Chapter One

Nebulon-B-Frigate Liberty, briefing room

"Ladies and gentleman, may I now introduce you to your new commander, Captain Coreena Mallan." Several of the room's male population moaned in protest, but general Jan Dodonna, recently in charge of the Rebel Alliance Starfighter Command, silenced them with a quick, scolding glance. Women may have been usual as technicians, control officers, even naval officers, but they were clearly new to commanding positions in Starfighter Command, even in the Rebellion.

Coreena looked at the squadron she had to take over from Garven "Dave" Dreis. From all she knew from the very few information she had gotten on her flight to the Liberty Gray Squadron was a unit with a lot of rookies, recruits who had no or only few experience with the Incom T-65 X-Wing and there were only two other commissioned officers. One of them, the man, looked at her with a very high amount of suspicion in his eyes. Speech time! she reminded herself and coughed. "Thank you, general." She nodded at Dodonna. "As the general already told you I am your new commander. I am here to take over for your old commander, Captain Dreis because – as all of you know – he himself will take over the command of some of our elite units, Red Flight. I am here to complete your training and – when we have reached full battle competence – lead you into combat. This means that we will hopefully grow to a real unit that will be feared be Imperial fighter pilots."

Some of the pilots in front of her let out subdued cheers or "Hear, hear"s. She allowed herself a little smile. They liked her speech style. Good. "And for this I think we have to get to know each other a little better, and that it's the best if I start with myself." Coreena scanned the pilots. None of them seemed to be really interested. But what the heck… "I am 25 standard years old, my home world is Alderaan and I joined the Rebellion 3 years ago. I am proud to be one of the first women in the Rebel Alliance Armed Forces getting accepted into Starfighter Command." And here they go again… The last sentence had been a mere test to see how most of all the male squadron members reacted. And of course it was the usual range. The male Lieutenant put his hand over his eyes and said something to the man beside him which made him smirk. Others sniggered or threw her… well… disapproving looks.

She let her gaze wander over the room and stopped at a pair to her left, a human male Flight Officer and a human female Lieutenant. They had been bickering when she and Dodonna had entered the room and until now they had done it several times, too. She would have to watch these two closer. If the bickering was the consequence of being a couple she would have to remind them of keeping their relationship discrete and if it was the result of having some personal feude it was even worse. So much for being an unit…She looked at her chrono. Two minutes. Enough "commander bashing" for today. "Could you please calm down again?" It was a rhetorical question and therefore everyone ignored it. Great… "I said: Calm down, everyone!" she said with her recruits-proven "command voice" and it had its desired effect. In less then 5 seconds the room was as silent as a tomb. "Does anyone have questions until now?" She looked around. One big, heavy-built man raised his hand. "Yes, Mr…"

"Flight Officer Flann. When do we get the Cap back?" His comment was accompanied with sniggers and smirks from most of the male pilots. She coughed again. "I suppose you mean Captain Dreis, Flight Officer. And I don't think this question was very funny. Does anyone have a real question?" She looked around again. No one raised a hand so she finally said: "Dismissed."

Lt. Lochlin's and FlO. Banon's quarters

Lieutenant Marcus Lochlin sank onto his bunk and starred at the bottom of the bunk above him. "So, what d'you think about that new commander?" his roommate, Flight Officer Jaris Banon, asked from above.

"Dunno… she's got a severe attitude problem… don't you think?" The light laughter from above was answer enough.

"Like we don't have a female with too much emancipation passion already." Both sighed at the thought of the squadron's second commissioned officer, Lieutenant Saron Kenzy. Nobody knew where she came from, what she had done before joining Gray Squadron and why she was already a Lieutenant although her flying skills – while quite good – lacked the experience such a rank normally proved. And apart from that she was a pain in the ass. There hadn't been one male in the squadron she hadn't had a severe fight with at least once. She thought of herself as a better snub fighter jockey than any man and she used every little opportunity to try to prove it. To say she was over-ambitioned was an understatement.

After a moment of silence Banon jumped off his bed and got into his boots. "Patrol time again… see you later, huh?" Lochlin just nodded and continued starring at the bunk above him. Maybe that new commander was a little too high ambitioned about this whole emancipation thing but there was something on her that kept him thinking about her. Where Kenzy had short dark hair, rough edges and the almost painful cliché-like scar over her left cheek and wore everything as a kind of statement showing she didn't even want a man to think of her anything else than as a soldier Mallan wore her red-golden hair braided and almost hip-long, had not a flaw on her face and fascinating eyes – one blue and one green. Lochlin closed his eyes and was rewarded with a very vivid image of Commander Coreena Mallan wearing only… Man, Lochlin, get a grip. he scolded himself. Letting apart the fact that he didn't like women who were proud of being able to kill something and had a little too much attitude she was his commanding officer. Sighing he got up and decided to have a really cold shower.

