Chapter 19
I wandered the ship to familiarize myself with its layout. In doing so, I also got to meet some of the crew. I met several Mon Calamari, Humans, a few Sullustians and lots of droids. As I wandered through pilot country, I felt a wave of immense grief somewhere nearby. Like a beacon it drew me until I was at a door that had the name 'Bree' on it. I remembered what Wes had told me about the pilot that died, Dolan Bree. I said to myself: "This must be his and his wife's quarters." I felt two distinct minds in the room. One of the minds had a peculiar resonance that I couldn't place. I mentally filed it away for future reference and went to my room several doors and one corridor away.
Little more than a barracks room really; there was a set of bunk beds on one side and a small desk across from them. Billeting had said this room was empty so I claimed the bottom bunk and slept very well that night.
Two days later I was preparing my 'officially' assigned ship for descent to the planet below. In reality, the 'officially' assigned ship and the one that brought me here were one and the same. The techs had purged my fuel system of the junk I found in the moon-cave and replaced my injectors as well as painted two TIE fighter silhouettes on the side just below the canopy. Wedge had also told me of the pilot slang for Empire ships. Regular model TIE Fighters were called eyeballs, TIE Bombers were called TIE Dies or dupes. Even with their heavier armor, they were pretty easy to shoot down because they're so slow. If the Bothan Spynet was accurate, and it usually was, a new model TIE fighter ready to go into production called the TIE Interceptor would be called a squint.
When I remarked on the silhouettes, the tech explained that one kill was signified by a black silhouette, and five, or the officially recognized "ace" status was signified by a blue silhouette. Rumors abounded in the pilot community of a silhouette for every kill possible, from star destroyer to space station, but I thought it more of an urban legend than established fact.
I thanked the techs for their timeand crawled under the main control panel and withdrew the slave circuit. Once I had it in my hand, I got Warbler's attention and said: "I say what I mean and mean what I say." Holding the offending circuit board in my hands, I snapped it in two and threw the pieces into a nearby recycling bin. Warbler thanked me and we got back to preparing the ship for take-off.
The transfer to the planet was short. Along with the fighters that served as the temporary squadron aboard, came several shuttles of supplies and material. Also with the supplies, General Naz was coming to take command of the base. It did not escape my notice that the planet we were about to land on was the same green planet as the one in my Force Sight vision. It was a possible future I had seen which meant it might or might not come to pass.
No sooner had I landed and powered down my ships' systems than I was ushered into Medical to begin a full physical workup complete with blood and waste samples. After the exam, I was then inoculated against an entire spectrum of diseases that no one expects to encounter. Even with the Force helping me to adapt, I was down and out of action for three days from the chemical cocktail. But three days was still better than the usual six though.
After I was released from Medical, I was taken to the barracks where I was assigned a room and a Rodian roommate. While a Rodian may appear like the garden variety green-skinned monster from the pulp stories of Earth, Geeno, my roommate was anything but monstrous. He was a very deep thinker and passionate in his belief that the Empire had to be destroyed. In short order he and I became good friends. The next morning my training class and I were mustered at 0600 and made to do calisthenics. I guess my training had begun.
There were twelve of us, an entire squadron, in that group. Six of us were Human, two Rodians, three Aqualish and one Quarren. Of that group, we were split down the middle gender wise. The main hangout for the pilots was a room called the"Downtime". Here, all of the pilots would come in to relax, have a drink if they weren't on duty and socialize in general. As pilots-in-training, we were allowed entry to the place but were told to keep to ourselves unless a pilot approached us. At first, only my roommate Geeno would openly socialize with me. Our other classmates refused to have anything to do with me. Maybe some kind of unconscious fear of Jedi but I never let it bother me. Through simple acts of respect and courtesy, eventually, the whole class became more comfortable around me.
As a pilot-in-training, I was issued six sets of gray coveralls for use in all aspects of training: classroom, simulator, and field. We were allowed one day off a week for R&R. Otherwise, we were kept quite busy. The classroom involved tactics, weapons and vehicles. We were also trained in all manner of weapons. From the hand models like I had found with my flight suit, to rifles of all types as well as hand to hand and simple weapons training, like regular knives, vibroblades, hand axes and small explosives like grenades, both proton and the traditional fragmentation ones. Like all types of training I had undergone, it was hard at first but got easier with time.
