Feeling refreshed after his well-deserved shower, Borath headed toward The Fuel Station, the pilot's bar on the Destiny, known to all simply as the Station. He sauntered through the doorway to find Kaz Holloway already there, sitting at a table with Espar Kanord, a human from one of the minor houses of Kuat, and Rogan Teskan, the Calamari who had been on the harsh end of Bamarz' criticism earlier. His R2 was already there as well. Maestro's head whirled around as it sensed his approach, and blurbled happily.
"Evening, S2. Had a nice oil bath?" The little robot whistled again, this time with a slight edge to its voice. "Yes, I know, you deserved it. That sim was a bit of a nightmare wasn't it?" R2-S2 blatted his agreement in angry tones. "Alright, alright, well we nearly won, didn't we?" Borath looked up as he heard a low chuckle from the table.
"You sound like a married couple!" laughed Holloway. Borath took his seat.
"It's just an R2 unit! Why in the galaxy do you talk to him like a real person?" Kanord sounded incredulous.
"Just because he's a robot doesn't make him any less of a person, Espar," replied Borath as he sat.
Kanord opened his mouth to reply, but all that issued from his shocked mouth was, "AAAARGGHHH!" He jerked convulsively, his legs kicking out and unbalancing him from his chair. His long brown hair stood on end for a moment, a result of the electric charge that R2-S2 had applied to his ankle. The little droid whistled in amusement.
Borath frowned, trying to fight back the laughter that threatened to overwhelm him, and with a deadly straight face said, "S2, that wasn't very nice." Kaz laughed even harder at this, and their Calamari companion's fish-like mouth dropped even further open.
"Borath, your R2 unit is a health hazard. He should have a sign to warn people." Teskan had managed to close his mouth and reign in his amusement. There was a twinkle in his eye as he said it.
Espar was about to retake his seat, saw Maestro edging closer to him, and thought the better of it. "I'll see you guys later," he uttered nervously, and hurried off. Kaz shook her head.
"Poor Espar. S2, you hunk of junk, that was positively vicious!" For some reason, she was the only other person that S2 really seemed to like. He tootled happily at the well-intentioned insult, and Borath smiled.
"Careful Kaz, he might zap you too," he warned with a sidelong glance at the droid, only half joking. Kaz just laughed.
"He wouldn't dare. He knows that Art would only kick his motivators!" Maestro blurbled his derision at this comment, and Holloway chuckled, patting the disgruntled droid on the dome. "Don't worry Maestro, he'd only go for you if he wanted his paintwork stripped by those welders of yours!"
Borath shook his head wonderingly. Why did Maestro feel such an affinity with Kaz? Why not one of the other pilots, like Teskan, Borath's roommate? He would be the logical choice. Even the pair's astromech units seemed to get on with each other, despite the model gap. Kaz had an R5, a line notorious for the scorn it held for inferior R2s. Borath suddenly cut the engines on that train of thought. Was he jealous? No, Kaz was a dear friend. Did he resent the fact that that was as far as it went? He was pretty sure that while he may have loved Kaz, he was certainly not in love with her. Sometimes, though...
"Borath? We may have to use your R2 to return you to the land of the conscious, my friend." Teskan's watery growl cut through his reverie.
"Sorry. I was light years away."
"Tesk just asked you about the sim," explained Holloway.
"Yes, sorry. Er...well I think I'd have got it if I hadn't gone in aiming for that first mine. I could have kept the scanner intact, finished quicker, and avoided the frigate."
"I did not evade effectively. You did, I watched you on the monitor. How? Even Katherine here was not able to replicate your movements."
Borath avoided the sharp kick levelled at him as he said, "Well, that's because Kaz just fluked the sim, whereas I approached it with the skill of a Jedi." He grinned. "Seriously? It's quite simple. You just have to spin your craft around the stern-aft axis. It's especially good against incoming starship fire - dodge around the volleys. You can use it against fighters of course, especially running away. You move underneath the lasers and then back round to where they just passed over you and..." They were both looking at him, utterly bemused. He glanced around. The bar had got pretty full; most of the pilots were here. He stood, and placed a hand each on his friends' shoulders. "Let's go find us some simulators."
