Chapter 1: A New Beginning - 4 Months BBY
POV: Val Prenda - "Red 7"
Yavin's breeze felt warm as it blew through Val's hair. It felt slightly familiar to him as it blew some of his longer curls. Val was born on Stewjon, a world primarily known for its grasslands and temperate climate. He at certain times missed his home. He missed playing in some of the high grass fields, playing games with his older sister. He missed the smell of his mother's cooking that would hit him as soon as he opened the doors to his family's small farmhouse. He hadn't been home in years, not since the Empire came.
As he felt Yavin's sun place warmth across his face, he could hear the slight roar of a speeder approaching behind him. He turned to see a refurbished flash speeder making way towards the first sensor marker Val had journeyed out too. He was surprised the rebel mechanics had gotten any of them up and running after one of their recent raids on a former Naboo military position, on the outskirts of Theed. The mission itself was risky itself; yet it provided the rebels with much needed ground transports for their first main base.
He watched the Speeder slowly approach and stop with one of his squadron mates exiting the craft. Val smirked slightly seeing his friend, Wedge Antilles exit over the side. Wedge was averagely built and Val quite obviously stood over him. Val had met Wedge when he had hitched a ride on a freighter to Corellia. He had run into Wedge near the port, who was gearing up to head out to an imperial fighter academy. Val had also thought of joining the academy at one point but those thoughts were quelled shortly before he left home.
"Val, we have a new mission briefing at 0700." Wedge called out. Val hadn't even realized how long he had been gone, at least an hour longer than he planned too. As he approached Wedge, he could see there was something sitting in the back of the speeder, a small bag.
'What's in the bag Wedge?' Val asked calmly, pointing at it. Wedge reached over the side, and tossed the bag towards him. Unclasping the small clip, Val pulled out one of the alliance's standard X-Wing flight helmets. Made of a plasteel hull, and came with what he considered an overt amount of technological pieces, he held it in his hands. "That's yours Val, add your own personal touch." Wedge said, a small smirk forming at his lips. It was a rite of passage for many alliance pilots, designing their own helmet. It allowed for expression with each pilot to represent their homes, passions, or whatever they so choose. Wedge's helmet consisted of two large green rectangles, with yellow and black arrows across the sides. Val never truly understood why Wedge had designed it that way but he didn't question it either. Many pilots had their own interesting designs, the most common being the rebel alliance starbird, usually consisting of the colors of their specific squadron.
Val held the helmet in his hands, analyzing it. He could see the scrub marks left on the top and sides, probably a reused piece of equipment from a previous soldier who wasn't able to wear it anymore. New alliance equipment was hard and not frequent to come by, oftentimes equipment, uniforms and other assets were repurposed from lost comrades. He pondered how he would design his.
Val and Wedge both climbed into the speeder, in which its driver sped off back towards the large Massassi temple they were using as Base One.
As they sped off through the jungle towards the main tarmac outside Base One, Val leaned over to Wedge as the speeder went. "What do you think this briefing will cover? More protocols for our R2 units?" He chuckled. Wedge would stifle his laughter but still let slip a small grin. "Probably, we haven't done much of anything the last few months." Val would groan, getting to listen to Red Leader talk about protocols or anything other than being related to another mission made him more anxious. The alliance was planning something, yet each day that passed where he knew nothing did little to settle his nerves.
The speeder finally hit the tarmac and it was bustling as always. X-Wings and Y-Wings littered any available space along the ground, the majority of the flight wings being made up of Green Squadron, who would be the first line of defense should the Empire find the outpost. Mechanic teams scurried along, repairing engines with parts gathered from salvage teams, or stripping armor to reinforce certain paneling on starfighters to keep them fighting as long as possible. Val knew replacing fighters wasn't cheap. Most of the Y-Wings that made up the rebellion's bombers were stolen from old republic outposts. They were old and every pilot who flew one felt it as they were in the skies.
Val, a new pilot to the rebellion's Red Squadron, primarily an X-Wing division. Val was lucky enough to be selected, but the Rebellion didn't have many options. His experience flying on Stewjon, although it was mostly airspeeders or crop dusters, did little to reinforce his squadron mates' trust in him. He didn't blame them, he was yet to see actual combat and had just recently finished his minimal flight simulator training provided by the alliance's small flight education program. It wasn't a prominent education, like Wedge's instruction at the flight school at Montross, but it would do enough to be able to at least fly an X-Wing.
Val and Wedge exited the speeder, as it rode off to one of the designated bays for ground vehicles. The pair ducked underneath S-Foils for starfighters on the tarmac and mechanic crews rushing past them. They made their way inside Hander 3, where their meeting would be held. As they winded their way through the winding halls of the temple, crates of supplies scattered about and rebel troops and staff finding their way about, they eventually arrived outside the briefing room for Red Squadron.
Upon entering, Val took a long look at the many people in orange flight suits that encircled a holotable and squadron commander Garven Dreiss. Val took notice among the many pilots who built up the squadron littered about, he took note of the flight leaders sprawled among them. "Red 9" Nozzo Naytaan, a squadron lieutenant, sat next to his good friend Theron Nett, "Red 10." Down one of the other rows of seats, Biggs Darklighter "Red 3" and Derek Klivian "Red 4", known by many in the flight group as Hobbie. They sat together, as former imperial mutineers, they had become close friends through previous missions they had been on together.
