A/N: This tale comprising of a few chapters is dedicated to the fans of The Skies Are Ablaze who have faithfully stuck with me over the years even in my difficult and trying times. I can't thank you enough for your faithfullness despite the changes I have had to make as the story progressed. The Skies Are Ablaze will contine on. That said, I wanted to start writing some short tales to give you backstory that would have clogged the main story. Please enjoy as I am writing this for you. You mean the world to me.

The ground raced toward him like a pouncing predator. He pulled the ejection set handle, expecting to be tossed from the crumbling wreck of his burning TIE fighter. A dull clang echoed through the cockpit. Smoke rolled from the underside of his seat.

Imperial Lieutenant Colonel Tyaal Veriss cursed under his breath. He checked his altitude and grimaced. By the time he bailed, the craft would be too close to the ground to climb out of the cockpit and safely use his parachutes.

The crippled fighter shook violently. The ion engines were rapidly running out of power. His adversary's blasters had vaporized his cockpit parachutes. He settled into his seat and adjusted the speed of the fighter. It would have to be a crash landing.

Just had to be a hero, didn't you, Tyaal? He silently scolded himself.

In conjunction with throttle control, he slightly leveled off the TIE's dive and slowed the fighter. He rolled to port and aimed the doomed craft towards the last position of a company of Imperial stormtroopers.

He smiled beneath his helmet, dreaming of the celebration hosted by the troopers his previous strafing runs had saved from impending death. The fighter shuddered. There would be time for daydreaming later.

Veriss glided the craft lower. He soared through the smoke of the burning wreckage from the battle and continued to work the controls. The reddish clay ground came into view. The fighter slowed to just above stall speed.

He guided the mortally wounded craft towards a long patch of sand in the distance. He adjusted his angle of attack. Sweat poured down his face. The sand patch grew larger in the circular viewport. His heart pounded in his chest in rhythmic beats, resounding like a passionately played drum.

Just a little closer. He told himself silently. Almost home–

A long shadow raced into view. Veriss gasped and pressed the throttle forward to gain the power to soar over the object. The damaged ion engines screeched like a raptor diving on its prey. The lower edges of the TIE solar panel wings struck the rock outcropping. The TIE lurched violently to the left and dug into the red sand.

The ship rolled like a ball tossed from a giant hand. Inside, Veriss rocked in his pilot seat. He released the controls and braced himself. The left solar panel ripped itself from the fuselage, sending the rest of the ship on a long slide across the sandy plain. The wreckage slammed into another rock formation.

The viewport erupted in a shower of transparisteel fragments, pelting Veriss like a salvo fired from a scattergun. Veriss convulsed and spewed a stream of blood-laced vomit from his mouth. His body ached horribly as if a horde of angry rancor beasts had stomped on him.

He released his restraints and slowly crawled towards the cockpit hatch. He ripped his helmet off of his head and tossed it aside. A spasm of pain rippled through his wounded body. His breaths came in labored heaves. He winced beneath the horrific anguish of his external and internal injuries. He groaned while reaching for the protective cover of the hatch emergency explosive bolts. He yanked the cover away and placed his fingers into the slots. Closing his eyes, he pressed the buttons.

The hatch exploded outward with a boom like a sharp clap of thunder. He grabbed the edge of the cockpit opening and slowly pulled himself outside. The night air burned his lungs with the morbid mixture of burning flesh and cloth. A few meters away from his downed fighter, the corpse of a Rebel Alliance soldier lay on its back. Veriss's wavering double vision cleared enough to reveal the gore-filled hole where the soldier's face had once been.

He continued his crawl away from his stricken craft, pausing to cough up blood and to draw in a fresh breath. With each torturous move of his arms, he continued the crawl across the battlefield strewn with body parts and mangled corpses.

The sound of footsteps echoed in the dark. Veriss froze and scanned his surroundings. Another stream of blood flowed from his mouth. He wiped the crimson stain from his face with his flight suit's tattered sleeve.

The footsteps drew closer. Veriss bit his lip. Tears filled his eyes while he agonizingly reached for an E11 blaster a few centimeters from his position. The pain drove through his shattered form like a boxer delivering a stiff jab to his opponent.

He grunted and lunged for the weapon. Wrapping his fingers around the handle, he raised it to face the approaching enemy. His breaths came in rapid succession. His vision wavered as if staring through a cascade's flowing waters.

"If you bastards want a fight," Veriss muttered between painful breaths, " let's get it over with."

A tall figure appeared within the blackness of the night. Veriss aimed and waited for a clear shot. Another tremor of pain ransacked his body. His vision clouded. He heaved and spat out another clot of blood.