The flight deck was a bustle of activity. Nobody had time to gaze out at the stars, beautiful though they were. For all but two of the people, the stars had lost their novelty value anyway. For Corran Horn and Garik 'The Face' Loran however, the stars would always hold thrall over them. Pilots got that much closer to the stars than the capital ship gophers. With only a fragile metal shell to separate them, it was difficult to avoid the thought that a well-placed shot would send the occupant that much closer to those bright sentinels of space, where it was always nighttime. So fighter pilots maintained a healthy respect - and an even healthier distance - from the stars.
At this particular moment in time, these particular two pilots were looking out of the front viewport of the flight deck, at one sector of space in particular. Further out than most of the other stars, they were staring at the Minos Cluster. It has been suggested that Tatooine is the planet furthest from the bright centre of the galaxy. The Minos Cluster is even more remote, but slightly more vibrant. Or, at least it used to be before the Emperor's New Order arrived. Right out on the Galactic Rim, the Cluster was, and still is, a place for the galaxy's outcasts. Under the Old Republic there was a thriving entertainment industry, mining operations, and general colonisation. Corruption crept into the Republic, and so did the criminal gangs. As the Empire moved in, the criminal gangs began to take over. The Emperor even annexed one of the 70-plus habitable worlds for use as an exile planet, but so far out it was difficult to keep strict control.
The Rebel Alliance conducted extensive destabilisation exercises against the Empire there, and after their crushing defeat at Endor, the Empire began to pull out. When Coruscant fell to the Alliance, the Minos Cluster was soon relinquished altogether. The Cluster was left in a sorry state. With most of the dozen-or-so inhabited worlds under the control of the Twilek crimelord Yerkys ne Dago and policed by his gangs; the New Republic could only maintain a token presence. Now the Republic had achieved some kind of stability, the powers-that-be had decided to return to Minos. However, all this fascinating background left one question unanswered for the particular two pilots currently gazing out toward the Cluster. Face turned to Corran and asked it, knowing that he didn't actually know.
"Corran, what the hell are we going to the Minos Cluster for?"
"I don't actually know, Face."
"Hmm. Didn't think so."
A voice came from behind them. "We're going to clean it up." The two pilots turned from the viewport. Standing before them was Admiral Cruk Durnick. He was an average-sized human with no unremarkable features, but he exuded a certain presence that was difficult to ignore.
"We're going to clean it up, sir?" Corran sounded puzzled.
"I presume," began Face, tongue firmly embedded in cheek and a mischievous half-smile emblazoned on his lips, "that that means we're going back to remind everyone that the New Republic hasn't really forgotten they ever existed, and that we didn't really abandon them. We're going to point out that it was a strategic withdrawal, and that now we're back everything's OK? Happy families; touching, isn't it Horn?"
The Admiral was not impressed. "Loran, I don't think I like the implications of what you're saying there. The Republic had no choice but to concentrate our forces elsewhere, or have you forgotten characters like Warlord Zsinj?" The pilot's face lost all of its colour, and hardened into a pretty good impression of a block reinforced transparisteel. Corran placed a firm hand on his arm.
"We all lost friends and colleagues in that war, sir. Loran hasn't forgotten; as you well know, Wraith Squadron, and particularly Captain Loran, was instrumental in his downfall."
Corran's voice was calm and measured, but the subtle, angry edge was not lost on the Admiral, whose eyes narrowed. "Gentlemen, you are here because the Destiny will soon be setting course for the Mestra asteroid system."
Neither of the two pilots betrayed their surprise. Face merely raised an eyebrow. "With respect, sir, that doesn't answer my question." Face cleared his throat to ensure absolute clarity. "What the hell are we doing here?" he repeated, enunciating his words with deliberate care and attention. The admiral was not amused. In the slightest.
"Because, Loran, I was under the impression that you two fools were among the best we have."
"Among?" the pilot muttered quietly. Corran tried very hard not to smile. He didn't do very well. The admiral simply looked at Face, trying to stare him down, but soon found that he'd met his match. He looked past the two men to the viewport.
