Cadet First Class Beatrice Duke was a sight. A slim, muscular, five-foot ten green-eyed, brown-haired, twenty-five year-old lady, who would have been just as at home in a ballgown as she was in the orange flightsuit she was currently wearing. When she spoke, there was no disernable accent.
"Flight Officer Duke, please, have a seat. Your training commander gives a glowing report of your piloting skills, but put you on report for insubordination. Please explain this."
Bo appeared to consider her words carefully. "Commander Antilles, General Sabine wanted us to ask permission to breathe. Once, while coming out of a conference on diplomacy, we found a man tampering with on of the X-wings. I stopped him."
"Stopped him, how?"
To answer, she took what appeared to be a long coil of braided leather off of her belt. "With this. A stockwhip. I caught him around the wrist, the General was displeased, and I was put up on report."
"For saving his fighter?"
"No, Sir. For saving MY fighter."
"Very well. Prepare to transfer to Wraith Squadron immediately."
"Yessir." Bo gave a crisp salute.
"Dismissed."
"What do You think, Wes?"
Leutenant Wes Jansen looked thoughtful. "I think that the Admiral was right. She's either from a world the Imperials have terrorized constantly, or an underground rebellion, or a career in piracy, or a combination of all three. When she came in, she did an unobtrusive visual scan. The entire time she was in here, she as on constant alert. When she left, she stood just to the side of the door, out of the line of fire."
"Damn. I hadn't noticed that."
"She also brought her own X-wind to the Squadron. I'd expect she has quite a few modifications on it, some of which will, undoubtablely be illegal. Also, during training, she serviced her own fighter. That says she comes from a small crew she trusted, but she doesn't have that trust with our mechanics. Her R2 unit, Hotwire, has betteranti-tamper gear than some of the governments most sensitive conputers. So does her X-wing for that matter."
"In other words, she isn't going to tell us mucch about her past."
"That's about it. Also, when I was in the Imperial accademy, one of teachers had a picture of his familly, suppossedly killed by the Alliance.Bo is a dead ringer for Commondore Jack Darling's daughter, Stella."
"So, there's a good chance she survived and changed her identity."
"A very good one,Wedge. She got perfect marks in make-up and disguise," Jansen warned.
Wedge just nodded, but, privitely, he wondered just what he was bringing into Wraith Squadron.
A/N: No more if you don't review. I don't own anything.