Simulator exercises were run on all Rebellion fighter craft. Ranging from the old, but gold Y-wing fighter/bomber, to the trusty X-wing along with the designs just on the horizon like the B-wing and A-wing. My simulator scores started low but progressively got better. Since the simulators were machines, the Force was of little help and I learned the old fashioned way, trial and error
Due to my oneness with the Force, I began to excel unintentionally in all of the more physical aspects of training. This generated more than a little friction with my classmates. While they were all being thrown to the training mats, and getting bruised and occasionally a little bloodied, I was the one throwing the instructors.
Only once was I allowed to use my lightsaber in class and that must have set me back a couple of months pay to replace all of the training weapons I destroyed. I had little need of money since I didn't go out and party, but I got paid anyway, and I still needed little things.
More than one accusation of cheating was leveled at me but after the first investigation proved I was being wrongly accused, the accusations after that were largely ignored.
This cycle of training continued for that first year. The last exercise was an endurance course that would test all of our knowledge. For me, I was less concerned with finishing in any kind of record time. Unfortunately, incentives of accelerated promotion and leave time were like a siren song to many of my classmates.
During the test, my friend, classmate, and roommate Geeno, fell from a rock wall that led to the final straightway to the finish. I was intentionally holding myself back and was just about to start my climb, when he fell. The scream of: "MEDIC!" was audible clear from the top of the wall.
Everything had happened so fast that I couldn't have caught him even if I had wanted to. I went tohis side as his multifaceted eyes set on me and he said in accented Basic: "Always there to help Ronin. Am I dying?" The Force told me the answer as I shook my head and said: "Yes my friend, you are. I can only help ease your suffering though I wish I could take it from you." He chuckled as he was wracked with a spasm of pain: "That is your gift and your curse my Jedi friend. I guess I get to make the final jump first."
As I held him in my arms, I felt his life essence slip away. I let the tears fall as I mumbled out: "Lightspeed my friend."
Geeno's funeral was held three days later. We all wore our new uniforms. Geeno would have been one of three promoted to full Lieutenant while the rest of us were full Flight Officers. Now there were only two newly minted Ell Tees and nine flight officers at graduation. After his service, the remaining ten of my classmates all came up to me individually and apologized for their treatment of me.
I accepted their apologies though I felt no anger towards any of them.
Chapter 20
Two weeks after graduation, all my former classmates had moved on to their respective duty stations. Wedge caught up with me in the central square that also served as a main thoroughfare of personnel in the daytime and a park by night. Our base had started life as a colony start-up outpost that hadn't survived. All that was left was the fountain that had been installed over a natural geyser and was always running. As a bonus, the parts of the fountain that were not in the water were made of a crystalline material that was designed to catch stray breezes and turned into a natural wind instrument.
I was there to meet up with Wedge who was trying to sneak up on me when through the Force I had both heard and felt him approaching quite some time before. As he came into earshot, I turned my head and said: "Lousy approach boss. I sensed you coming five minutes ago." Wedge matched stride with me and said: "No fair, how am I suppose to sneak up on you with the Force telling you I'm there?"
I laughed and said: "Simple, you can't." Wedge laughed with me and then said: "About that boss thing, its official. You are now Lieutenant Ronin Jayks, leader of Red Group, third flight element." I said: "I don't really want the job but I'll take it until I get killed or you find someone better." Wedge said: "That's good Lieutenant Jayks because it's not negotiable."
I was about to respond to the verbal gibe when I stopped in my tracks and began to stare. Wedge followed my stare until his eyes found the focus of my attention and said: "Lo, Cupoid's laser crossbow has found its mark. Poor Ronin, I knew him well."
I recovered my poise as I said: "I don't know where you get your delusions laserbrains." Wedge chuckled and said: "That's Commander Laserbrains to you." I stopped staring but kept her in sight. She was still in uniform, that of senior Lieutenant. Even in uniform, I could say she looked good. About my height, long brown hair done into a regulation hairstyle. Slim without being petite and athletic in stride and the way she carried herself.