"Gentlemen, this is not going to be easy. New Republic Intelligence has uncovered some rather unpleasant news. It seems that the miners in the Mestra system are about to attempt some kind of coup. Their working conditions have been poor ever since the Empire turned up and ruined everything out there." Durnick was getting more and more agitated. Corran and Face looked at each warily. "The Minos-Mestra Corporation were pushed to ever more extreme measures. The workers are still suffering from intolerable conditions. The biggest asteroid, Javis-12, is the base of operations and makes Nar Shaddaa look like a holiday camp on Commenor. It's time the Republic did something about it, and we're going to make it happen."
The admiral's face was slowly turning red. He was furious. The two pilots exchanged glances once again. They had severely misjudged the man. It was almost as though this was a personal matter, and that would make him dangerous. They would be more cautious from now on. The admiral finally looked back to their faces, an intense expression adorning his own, his eyes flaming. When he spoke, his voice was as hard as the deck plates through which it resonated with a barely contained anger. "Those miners are going to be making a lot of fuss. They face attack from that Twi'lek crimelord ne Dago, annihilation from the poundies," ("Poundies?" Face mouthed at Corran) "and persecution from the Corporation."
The pit crews were all silent, watching the show. The admiral cleared his throat, realising his tirade had unsettled them all. He even managed a wan smile. "I was there for a short time with the Alliance during the Galactic War. We all fought for so long against that kind of tyranny and now it's happening on our own doorstep. Until now we've been powerless to help, fighting off the remnants of the Empire."
"So, we're going to put a stop to these riots then? Cool everything down and start over?" Corran interjected, still trying to make some sense of the admiral's speech. Durnick smiled humourlessly, sending a chill up the other man's spine. His voice rang out clearly on the bridge, metal being hammered on an anvil.
"No. We're going to help them. The Destiny is going in to secure Javis-12 and we are going to forcibly disband the Minos-Mestra Corporation. They won't know what's hit them."
Now the pilots made no attempt to hide their shock. A deathly silence permeated the flight deck. No one spoke, no one breathed. Corran spoke. "We will meet resistance. The Corporation will not go willingly. What then?" The response came firm, determined, and cold as the vacuum of space.
"We eliminate them."
Katherine Holloway was having fun. Not that she didn't usually have fun anyway, but she was especially enjoying herself right now, because she was flying. Alright, so it was a simulator, but flying with her friends was always enjoyable. She valued times like this. The galaxy was not a peaceful place, and as pilots they would soon be in the thick of the most dangerous action, the kind with laser bolts, torpedoes, failing shields and screaming astromechs. These were her friends, and she knew that when they'd completed their training they might be assigned to different units, so she planned to enjoy every second with them while she could. Especially Borath. He was slightly wacky at times, but underneath she knew he was a shy, sensitive individual. He occasionally let his guard down but usually projected an air of oddball geniality that not everyone responded well to. There was no denying, however, that he was a good pilot.
He had been trying to show them his evasion method by running at a frigate and dodging its laser fire. Both of them had managed to duplicate his runs, and between them they'd destroyed the frigate. Now they were simply dogfighting each other. The sim was set up so each of them had a wingman, and whenever a craft was shot down it respawned a klick from the action to the good-natured taunts of its destroyer and promises of revenge. Not to mention another notch down on the scoreboard. At the moment, Borath was winning.
"I'm still winning!" he crowed, just to make sure his two friends knew. Kaz declined to answer, smiling.
"Art, track Borath. Let's have him," she addressed her R5 unit. He blurbled in response, and Borath's ship popped onto her CMD. Behind and left, attacking poor old Tesk by the looks of it. Kaz grinned, an idea occurring to her. She was only a couple of kills behind him. "Art, order our wingman onto Tesk," she said as Borath swung in for another pass at the Calamari.
The wingman complied, and began firing on Borath's target. Kaz pulled up and round so that her wingman was just under a klick in front of her, and looking up, saw Borath come out of his loop to take down this new threat to his kill. Kaz shook her head in amusement at her friend's predictability. The X-wing had dropped in between them. As he opened fire on the new threat to his kill, Kaz switched to torpedoes, linked the firing tubes and pulled the trigger in one fluid motion. Borath didn't have a chance. His droid hadn't had time to warn him of the impending launch. The double explosion rocked the snubfighter. Two engines blew out, but Borath had no time to be annoyed about it. A quick flick of the weapons select armed her lasers, and Kaz fired a few shots into the unfortunate craft. It exploded in short order. She glanced at the scoreboard in satisfaction as her score increased and the same value was deducted from Borath's.
