Approximately six years earlier, deep space, aboard the cruiser Black Knight

Garin looked at the data that was being presented to him on his datapad, he sighed and looked around the conference table at his officers.

"So we have a track on their movements then?"

Captain Chapela nodded, "based on their estimated range and area of operations we fired A-LRX probe droids into these sectors after analyzing their strike patterns."

She tapped a button on her pad and the hologram projector in the center of the conference table sprang to life. Showing a mapping of the sectors in question laid out in a grid pattern.

"We've narrowed down our search grid to five sectors and have probes currently exploring them, we should know in a few hours whether or not there is anything of note in those areas."

"What do we do if we do find something of interest?" Toth inquired quietly, leaning back in his seat, his hands behind his head.

"Simple, we destroy them." Harth said coolly.

Garin caught Sissir's eye and smiled, "not quite. Despite the number of encounters we've had with these units we still no nothing about who is building them or why. Given that Admiral Thrawn can't find any information on them despite implied Imperial origins could mean we're dealing with another clandestine operation." He looked around the table seriously. "We don't want to go destroying any of the Emperor's pet projects if we can help it. There is only so much protection Thrawn can give us. We need more information, so when we find their base of operations we will hit them hard, but before we level the place Sissir's commandos will raid whatever facilities we find and pull any data that they can find. The more information we obtain the better."

"What about the Wyverns?" Harth inquired calmly, always asking the important questions.

"Yeah," Kalan chimed in, "you can't just leave her Iciness locked in her quarters this entire cruise."

"If she is fully recovered from her injury and can perform her duties then she is welcome to resume active operations with the rest of the wing." Garin said simply.

"That reminds me," Toth said, now leaning forward with interest. "How did she break her leg?"

Garin opened his mouth but Sissir beat him to it, "training accident."

It wasn't what he was going to say, but the knowing looks that everyone around the conference table exchanged told him that they all knew what had happened and weren't going to deviate from Sissir's version.

"I'm going to put my pilots through a few assault simulations," Harth said, standing up from the table.

Matrin groaned as he and Kalan got up to follow. "Great, as if we don't have enough drilling to deal with."

Kalan jabbed him in the ribs as Harth eyed them both with a cruel smile. "Better button up or Diamond One is going to think of something nastier."

Garin watched them leave, then looked at Toth beseechingly, "do you think those two will ever grow up?"

His friend chuckled and shrugged, "I'd be terrified if they did."

Vic'que lay in her bed staring at the ceiling fuming quietly; she looked over at the door wondering if the two commandos were still there. Her leg didn't hurt anymore, but her pride was still stung. She'd been confined to quarters for the better part of a week. Rationally she knew that she was lucky to have not been thrown in the ship's brig or shot but that did nothing to assuage the fury she felt over her condition. She felt betrayed by her pilots who had submitted the complaints about her behavior to Captain Durives and whoever else they'd thought could deal with it. Even more worthy of her ire was Durives himself for putting her in here in the first place. The fact that she was still here meant that Thrawn probably hadn't told Durives to do anything about her. The thought that her patron had abandoned her was frightening. She'd been alone and left by the side of life for so long until Thrawn had noticed her. That he would abandon her was something she was too scared to consider.

She came out of her thoughts as a knock sounded on the door; she turned to glare at the door.

"What?"

"May I come in Lieutenant?" Came Durives' voice from beyond the hatch.

She scowled, "no."

The door whooshed open and Durives stepped into her quarters, she sat up and glared at him, looking beyond him for the guards, there weren't there which surprised her slightly.

"What do you want?" She growled, when he didn't answer her mood worsened as she muttered a grudging: "sir."

"We'll commencing combat operations against our mystery fighters soon. Once we have the data from our probes we should know where they are being launched from. I would like to put you back in command of your squadron again if possible."

"You expect me to fly for you after this humiliation?"

Garin shrugged nonchalantly, as if he didn't really care how she felt about it. "I need my pilots, all of them, you're one of them. I'm willing to overlook what has happened and give you another chance. If you're still a problem after this cruise you can transfer back to Thrawn's command."