Her demeanor indicated purpose and confidence and spoke as loudly as the blaster on her right hip. That was when I noticed it. The peculiar resonance I had felt once before. Just before making planetfall, while I had been exploring the ship we came in on, I had found the room with the name 'Bree' on it and felt two minds inside. Hers had been one of them. Putting the two experiences together, I figured she was a friend of the widow of Dolan Bree
Her mind's resonance told me what I hadn't been sure of before. This woman was Force Sensitive. She was untrained, but could be very strong in the Force. I only had a few seconds in which to come to this conclusion when she straightened up as if she had been shot. Her gaze wandered around for a moment and settled on me first. She scrutinized me carefully. I felt her mental defenses go up but not before I felt a wave of attraction from her as well as my attraction to her.
As soon as her gaze fell on Wedge, I felt a strong sensation of resentment from her to him. I think that if her eyes had been turbolasers, Wedge would have been a dissipating cloud of disintegrated meat. She resumed her course through the area, intent on some task or another, and went on her way. Wedge said to me: "I know why she dislikes me, but what did you do to get her to stare at you like that?"
I only half-heard the question as I asked one of my own: "Who is she? She's beautiful." Wedge put his hands behind his back as if approaching a distasteful object as we resumed walking. He said: "Her name is Gabrielle Shase. Like you now, she's in command of the third flight group of Gold Squadron." I said: "The mostly female fighter squadron?" Wedge nodded his head and continued to speak: "Yea, that's the one. Before you joined us, two of my guys from Red group tried to jump in her flight suit. One of them went home with two black eyes and the other one went to Medical with a severe concussion, seems she somehow threw him into a bulkhead three meters away."
An edge of resentment crept into his voice as he continued: "No formal charges were filed because the two guys in question admitted to making inappropriate advances and were given a non-judicial demotion one rank for Conduct Unbecoming. At the time, then Lieutenant Commander Gabrielle Shase was going to be court-martialed for Assault. Her entire squadron testified on her behalf. That, and the fact that the two victims in the incident were themselves disciplined, resulted in her being busted down from squadron Executive Officer, to flight element leader, and being given thirty days confinement."
The resentment in his voice turned into anger as he finished with, "I lost two damn good pilots because of her! Even though Medical certified them both fit to fly, something still wasn't quite right. The one with the concussion would nearly black out whenever he was subjected to high gravity maneuvers. Of course we didn't find this out until he died in a skirmish with some eyeballs. Seems he tried the brake and duck move like you used when we first met, blacked out and collided with the eyeball in question. As for the one with the two black eyes, his depth perception never fully recovered. He nearly shot me down because he couldn't aim his targeting reticule. Of course he was removed from flight status after Medical proved the problem but couldn't find a cause. He was reassigned. I still see him from time to time. Flying meant so much to him. He does his duty but still it's like seeing half a person walking around sometimes."
Small pieces started coming together to form a picture as a whole. I said: "You mean Corporal Dun don't you?" Wedge took a deep breath, let it out and said: "How did you know?" I said: "I wasn't sure until now. After the General said I was in, Corporal Dun took me to the flight deck. When I asked him if he was a pilot, he said he used to be but wasn't anymore because of a mistake he made. It sounds to me like he has let go of his anger towards her. Maybe you should too?"
Wedge's anger was suddenly directed at me as he said: "Spare me your platitudes Lieutenant. If I wanted to hear them, I would've been a B'aomarr monk, not a fighter pilot. I had to sit in on the disciplinary process because they were my pilots. I was overridden by the disciplinary hearing. If I'd had my way, she would've been mem-wiped, dropped off on some outer rim world like Tattooine, given a fake life and enough credit chits to make the life real and left there."
He concluded with: "I labeled her a look-but-don't-touch that should apply to you but since you seem to have taken a fancy to her, you can have her. But know this right now, you have been warned. I wash my hands of the matter. If she messes you up, you're on your own."
I stopped where I was and looked him in the eye. The Force told me that his dislike of the whole matter was genuine. I realized I had overestimated Wedge some, and as a result, I lost some of the respect I held for him. I saluted and said in a low voice: "Orders acknowledged Commander. Does the Lieutenant have your permission to leave, sir?"
He returned my salute with some visible surprise at the ice in my voice, and nodded. I executed a flawless about face and left him standing there. I barely heard his murmured: "Sorry," as I left the area.