"Very droll," deadpanned the respawned victim. "But that only makes us even." His final words were uttered at about the same time as Teskan's X-wing blew apart, under fire from Kaz's wingman. Her wingpair's score moved up again, surpassing Borath's. "Ah," was all he could manage. "OK."
Kaz turned and saw Borath's X-wing heading toward her starboard flank. He suddenly snapped up onto its starboard s-foil and then spiral downwards, towards the underside of her own craft. She went into a dive as well, rotating around and tapping the left rudder pedal to orient herself along her opponent's vector. Reaching the bottom of her dive, she looked up - and Borath was gone. Immediately she pulled up and banked left, assuming him to be behind her. Turning her head she saw Borath rise into view behind her. He waved at her and opened fire. Grinning she began the evasive manoeuvring they had just been practising.
A few of the shots impacted, but they all started missing as she began the swinging motion that had been so effective against the frigate. She suddenly danced right, left and then rolled left and dived down. Borath followed, but Kaz she slammed on the left etheric rudder pedal, rotating the entire craft back around to face the oncoming X-wing. She let off a sneaky torpedo and allowed Borath to veer out of her way. She banked around right onto his tail. From the corner of her eye she noticed a flare of light. Art whistled, the translation came upon her screen: Tesk had waxed Borath's wingman. She set her own on him and opened fire on Borath.
Borath was getting a bit annoyed, insofar as he could be annoyed with someone so eminently unannoying. His mental grammar always went to pot during a dogfight, so he settled for evasive instead. He was doing alright, feeling good, getting into the swing of things, until he heard a scream from the back.
"What now Maestro?" he called, and then noticed the flashing light on his HUD. Missile lock. He swerved left then right and down, but the flashing light didn't disappear. Another whistle; Teskan had taken out Kaz's wingman. Not particularly caring at that moment, he yelled in dismay as the flashing light went a solid green. Maestro didn't need to screech this time. "Target that missile right now, S2!" The R2 complied and Borath worked on getting out of the way of the incoming projectile, swerving, diving, climbing, rolling and doing every other trick he had learnt. He pulled up hard and rolled around when he saw that the torpedo was only a deciklick away and with satisfaction saw that he would be able to avoid it. Maestro screeched. "Now, wha..." he began, then screamed himself as he saw Tesk's X-wing right in front of him. He dove without thinking, straight into the path of the torpedo.
The torpedo exploded into the underside of his starboard s-foil, sending him spinning out of control. He had no time to regain control before Teskan rolled down after him, landed on his tail, and pumped shot after shot of burning red fire into his aft. Before he could say "Sithspawn!" Teskan had fired the fatal shot. And I thought I was supposed to be teaching them something, he thought before the screen displayed an external view of the explosion. He watched as Tesk flew straight through the explosion, and curled up and round.
The Calamari was having a great time. His mouth hanging open in the unmistakable Calamari grin, he headed after Kaz. He knew the other two were better pilots, but his ability to form more long-term strategies, even in the midst of a dogfight served him in good stead. The human's craft was only a couple of deciklicks away, and he opened up immediately. To her credit, she reacted straightaway, but it wasn't enough. Teskan was incoming on an oblique angle relative to her craft, and fell in easily behind her. With his acceleration dialled down to two-thirds, he easily met all her manoeuvres. He finished her off quickly.
Borath couldn't believe it. Teskan was winning! Four kills in eight minutes! Gutted was not too strong a word. He swung round after the Calamari, but he found his ship wouldn't move. "Maestro, what's going on?!" The droid just wailed, and then screeched in terror. The screen went blank, the canopy popped open.
"What the..."
"Borath, why..."
"Sithspawn, what..."
The pilots all spoke at once, but their voices cut short when they heard the announcement over the speakers, and saw the flashing red lights.
"All pilots to their craft, emergency scramble, Destiny is under attack. This is not a drill, repeat, this is not a drill."