Vic'que winced at the mental image of going back to Thrawn like a whipped dog because of some male. It was unacceptable.

"I'll fly for you." She said grudgingly.

Garin's eyes narrowed, "that isn't going to work."

She looked up at him, "more humiliation?"

He shook his head, "I'm not asking you to lick my boots; I'm asking you to work as part of this team. You got away with your antics under Thrawn because none of your fellow pilots thought you were worth anything to begin with so they didn't care. Out here Lieutenant, you are part of this family whether you like it or not, and if you can't work as a part of that family you can just stay in here and sulk."

His words kindled a fire in her chest and she looked at him with eyes that would have killed if they were able. "I will work as part of this unit sir. Is there anything else?"

Garin smiled, she'd expected him to look triumphant at subduing her but he looked happy, relieved even which wasn't at all what she was expecting.

"Your unit is yours again Lieutenant, I suggest you go talk with your XO about what you've missed."

With that he turned and left her quarters, Vic'que sat for a moment before reaching for her boots and pulling them on. She stood and headed towards the door, passing her palm over the release and stepping out into the hall. There were crewmembers, pilots, and other members of their task force going about their business, but there was no sign of Garin, or the commandos he'd assigned to her. Inside of her, she wished that she could have one good swing at him again when he wasn't expecting it. She would fly with him, but she'd be damned if she'd forget any of this.

Garin's comlink buzzed and he rolled over on his cot, reaching for the offending device blearily.

"Durives."

He was greeted by Kindran's crips voice, "sir, we've just retrieved the last three probe droids, the techs have finished their analysis."

"And? Garin asked, his body tensing in excitement.

"We've found them."

Garin smiled and his heart raced with anticipation, "alright; officer briefing in twenty minutes in the Cave, and Kindran?"

"Sir?"

"Good work, and pass on my thanks to the techs as well."

"I will sir."

Garin sat up, keying the comlink again, "Toth?"

There was a groan and then a thud, "ugh…this had better be important, I've slept terribly."

"We've got them."

Then there was a woman's voice, "the probes came back positive sir?"

Garin blinked frowning at the comlink, "Major?"

There was a pause, "yes sir," for once the unshakable commando sounded embarrassed.

"Uh, I can explain Gar."

Garin shook his head, unsure whether he should be scowling or laughing. "I don't want to know, and I don't care so long as I still have my squadron XO and team leader able to do their jobs."

"Yes sir," Sissir responded, regaining her composure.

"No problem Gar, I can still beat the crap out of our boys in training."

Garin nodded, "officer meeting in twenty, the Cave."

He killed the com and shook his head, silently praising his foresight in giving Hades Wing's second spot to Harth as he pulled his boots on and left his quarters. He made his way through the Knight; leaving the crew quarters he encountered Captain Chapela, she joined his stride, walking in step as they headed towards the Cave.

"Orlis told you about the probes?"

Garin nodded, she continued. "I noticed that Lieutenant Sajuuk is back in the simulation schedule and on the active roster, is she fully recovered?"

Her voice held the obvious question and Garin smiled, "she's going to work with us for now. We'll have to see how she deals with her injury."

Their conversation moved to more mundane things, when they reached the Cave he paused, turning to look at her.

"Have you ever had to deal with personal relationships among your officers?"

She considered for a moment, he noticed that she looked uncomfortable and groaned internally. Had he just opened up a bottle that should have been kept closed?

"Yes sir, it has been an issue in the past."

He held up his hand for a moment as they stepped inside the CIC and moved to one side, away from any prying ears.

"Drop the ranks for a moment Iriana, I am asking for help, you've had more command experience and I consider you a friend. So as one friend to another, what should I do?"

Again her reaction was delayed as she considered once more. "So long as it doesn't interfere with operations, I've always allowed it. Once it becomes an issue though, it needs to be broken up immediately."

Garin nodded, glad that her opinions matched his own; "thank you Iriana, can I guess who it is?"

Her face reddened slightly, but she nodded, Garin smiled; "Orlis."

