Chapter Fourteen – Comet Squadron
Alex Winger was the first member of Comet squadron to arrive at base. Technically, she didn't even need to arrive- she practically lived there. At the moment, however, she wasn't thinking about living at the base or even about when she'd see the entire squadron next. She knew. She knew she'd see them within the hour: Comet was on full alert. Alex walked purposefully outside to give her X-Wing, Revolve, a looking over. As she approached, her ears were met with the abusive whistling of her R4 droid, Wicket. The droid was whistling madly at something, but Alex would need to be a droid-mind reader if she knew what. So instead, she just stalked over, shaking her head angrily at the droid.
"What the Sith? Wicket, what's up?" Her voice called to the droid when she was all of three paces away. Immediately she got a string of angry whistles and beeps in return, causing her to roll her eyes. It would be just like him. The little thing was constantly complaining unless it was doing something. And that something had to be a productive something...or what it seemed to think was productive. Like flying into battle, for example.
"You've just got to wait nine more hours. Then if you get your sorry head fried, I'm going to laugh," she glowered darkly at him. Before the droid could string together a long enough phrase of insults to return, she turned on her heal and walked back into the building. Her droid was probably the most problematic in the squadron, though it wasn't exactly her or Wicket's fault. Wicket was one of the 'lucky' few, as some other droids had whistled enviously at him, that had gotten a chance to hang around with Artoo and as a result he learned quite a few colorful phrases which he could shoot at her with.
All of two seconds later, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Quickly she looked around to find Ton Phanan standing behind her. A grin began to form on her face, and Ton grinned as well. Ton was, to say the least, the comical edge to the squadron. Not that it did much to the bite of Alinn's severity. That woman wouldn't quake even if she were faced with a wall of Super Star Destroyers and a Death Star, even if her shields were down. She knew that she wasn't alone in the squadron's thinking line for thinking their commander was part-miracle, part-insane. Of course, all of them were insane. You had to be to actually want to fly into battle. Either that you were really, really drunk.
"So much for me getting here first, eh? Well, hello again," he joked.
"Oh, I'm so sorry for spoiling your 'here first' record. You're forgetting: I've got nowhere better to live," she shot back. The look on Ton's face showed her plainly that she'd won their little 'argument' hands down. While some of her fellow pilots felt bad for her that she had to live on the spot, she found she didn't mind it much anymore. Her home was destroyed and that was enough of a warning for her. Eventually all of her homes would be destroyed, so she'd stick with the one that was least-likely to be. It wasn't exactly her fault Darth Vader had chosen to destroy Alderaan. While she had never actually been to the planet, her parents had told her about it with expressions of mixed sadness and joy at the memories they had of the place. She was lucky, they'd said, she was born after it was turned into a pile of space dust.
But somehow, she didn't feel lucky. Because Alderaan was destroyed, she had lived in cargo ships her entire life. Or, if she were lucky, she'd be planet stuck for a year because her father had found a form of work that either allowed him or demanded he stay on the ground. She hadn't understood him back then, back when he was so intrigued in the simple feel of a spacecraft under him. She'd just always known her mother called him a madman behind his back and that, given the opportunity, he would always have one foot on a ship.
Ton took one look back at Bugger, a silly name yet the one for his X-Wing, and then walked inside the building after Alex. Alex herself was already three quarters of the way to Alinn's office. Entering the room, she looked around for a good place to sit. Better to find a place to sit while she still could. Ton took a seat closer to the front of the room, but she remained in the back; out of sight, out of mind.
Moments later Alinn Varth walked past her, giving her a nod. Another nod was given to Ton, then she walked to the other side of her desk, taking a few datacards out her pocket and slapping them carelessly down on her desk. Careless was not a word that Alex usually associated with Alinn, but then again, neither was her speaking more than five words at a time, as she did now.
"We've got ourselves some Imps to deal with. I'll tell you guys the details after everyone gets here."
Hardly a minute after Alinn had finished speaking, Annisa Solo walked into the conference room. Although she Anakin Solo's twin sister and younger than him by seven minutes, Annisa none-the-less possessed the typical Solo charm. No one could deny that. Annisa walked up to the front by Ton and took a chair, her smile not wavering in the slightest.
"Everyone's on their way, Alinn," her voice carried to the commander, who merely nodded in affirming she'd gotten the message. Alex choked back a grumbling sigh. Alinn was difficult sometimes, but then again, she also always found a way to make sure everyone lived through a mission.
As if he had heard her words, Alex Gallia walked into the room. He looked over at Alex and she smiled to Sola's husband. Sola was a friend that she had seen on Coruscant a while back and somehow, she couldn't even remember, the two had found lost track of each other only to be reacquainted at a debriefing between Rogue squadron, in which Captain Sola occupied the number Five roster slot, and Comet squadron. A short time after that, Sola had told Alex that she had married a fellow Jedi, Alex Gallia. Not only that, Alex was surprised to hear, but she now had twins of her own who were running around and terrorizing C3-P0. Whether consciously or not, Alex had never imagined her friend in a mother's role.
Alex Gallia's voice broke in on her thoughts, quickly jolting her to the present. "Oh, of course! We're all looking forward to destroying the Imps!"
Ben Kenobi's voice filtered in grumpily from the hall, replying in a mocking tone to his friend's, "Oh yes, wonderful. We're all going to fly all suicidal and have us a big time killing Imperials. Sounds fun. Especially knowing the fact that I don't like flying."