Capt. Mallan's quarters

A nearly similar sigh escaped Coreena Mallan's mouth when she lay down her data pad for only one second and put her hands over her eyes. She hated doing this but if she wanted to teach her squadron right she needed to know its members, where they came from, how much experience they had in flying, what other qualities and talents they had… Sighing another time she took the pad again and switched to the next file.

Blenwell, Marten…born on Folor, lived a while on Corellia…member of Imperial Engineer Corpse for three years…flight experience with TIE-Fighters, Lambda-class shuttles, Y-Wings, X-Wings…Now, that was interesting… promoted to Lieutenant, than charged for gross insubordination, put back to Flight Officer… promoted another time… being charged of smuggling… demoted again… great, a trouble-maker… three cheers for putting in that transfer request…She closed the file and moved on with the next.

Tyan D'Ar, Bith… graduated med school with a doctorate, worked at the military hospital on Bestine as a clerk… how could it have been any different with the Imperial Navy… joined the Rebel Alliance shortly after its foundation… first medical officer on the Rebel Jewel, transferred to Starfighter Command… no flying experience… hope he's the only one going to have to use the simulator quite a time… already assigned as squadron medic… well, apart from being a complete beginner that doesn't sound that bad… Who's next? She moved to the next file. Flann, Pat… She shook her head. For the next hour she tapped through every file until she put up the one labeled Kenzy, Saron. This one was the rockiest career she had ever seen in her time as a commanding officer, including her own. Corellia was stated as her birth planet but there was no entry at "home planet", but what was most interesting was what she had done before flying. The record said that she had begun her service with the Rebel Alliance as a recruit with the ground troops and had worked her way from there via private, corporal, lance corporal, sergeant… to finally Captain only to lose first her platoon in a commando mission to some force-forsaken Imperial base and then the rest of her company in an ambush of her troop carrier. She then joined Starfighter Command and was awarded the rang of brevet Lieutenant due to her excellent performance in her first two missions. From the fierce appearance of Kenzy at her picture and the personality description further down and Blenwell's record and personality description Coreena could now rule out the couple theory and be sure of the feud theory. Oh no, two trouble-makers… Why did she always get the wash-out or misfit squadrons?

In her head, she went over the records she read so far and ticked off the pilots on imaginary fingers. An XO that obviously wanted to take over the squadron himself, two Devaronian sisters allergic to bacta, a just a little too over-ambitious Rodian, one ex-Yellow-Ace – luckily not Wes Janson… - who seems to be force sensitive…two ex-Imperials, one of them an ex-stormie from Carida … does luck ever cease… a squadron medic who needs a little too much flying lessons… a son of an Imperial officer… wonder what daddy says to his new-found hobby… and last but not least an ex-trooper on the edge… She shook her head again. There was only one file left and she sent up an old Alderaanian prayer that this was just a normal kid who's only wish it was to kick some Imperial ass… Nunb, Nien… born on Sullust… bla, bla, bla, yadda, yadda, yadda… exceptional talented pilot, earned ace-status after first mission, best candidate for the next promotion… She let out a small cheering sound. Well, this was something she had hopped for… at least one pilot who didn't need much training and was described as quiet, pleasant and enthusiastic nonetheless. At least one pilot that didn't belong to the lunatic fringe, had worked for the Empire or had some strange allergies. Coreena threw away the pad finally, sat back and propped up her feat on her little desk. Maybe, she thought, I should suggest Nunb being promoted to Captain ASAP, let the squadron to him and put in a transfer to a nice little ground base where I could do some administration and… Before she could come to the end of the thought the alarm klaxons began to ring throughout the ship. Grunting with frustration she through up her arms and grabbed a pressure suit out of her closet.

Fighter hangar

"Attention! We are being attacked by a Lancer-class frigate. All personnel to their stations. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill!", Control's voice sounded over the ship and the clattering of hundreds of boots on the ships floor could be heard as soldiers, officers, pilots and technicians ran to theirs respective stations. It was a perfect organized chaos.

