Chapter 6

Coruscant – Federal District

Kira Kath had hoped that she would be able to relax while Green Squadron checked over their starfighters. The Nightingale personnel had been kind enough to let them dock alongside their own starfighters, but they had been refuelled and sent back out before Kira could grab something to eat from the cafeteria. Every Gladbron was assigned a ship to escort down, mostly flying in groups of two or three.

Kira and Matron had flown to the Scythe, another of the Dixin-class heavy frigates that made up most of the Second fleet. They had been assigned to escort a Consular-class corvette from the frigate to the surface for a meeting with Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine. This time, she had climbed into her usual position as co-pilot, keeping the guns ready in case of emergency and watching for airspeeders that drifted too close.

As Kira watched the corvette enter the lower atmosphere beside them, she spotted a small blue face peering out of one of the windows, eyes wide as the owner took in the sights around them. She shook her head. Another Senator's aide who had never been to Coruscant. They seemed to be a dime a dozen these days. The young Zabrak remembered her first time on the planet all too well, coming in off a shuttle from the Academy on Zigamar and placed in her first piloting position with Coruscant Patrol Grey. It hadn't lasted long. Mark Antilles had found her within two months of her commission and reassigned her to Green Squadron. But in that short period, Kira had gotten over her fear of Coruscant's cityscape.

The Gladbron-79 veered sharply to the side as Matron spun it between two soaring cloudscrapers. Glancing down at the console, she saw that they had crossed the borderline into the Federal District. Compared to the cloudscraper-covered districts that surrounded it, Federal District was practically flat, with the main bulk of the Senate Building and the dome of the Senate Administration being the largest visible structures, though off to the East she could see the Jedi Temple on the horizon.

Carefully, Matron flipped below the corvette, and opened a comm channel to the other fighters assisted them with the escort. "This is Green Eleven, requesting a check in from all wings."

"This is Green Six.", Frone's nasally voice replied, and Kira grinned at the Duros' bland tone. She hated Coruscant with a passion, calling it too crowded.

"Green Four.", the smooth tones of Latta Dai, the yellow-skinned Twi'lek came through, thick with her southern Rylothi accent.

"This is Green Leader.", said Mark. "Nelion and I are fine."

"This is Green Three.", said Elen Marth, another of the younger pilots who had been recruited alongside Kira.

That was it. Five ships, and Kira quickly sent a pulse through the scanner to check each of them were on the right path. She didn't know why Mark had requested they take command on this particular run, nor why they had been partnered with such a random grouping of pilots. She assumed that it was a kind of training drill, maybe to simply test the partnerships each of the pilots had and identify any stress that had developed during their battle over Pantora. So far, she hadn't seen anything.

Ahead, she spotted the hovering landing platform that was expecting them. A cluster of people were visible as tiny dots waiting, with two shuttle buses waiting at the edges of the platform to transport them away. She also spotted the standard Coruscant Patrol Vessel nearby, probably piloted by a young academy graduate or one of the police droids. They were supposed to be simply observing, but the pilot had brought them within the range of clear visibility. She scanned through the transmission frequencies and quickly found the vessel's pilot, giving them a warning. They were not grateful, but the vessel drifted lower to hide behind one of the nearby traffic lanes.

Tapping at the controls, Kira relocked the cannons and secured the explosives bay. The last thing they wanted was an accidental misfire so close to the Senate District. The corvette drifted into position beside the platform, and the ramp descended.

"Green escort.", Matron said from up front, "We are go for encirclement. I want a patrol spiral, double pass, and then we head back to the fleet."

All five starfighters peeled away from the platform. Two tipped their wings starboard and began to circle the platform, drifting higher as they orbited. The other two dropped below the platform, tipping their own wings to portside as they spiralled down towards the surface. Matron and Kira remained in the middle. Their own orbit stayed on the same level at the platform, but Matron expertly widened the gap until the figures exiting from the corvette were blurry lines again.

An imagined itch on one of Kira's horns made her scratch at her skull, and she blinked down at the console to get a closer look at the party. There was a rim of the blue-armoured guards around the platform, and for a moment she considered using the wing camera's to zoom in on them. Her train of thought was interrupted as Matron banked back up towards the sky, skimming across the surface of a descending passenger liner.

"All ships, return to the Nightingale for new orders.", he said into the comm, then spoke to Kira directly, "Back and forth, back and forth. I wonder who we will be escorting next, my young co-pilot. Perhaps this time you can fly!"

"Negative on that, Green Eleven.", came Mark's voice from the comm. "I just got orders from the Shepherd. As of now, Green Squadron has been grounded. We have been ordered to land back at the Naval Grounds. Set your headings. We will be taking a private military lane there, so we can open her up to full throttle."

"Very well.", said Matron, and Kira could hear the disappointment in his voice. But he turned his fighter around to the vector Mark had indicated.

Kira smiled to herself. She knew how much Matron liked to fly. But more importantly, she knew how much Matron absolutely hated the Navy Landing grounds commandant. He and Shusha Vadant had a history that she didn't know. What she did know was that watching them bump heads was always entertaining.

Matron brought the starfighter down beside Mark's, leaping out before the techs had rolled the ladder into position. Kira leapt out after him, rolling to absorb the impact of the drop. As she stood, she heard the sounds of Elen and Frone's Gladbron's settling down beside theirs, and turned to see the two starfighter's cockpits open.

Elen Marth was a short lad with a mop of dark brown hair that needed to be cut. His pilots uniform – the same blue and brown uniform that every Republic pilot used – fit him nicely, but it hid his athletic form. His brown helmet was tucked under his arm, the green stripes over the crest it's only distinguishable mark. He had been pulled from the Academy on Tolstad to replace the previous Green Three, who had chosen retirement rather than joining with the Republic.

Behind him was Muu Daken, Green Three's gunner. Equally young and pulled from the same academy, the young Sullustan was a head shorter than Kira, and his own helmet had a trio of black circles on either side of the central crest. The two were laughing at some joke, and heading towards the doors to the mess hall. They were probably hoping to find kaff before they were sent to the barracks.

Frone, the Duros pilot of Green Six, was checking over her craft's landing strut. Her skin was the palest green Kira had ever seen on a Duros. The two red eyes squinted at something on the base of the strut, and Kira could hear the woman swear from across the platform. Her gunner, Rax Impora, ran a hand over his bald, green head and tapped at the bronze respirator stuck in his skin around the mouth. Kira started towards them, but felt a hand grasp her shoulder.

Honey Grassi shook her head at the young Zabrak. "No, my friend. If you go over there, you will only be drawn into whatever mechanical problem Frone has found this time."

"Yes, Ma'am.", Kira reluctantly nodded. She had decent mechanical skill, and would have enjoyed the chance to show off to a fellow pilot.

"In the meantime, get to your quarters and change into civilian garb. Mark and I want you to join us on a mission."

"A mission?", Kira asked, turning back to her Gladbron, "Why not just use the starfighters?"

Honey shook her head, her expression similar to the one Kira's mother used when she was explaining something she felt was obvious, "This isn't about fighting, Kira. This is about getting information. Mark has friends that he got during his time outside the Republic. I believe that one of them has come through with information."