The enemy was on him now. He winced and fell limp, knowing the battle had been lost. He would probably wind up as a prisoner in some filthy and overcrowded concentration camp rumored to be run by the Rebel Alliance. A great career reduced to nothing more than a rodent trapped in an oversized cage.

A pair of white armor-covered arms reached out of the night and embraced him.

"Don't you die on me, soldier," the pleasant tone of a feminine voice said. She glanced at one of her subordinates. "Lieutenant, retrieve the medical kit from the wreckage!"

Veriss's vision cleared enough for him to make out the helmet of a stormtrooper's helmet outlined with a fuchsia hue. The pauldron on the trooper's armor matched the armor's markings.

"You're from the…Star Destroyer Amaranth," he gasped between heavy breaths. "Were those your troops I protected from the air?"

The stormtrooper commander nodded. "Don't worry about that now. You did what you had to do." She reached up and removed her helmet. "And quite bravely, I might add."

Her brown eyes gazed into Veriss's eyes, almost as if she were staring into his soul. A quivering rose within him, and he offered a smile. She was gorgeous, even with a face streaked with sweat and dirt from the battle.

Her long, dark hair was a ravaged mess. Several clumps hung down along her fair-skinned face. Her square jawline perfectly accentuated her warm and caring expression. She huffed and pulled the hair bow away from her dark mane, allowing it to flow most of the way down her chest armor.

She continued to gaze into his eyes while running her fingers through his hair. He reached up and gently caressed her beautiful face. A sudden cough erupted from him before a quaking chill ran through his body.

"Get a move on, Lieutenant," she cried out with the powerful voice of a warrior queen. "He's going into shock!" She looked down on him like a nurturing mother caring for a sick child. "Stay with me. Stay with me…please."

His shaking hand reached back up and touched her face again. "Thank you for this."

Her sudden smile baptized her natural beauty with shimmering radiance. "No, I should be thanking you. I wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you." She pulled him close in an embrace and stroked his hair. "That was the bravest thing I have ever seen."

Veriss played with her long hair. "Not bad for a fighter jock, huh?"

She gently caressed his face. "Not bad at all." Tears welled in her eyes when he shivered. "Come now. Stay with me. Look at me. Come on, look at me with those beautiful eyes of yours."

The lieutenant charged up with an opened medical kit. "I'll give him something from the pain, Captain Marisala."

Marisala nodded while continuing to embrace Veriss. She pointed towards a folded emergency blanket in the kit. "And give me that to keep him warm. Hurry!"

The lieutenant injected the pain medication into Veriss and tossed the silver emergency blanket to his captain. She gently released her embrace and spread it across Veriss. She pulled it snugly and wrapped her arms around him.

"Mari…Marisala…" Veriss muttered in quivering words. "That's a…beautiful…name… it's from…from Renda Noth."

"Not quite," Captain Marisala replied, keeping her piercing eyes locked on his. "It's from one of Renda Noth's moons, Paragonis Four, to be exact. My given name is Taleinia. Taleinia Marisala."

Between short breaths, Veriss smiled. "It means jewel…plucked from the…heavens…right?"

She gazed down at him like a loving guardian angel. "That is right. It is the ancient language of my home world's first settlers. What's your name? Come on now, don't be bashful." Veriss convulsed. She looked up at the lieutenant. "Find a working com system and get the medics down here!" She gently wiped the sweat from his brow. "Stay with me. Talk to me. What is your name?"

Veriss grimaced while drawing in a couple of painful breaths. "Tyaal…Ver…Tyaal…Veriss."

"Beautiful name, Tyaal," she chuckled, her eyes bright with admiration. "I believe it means he who dances with angels in the ancient language of Naboo's early settlers."

"My adoptive planet," he whispered. "I don't know where I truly came from."

She ran her fingers through his hair again. "Big mystery, huh? No worries, you're with me now. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

Veriss coughed up a mouthful of blood. Taleinia rolled him to the side to let him spit it out. She rolled him on his back and embraced him.

"Don't give up on me, Tyaal." She said in a soothing tone. "I haven't gotten to know you…yet."

His eyelids felt as if they were made of lead. He closed them and began to convulse. Taleinia wiped the sweat off of his forehead and held him close.

"Don't die on me, Tyaal.", she pleaded. "Talk to me. Stay with me. Say something, please, Tyaal."

He opened his eyes for a brief moment. His vision cleared. In one short but surreal moment, he beheld the most beautiful angelic face he had ever laid eyes on. Then, his world faded to silent darkness.

Veriss stirred awake. The cold air in the room blew across his sweat-covered forehead like the kiss of a ghostly lover. His body was quaked with chills. He reached for the blanket on his medical bed, glancing at his surroundings. A movement to the right caught his attention.