Val and Wedge took a seat shortly before Dreiss began to speak. "All right Red Squadron, listen up!" Dreiss's voice was stern and quickly gathered every pilot's attention. "I know over recent weeks, we've been stationed here at Base One, and many of you are eager to get back into the fight." Many pilots perked up at even the slightest thought of a new mission. "We've received a directive from High Command. We'll be conducting an escort for a relief mission to Aldhani." Val was unenthused, but tried to remain optimistic. "At least you can hopefully get some easy flight experience." he figured to himself. Dreiss continued. "We'll be joining a convoy here within 4 rotations, as they are gathering supplies from an outpost on Dantooine, more details on assignments and mission info will be distributed to your astromechs shortly. Dismissed!" Dreiss spoke, as many pilots began to resume their prior duties and left the briefing room.
As Wedge went to speak with Darklighter and Naytaan as another flight lead, Val made his way into the hangar. Maneuvering past other X-Wings and mechanic crews, he found his way to his X-Wing. A rebel technician was running diagnostics with the help of Val's astromech droid, R6-C7. "Diagnostics appear nominal, Val, you should be ready to fly." The tech said eagerly. R6 chirped happily. "Don't worry R6, we'll be heading out soon." Val said cheerfully. He inspected the hull of his fighter, acknowledging the impressive work the techs had done scrubbing any marks or damage left from whatever previous mission it had been on. He could see the tally marks on his S-Foils, dignifying his call sign, "Red 7."
Val left his fighter, making his way towards his barracks. Navigating the halls of the Massassi temple until he reached a long hall of doors, the barracks of his squadron.
Entering his room, it truthfully wasn't much. It contained a small bed, a cubby space for his clothes and flightgear, and a small shelf for his belongings as well. It wasn't much, but it was better than some of the barracks he had seen for many of the rebel ground soldiers. He considered himself lucky to have a space to himself. Making his way to his bed, he found his way to look at a small holo-photo on his shelf. It was old, but it was one of the only possessions he had to remind him of his family. He regaled the beauty of his mother and sister, their features identifiable in his. Their high cheekbones, light skin, and bright orange hair, common for many peoples from Stewjon. Setting the photo back down, he laid himself down on his bed and held his new helmet in his hands, pondering how he'd make it his own.
The next day, Val woke up early. He grabbed the bottoms for his orange flight suit as well as adorning a grey tank top, his hair a mess of curls, he didn't bother with it before exiting his room. While there was always something happening at Base One, it was quite a lot quieter than it usually was. As he walked up and down the halls, rebel ground units went about, presumably gearing up for a day of training exercises and other work around the base. Val himself learned quickly there was always something to do, there was no being bored at Base One due to the constant need for recruits. Alliance propaganda had turned around marginally small amounts of new members leaving critical roles around base lacking.
Making his way into the hangar, he maneuvered his way outside to the tarmac passing through droid units on their way to begin repairs for returning flight units. Walking past an array of U-Wings, he saw something peculiar. A girl, one he had not seen before, decaling the doors of one of the U-Wings. He watched intriguingly as her paints moved quickly in a way he could only remain in awe watching. He quickly saw the rebel firebird logo come alive, in a deep blue. As he watched the mystery artist's colors bring the firebird to life, Val couldn't help but study herself as well. Between the different decaled armor pieces, her tan skin pierced through, a beautiful bronze hue. Her hair was a mix of a dark blue, with orange highlights, he presumed a custom design by her. He watched as her lithe figure moved about, finishing the final touches of her logo.
Val at this rate had been staring for a few minutes, yet still failing to notice the mystery artist giving him the same treatment. "Well you've clearly been watching now for a bit, what do you think?" She spoke softly, in a way to not wake the whole base. "It's good!" Val spoke confidently, striding over to the door of the troop bay on the gunship. "Makes it more distinguished." He smiled. "Some of the soldiers in the Torrent company wanted me to detail it, they figured it would be good luck having Blue Squadron's firebird colors may bring them good luck." She giggled, trying not to full-out laugh at their silly idea. "You should've done it in red. Surely you've heard the saying. "Blue Squadron leads the way, Red Squadron saves the day." Val chuckled to himself. The phrase had come about after a rough flight mission over Ryloth, in which Red Squadron was needed to help support Blue Squadron after they experienced heavy losses providing support for Cham Syndulla's rebel group. Although this was to much of Blue Squadron's chagrin.
"Let me guess you're one of the new recruits." She asked smugly. "How could you tell?" Val responded. "You Red Squadron boys are all the same, overconfident and optimistic." She rolled her eyes, jokingly. "Well maybe we Red Squadron boys are just good at what we do." Val added back, regaling Red Squadron's many successes in previous missions.
"Well, let's hope you'll be able to handle that escort mission coming up." She queried back. Val was surprised, "How did she know about that? It didn't seem to be a super discussed mission." He thought. "How do you know about that?" He asked sternly. "I'm a commander, obviously I know." She smirked, beginning to strut off. "Good luck posterboy!" She said in a chuckle, heading back towards the hangar. "Posterboy?" Val asked himself in confusion, before continuing on his morning walk.
As he continued on his walk, moving about the perimeter of sensors for the base. He pondered over who he just met, he had never seen nor heard of her before. Yet she stayed on his mind throughout the day. He wondered if he would meet her again.