That got a laugh from nearly everyone in the room. Ben Kenobi, Obi-Wan's son, had always voiced, and quite loudly at that, that he hated flying. Whether it was a generic thing that had been passed down because of his father's dealings with a teenaged Anakin Skywalker or not, no one knew or really bothered to care. Ben could protest all he wanted, but everyone knew that if he were given the opportunity to get out of the squadron his answer would be a lightsaber's hissing blade to the throat of the person who'd offered. He would never give up his X-Wing or his place on the squadron roster.
Alex was about to comment to this effect when Alinn looked up, the look on her face sending chills down Alex's spine. While Alinn usually held a placid and unemotional view on the squad, when she got annoyed enough to let it show, people usually shut up and shut up fast. This time it was plain to see that she was annoyed with Ben and Alex Gallia.
"This isn't the time for smart remarks or wise cracks. And Ben, if you don't like flying, then you're shouldn't've joined the squad. Just be sithing grateful you're not in a squad that could torture you by making you be Anakin Skywalker's wingmate," Alinn's harsh voice rang out through the now-silent room. Ben nodded quickly, taking a seat almost immediately. That was just the effect Alinn had on people.
Alinn's verbal bashing was quickly followed up with a verbal reply, though Ben's had been quite sufficient. The other Solo in the squadron, Jacen, walked through the conference room door at that exact moment. While both Annisa and he were Solo's by blood, it was rather easy for people to speculate that, when looking at all four Solo children together, Jaina had received the most Corellian bit in her. Leia had commented more than once that she wondered if her older daughter hadn't just been built off the Corellian genes and her twin off the Alderaanian genes she had added to the mix. Jacen was certainly peaceful enough, however he did still carry the distinctly trademarked Solo smirk.
"I believe he is thankful of that, Commander," Jacen's voice broke through the reigning silence.
Before Alinn could comment, Luke Skywalker's voice followed his nephew's, "Come now, he's not that bad."
The laughter that had been extinguished flared up again, though there was definitely an underlying bit of nervousness clearly expressed in the glances to Alinn's face. While he was an expert pilot from the original Death Star days and he was also a very powerful Jedi Master, there was no doubt that in a squadron Luke relinquished his high standing to the issued commands of his superiors; unfortunately, the stark and emotionless Commander Alinn Varth was one of them.
Ben's father appeared in the doorway, and then he walked over to stand behind his son. Everyone smiled to him as he passed, knowing he'd probably be the one who- as usual- brought level sense to Alinn's head.
"Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, last time I checked," he put in at last. While half the squad was nodding with agreement, Alex caught the look on Alinn's face and quickly wished she could be farther away than the back of the room. While Mace Windu might be renowned and extremely well-known for his 'constructive discipline' shouts, Alinn could match some aspects of his in her own way. And by the look on her face, Alex could tell she was ready to demonstrate her ability to some extent right now.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware this was opinion hour," Alinn began, thoroughly aware of the shock her squadron gave at her using sarcasm. Her next comments were instantly recognized as being mainly for the last five people to enter the room. "We are dealing an Imperial attach in little more than eight and a half hours, gentlemen. I couldn't give a Sith's lightsaber about the fact that you happen to be Jedi. Got it? Let's get serious here or I'll get on the comm with Jaina and request her to tell Skywalker, yes your dear old father," she looked pointedly at Luke, "to use the Force to give you one-track minds."
If Alex had had notions of maybe putting in a bit of her own thoughts, she quickly shut the thoughts into a durasteel box. It was extremely easy to see Alinn was not in the mood for them. She usually never was before a battle. Instead, Alex watched the commander put her paperwork aside and pick up her datapad. She tapped in two frequency codes and then typed in her message, looking up once she was finished.
"As I've just pretty much told you, we're going to have a rendezvous with three Star Destroyers, an Imperial Interdictor Cruiser and sithspawn knows what else. Wedge should be sending information to you with the details on the attack plan soon, thanks to the fact that Tyria Tainer and Adra Tallon hacked into Imperial accounts; not to mention Karrde gave us a sizeable chunk without questioning the amount of credits we'd be forking over."
Alex saw Erysi nod, her expression becoming much like that off the woman's she was twic to. Alex had no doubt what was going on inside her head; it was what she deduced every time they went into a dogfight. The odds weren't good, yet they weren't excruciatingly bad either. Numbers never meant anything to the outcome if the attack was prepared and executed properly...unless you were talking about a single X-Wing against 20 Imperial ships.
The Mirialan at the back of the room was nodding to Alinn's comments about the Imperials attacking the New Republic, but Alex could tell that the news came as a confirmation of previous knowledge. She resisted the urge to allow a frown to show on her face, but instead turned to watch Alinn as she read her datapad. At last, the commander looked up.
"Alright then. Everyone should have their instructions. Refuel and then give your crafts a thorough checking over. If you have any problems, contact Alana. She'll get you working."
Alex stood up, about to head out the door, but then stopped as she heard Tyria Tainer's news to Alinn. A smile creased her lips and she looked at the commander in time to see a mirror smile on her face as well. However, hers was gone before Alex's. Alinn and Tyria exchanged a few more words then nodded in farewell.
As Tyria looked up, Alex nodded to her, wishing her good luck. Then she headed out onto the hanger like the rest of the pilots. Now it was time to see what kind of mischief her conflabbit droid had gotten up to.