A smile of her own graced her normally calm features, "it is rather obvious I suppose. He was the only man at the academy who treated me as anything other than an inferior. After I obtained my captains pips I requested he be transferred to my command. Our relationship developed further after that."

"Don't worry," Garin said understandingly, "I'm happy that you've been able to keep him close and thank you for the advice…."

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal Cruiser Home One, Bilbringi Shipyards

"Wait," I scowled, why was she interrupting me? "You allowed fraternization amongst your crew?" She sounded like she'd never heard of anything quite so ludicrous in her entire life. That was her problem though, not mine.

"Like I said, as long as their relationships didn't interfere with our operations I wasn't going to begrudge anyone anything. Surviving suicide missions changes your outlook on a lot of military protocols, especially when you're then given free range of execution."

She stared at me in complete bafflement, "how in space did you manage to operate so successfully for so long with that kind of outlook?"

I shrugged, "it isn't like the Rebellion had it much better. From what I've read on the topic it seems like relationships cropped up between all kinds of people in your camp; everything from law enforcement and criminals to smugglers and princesses."

That didn't sit well with her and she glowered at me, "you were a professional military unit and you allowed that kind of behavior despite being the commanding officer."

"And next you'll tell me that you've never looked at a fellow officer and wondered what they look like naked."

From the deep crimson her face turned I'd either made her very angry, or very embarrassed. She really was fun when she tried; I took a sip of my water and let out a long sigh.

"I'll get back to the fighters…."

Approximately six years earlier, deep space, aboard the cruiser Black Knight

Garin waited for everyone, there were of course his core officers, but in addition to them were the squadron executive officers and element leaders as well as the commando squad leaders. He nodded to Commander Kindran and the images from the probe droid appeared in the holotank. It showed a factory station surrounded by defensive platforms, space hangars, and storage facilities. There were several of the mystery TIEs patrolling around the station as well, if there had been any doubt about the validity of the target their presence erased it.

"This is what our probe found for us; our spooks have checked the Imperial registry and have confirmed that this facility does not appear on any authorized order. This does not however mean that it is not an Imperial facility so before we blow anything to hell Major Yvonne and her commandos will land aboard the main facility and obtain any information from the personnel and mainframe that they can. If they find nothing that says we should leave the facility intact we destroy it, and its satellites; I'll emphasize this again, if this is not a friendly facility, you are to destroy anything, and everything in the vicinity. We do not want to leave anything for them to use if they are pirates or Rebel elements."

"How do we go about neutralizing the defenses?" Matrin asked, his eyes darting over the images intently.

"Shadow and Wyvern will jump in with the Raptor assault shuttle element. Shadow will engage the defensive platforms and any fighter opposition. Wyvern will remain close to the shuttles and give the commandos cover."

As he spoke, the holotank projected the plan out in color coded images, green for the Imperial units, and a golden yellow for the facilities and fighters, signifying the unknown nature of their allegiance.

"The first wave of commandos will be in space armor and will secure the hangars and primary docking ring for further insertion. Once they are aboard the station Wyvern and Shadow will continue to provide cover and engage any threats to the commandos or the shuttles. I want everyone to be zealous in this, the shuttles and the commandos will be counting on us to give them the time they need."

Sissir snorted, Garin noted that she and Toth were standing a distance away and purposefully avoiding each other's eyes. "We're not defenseless sir, my men can nail a fighter in their space armor easily, and my shuttle pilots are damn fine gunners."

Garin nodded apologetically, "well we'll be there to provide your backup." He looked at Harth next. "Diamond will be on standby, if these aren't Imperials or if heavy support is in attendance then your job will be to jump in and blast everything in space that isn't us. Shadow will provide escort and Wyvern will join the fun once Raptor is clear of the combat zone."

Harth nodded quietly, Matrin and Kalan both looked delighted by the prospect of being given a target rich environment.

Garin looked around at his officers, "any questions?" There were none and he smiled, his excitement finally showing. "Alright people, let's go find our mystery fighters, brief your teams and assemble in the hangar."