Lieutenant Saron Kenzy climbed up the ladder to her cockpit with a lizard monkey's speed and got the okay from her maintenance crew as soon as she got strapped in. Just as she was about to close her canopy and lift off the hangar's floor the Liberty shook from a direct hit by her opponent and people all over the hangar fell or at least tumbled. A grim smile played over Kenzy's lips. They will regret attacking us once I'm out there… It wasn't as if she was an arrogant and self-centered idiot, she just knew what she was capable of. Her R2-unit Wack whistled and hooped as they made their way out of the vacuum-shield and advanced the chaos out in space. TIE-fighters zoomed all over the place, laser beams raced past the X-Wing and excited comm-chatter filled the cockpit. This was where Saron felt at home, felt that she could repay that Imps what they had done to her. She switched to squadron battle frequency. "This is Twelve, how are we looking?"

Immediately Captain Mallan's voice answered: "Twelve, this is Leader, we got Two, Four, Five, Seven, Twelve, Eight, Nine, Ten and Three out here. I suppose you know about Six."

"Leader, Two, you have one on your tail!", Lochlin's voice cut in. Saron saw one eye-ball coming frontal at her and another grim smile appeared on her lips. Head-to-head… way too good for you, you Imperial bastard.

"Twelve, give me cover while I finish this eyeball coming towards me." Gray Twelve, Kesra "Devil" Devlin, acknowledged and fell behind her. When the TIE opened fire on her Kenzy switched to quad-fire, waited until her crosshairs went green for just one second and pulled the trigger. The TIE exploded in a cloud of fire. A perfect shot. "Hey, good shooting, Twelve!", came Deraani Kar'Esta's voice over the comm.

"Thanks, Three…"

"Twelve, you've got one coming from 107.4! I'll finish him off…" That was so typical of Devlin… The TIE-fighter was coming from an impossible angle and she just didn't see it in her haze to become the very best.

"Eleven, break off." Devlin didn't answer, just swooped towards the TIE-fighter. "I said break off. Did you hear me, Eleven? That was an order!" Devlin still didn't answer and headed towards the fighter. Obviously she didn't notice that now she was in the range of the Hunter's laser-guns. In the squadron they said, Kenzy was the most ambitious pilot there had ever been but they hadn't experienced Devlin in battle yet. The woman was just so wrapped up in her wish to be the best she ignored all risks.

Kenzy sighed and hefted herself on the tail of her wing mate. As soon as there where two X-Wings they could shoot at, the laser batteries opened the fire. All of a sudden green beams filled Kenzy's vision and she grunted. In front of her Devlin's X-Wing did a desperate dance to escape the beams but after what seemed a surprising long time it got a hit in its right port wing. It began to whirl towards the frigate. "Eleven, is everything okay? Eleven, answer me!" Frantically Kenzy switched to the emergency frequency. "Eleven got hit and is making her way down to the frigate! Does anyone have her life stats? Can anyone…?" Mallan's voice came over the comm, clear and almost painfully calm. "Break off, Twelve, there is nothing you can do." Kenzy still tried to keep sight of Devlin's X-Wing while doing her best at escaping the laser beams of the Hunter, as her R2 had identified the frigate and placing some shots on the hull herself.

"But she still didn't make contact with the hull…"

"Didn't you listen, stupid, the commander ordered you out!" That was Blenwell. Typical, just so typical he would call her in such a situation. As if he wasn't someone to disobey orders himself…

"To you, it's still Lieutenant Stupid. And you don't have the right to tell me anything…"

"Cut the chatter, you two!" Well, this woman certainly did have some commanding skills. "And you, Twelve, get back to the squadron ASAP, we're leaving." Saron wished really hard that this was a safe frequency because she really didn't want to have any Imperial ship at her tail.

"But…"

"Return to the squadron now, Twelve!" There was something in the Captain's voice one just couldn't ignore. Saron had never heard anything that demanding in a voice before and grudgingly she obeyed and made a swoop back to the Liberty. Wack hooted and then the coordinates for their hyper jump appeared on her screen. "Jump on my mark." Mere seconds before Mallan gave the signal, Saron saw the canopy of Devlin's X-Wing flying away and something emerging at high speed from the cockpit. She punched out! Devil's alive!

"Leader… Twelve…"

"Gray Squadron, jump now!" Saron didn't pull into hyper space. Surprisingly Mallan had reflexes fast enough to realize it. "This was an order, Twelve! Jump!"

"No, Leader, didn't you see it? Twelve punched out! We have to get help!" In the same moment a Lambda-class shuttle cruised the place Saron had seen Devlin the last time. When the Captain ordered her to jump this time she obeyed with grim silence.