots. Rex told her that he hoped her hand-to-hand was better than her marksmanship and ordered her to attend his marksmanship training every other day.
Serim and Korra were part of the next group to exit. Korra scored seventy-five, the minimum passing, and Olivar dragged her to one of the empty billets to "work on her form." Serim just rolled her eyes at the ill-conceived explanation for them to act like gizka.
Serim scored ninety and jokingly chided herself for not being as good as the joystick jockey. I shot her a look and retorted with the fact that at least I knew how to use a joystick. She just smiled and said that she did too, just not in the cockpit. I opened my mouth to say something as she walked out of the room and Tensinel slapped me on the back and told me to keep my dignity, I obviously lost that one.