"Who is there?" he asked. He waited for a voice to break the silence before calling out again. "Identify yourself–"

"Relax, Tyaal," Admiral Garren Prolov said, stepping into the light. "It's just me."

Veriss adjusted his position in the bed and exhaled. "Garren, good to see you, my friend." He glanced up at his superior officer and best friend. "I can call you that, can't I? We are alone, aren't we?"

Prolov patted his wounded friend on the shoulder. "Of course, you can. No protocols to follow here."

Veriss nodded and winced when pain shot through him like an electrical current. "How long have I been here?"

"Almost a month," Prolov replied. He glanced at the vitals display above the bed. "We were on the brink of losing you twice. When they finally stabilized you, the medical technicians decided it was best to put you into a medically induced coma for your sake."

Veriss rolled his eyes. "So it was all a dream. The wonders of modern medicine, huh?"

Prolov furrowed his brow. "A dream? What are you talking about, Tyaal? You were in a horrific crash that should have killed you. You're fortunate to survive."

Veriss glared at Prolov. "What about the vision I had, Garren? The angel who comforted me? Was she real? A figment of my imagination? A product of potent medicine?"

Prolov grinned sheepishly. "Angel? I'm afraid I don't understand, my friend."

Veriss raised the upper portion of the bed. "Garren, she was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen." He lightly popped the sheets with his fist. "What a shame! The perfect woman was nothing more than a drug-induced hallucination. Just my luck."

Prolov laughed and patted Veriss on the shoulder. "Hold on there a minute, kiddo." He leaned in closer. "She happens to be very real. Her name is Taleinia Marisala."

Veriss's eyes widened. "How did you know that? Her name, I mean. Did I talk about her in my sleep?"

Prolov's smile brightened. "Every single night. And she is very flattered by what you said about her."

Veriss grimaced. "You're a lousy comedian, Garren. Stop putting me on."

"Would I do that to you, Tyaal?", Prolov said with a wry smile.

"Yes, you would. I know you."

Prolov playfully patted him on the head. "You should be flattered, my friend."

"For what?" Veriss replied with a shrug. "I'm laid up in a medical center on some backwater world with a joker standing over me." He raised his eyebrows. "Wait a minute, you said she is flattered? She has been here?"

"Is here," Prolov corrected him. "She was wounded herself, but she chose to take care of you on the battlefield." His smile faded into a serious expression. "Tyaal, she has been here every day since you arrived. She held your hand, ran her fingers through your hair, and talked to you so you wouldn't be alone. And she's also shed a lot of tears over you. She even kissed you several times in hopes you would wake up. And all while dealing with the pain of her wounds. She put you above her well-being."

A tear rolled down Veriss's cheek. "What did I do to deserve this?"

"You saved her life," Prolov replied. "And she saved yours. She has also been very protective over you. She pushed the medical staff to do all they can for…how did she put it…her man."

Veriss's face lit up brilliantly. "Her man, huh? Wow, crash a fighter and meet a gorgeous woman. Not a bad trade off at all, right?"

Prolov chuckled. "You certainly have a hell of a way of getting a date, Tyaal."

Veriss smiled and shook his head. "Maybe I should crash land fighters more often."

Prolov pursed his lips and nodded. "Maybe so. It might earn you more kisses. Even my sweet Annalisa kissed you." He caught Veriss's stare. "Just on your forehead a couple of times. You know, she thinks the world of you as a friend."

Veriss sighed and rolled his eyes. "Great. I have two beautiful women sobbing over me."

A beep rang out from the vitals monitor. Prolov glanced at it and then turned his attention back to his friend.

"We need to be careful," he said softly. "All this talk about women has raised your heart rate."

"Can you blame me?" Veriss replied with a grin. "By the way, where is Taleinia?"

"She's undergoing a medical procedure," Prolov said. He glanced at his wrist display. "Well, my friend, I need to run. Annalisa and I have errands that demand our attention before I ship out for a meeting with Grand Admiral Thrawn and Fleet Admiral Kyvieer."

Veriss looked to the window to see a pair of Imperial Stormtroopers march by on the walkway. They passed his window without looking in, focused on their required patrols.

"I guess those two will keep me company," Veriss muttered. "It figures."

Prolov cocked his head. "Not at all." He gestured towards the room door. "Your angel has just flown in."

Veriss turned his head towards the entrance. Taleinia Marisala stood with a radiant smile on her beautiful face. Her long dark hair hung neatly and down her back like a shawl. Tears of joy fell from her eyes while keeping a loving gaze on Veriss.

And in that moment, despite the severe wounds that racked his body, Veriss felt as if he could take her by the hand to dance among the clouds in the moonlit night sky.