Ours Is Not To Reason Why

"All right children, since you all seem so interested in the news, let's start today off with some social studies," Mr. Freyu announced as he unpacked his books onto his desk.

There was the expected low groan at the mention of that subject. With the Galaxy changing as much as it had been, especially recently, social studies was among the hardest subjects in school.

"OK, no what why did we destroy Alderaan?" Freyu asked the class.

A brown-haired girl named Sendet raised her hand.

"It was to kill the Rebels," chimed the little girl, obviously proud of having paid attention to at least part of the news broadcast.

"Sendet, the Emperor doesn't enjoy killing others, even if they are terrorists. He, of course, wants to resolve this issue with as little life lost as possible. While it was stated that Rebel factions and stolen weapons were on Alderaan, the Emperor regrets having to destroy any planet or any person for that matter. The main reason for Emperor Palpatine attacking Alderaan was to scare the Rebels into giving up their pointless war and rejoining civilized society." Mr. Freyu spoke those words as if he were reciting a speech.

Steth didn't seem to notice, however, as he took down careful notes. It makes sense, Steth thought. But he raised his hand anyway as something occurred to him.

"What if destroying Alderaan just makes the Rebels more angry?" Steth wondered aloud.

"Well then we will probably have to destroy them as well," Freyu replied with mock-regret. "We would love for them to give up this senseless struggle and become productive members of the Empire, but sometimes people are more animal than human. Sometimes the only way to teach a group of people a lesson, is to make an example out of one of them," Freyu continued.

Steth though about this a moment. That also made sense to him. From what he had heard from Mr. Freyu and from other adults, these Rebels were like animals. Too bad, he thought. But if it's the only way to get them to stop killing innocent people, I guess it's all right.

Later that day, as Sigder was walking home from work, he thought about what he had done and what the consequences may be. Death? Maybe. Imprisonment? Definitely. Just better hope it went unnoticed, Sigder thought. He wondered how his wife would react when he told her about it. She would probably be mad at first, then fearful, and finally determined. That's what he loved about his wife. No matter what, he could count on her.

But he wondered if she could handle the fact that he had decided to turn traitor and help the Rebellion. Especially since he initiated himself into their cause by covertly sending the Rebels full schematics of the next few Star Destroyers to be launched from the Kuat Drive Yards in the next few weeks, along with key systems that would be vulnerable to attack.

This was definitely going to make for an interesting way of life.

As he was cautiously peering out the window, he readied his blaster rifle. After recently turning to the Rebellion, and knowing just how severely the Empire punished those revolutionaries, he had little reason to believe that he would be alive too much longer. But he had never feared death. He had lived his life the best he knew how and he had no regrets. Sweat streaked from his brow, down his nose and dropped to the floor.

Suddenly, they were upon him.

Steth motioned for his Rebel teammate, Grifter, to take up a position on the opposite side of the doorway.

"Be ready to shoot," Steth ordered, "and don't worry about killing any of them. They're just stormtroopers; they don't mean anything." Grifter smiled and almost giggled but then resumed his straight face. From what Steth knew, that must be how the Rebels thought, if not worse.

The door was thrown open and four kids in cardboard stormtrooper armor burst through the doorway. Steth shot the first one in the back as the trooper ran through, eager to exterminate the Rebel infestation. The second and third stormtroopers shot Grifter before he even knew what was going on. What a soldier you were old buddy, Steth sarcastically quipped to himself and he shot the second armored kid in the leg. Then the fourth came running in and shot Steth twice in the chest. As Steth fell to the ground with an audible thud, the two remaining Imperials stood over his dead body and laughed as they injected volley after volley of blaster fire into Steth's head and chest.

The laser blasts, themselves, were of course imaginary and the blaster were little more than fake plastic replicas. That still did not prevent Steth from feeling their sting.

"I don't think it's fair! It's two against four and we are always the Rebels," Steth complained gesturing to Grifter, "and we always lose!"

"Oh don't worry about it Steth. Think of it this way: at least the Rebels died here like they do in real life, and not us Imperials," said Grifter, trying to calm his friend down.

Steth had to think about that one for a second. And it did make sense.

Suddenly, they were upon him.

Sigder motioned for his wife to take cover as he stood against the side of the doorframe, his back to the wall.

"Sigder Norun, you are charged with high treason against the Empire. Open up and come quietly or we will be forced to use any necessary violence!" yelled a voice that sounded as though it had to be coming from behind a helmet. Sigder had no intention of going that quietly. The men behind the door seemed to get the hint when the door remained locked. Sparks started to shoot out of the metal door. Sigder knew he had only a matter of seconds left before he was either dead or captured. Either way, his old life was over.

And then came the explosion. Small bits of the door and the surrounding frame flew in all directions and out of the newly created hole emerged a fearful sight. An Imperial stormtrooper. He advanced on Sigder but before he could ready his blaster rifle, Sigder shot the trooper in the shoulder and then in the knee. The stormtrooper's gut wrenching screams and the white, armored form falling to the ground were the last things Sigder Norun ever heard or saw as laser fire emanating from the blasted door caught him in the chest and throat.

The laser blasts were not imaginary and the blasters were not replicas. But, ironically, Sigder never felt the sting.

"Alright, children, it's time to come in now!" announced Mr. Freyu.

Steth walked out of the makeshift Rebel base and grudgingly made his way back to the main school building. But as he was about to enter the classroom, Mr. Freyu grabbed his arm and whispered, "Something has happened at your house. Come with me for a moment."

Curious, and somewhat grateful that he didn't have to go back to class yet, Steth followed his instructor to a different room. There, surrounded by five stormtroopers, was the system Moff, Trent. Steth knew the Moff only from when he saw him on the holo-proj making announcements and such.

Confused, Steth looked back towards his teacher for help but Freyu only gave him a sympathetic look.

The Moff started to speak. "You are Steth Norun, correct?" Steth nodded and Trent continued, "I'm sorry to inform you that your parents have been murdered."

Steth stared at the governor for a moment, not fully understanding what was going on. Shocked, the only word he could think of was, "How?"

"Rebel extremists were violently protesting and during the chaos, someone set an explosive device next to your house. Your parents were in the house when it went off," replied Trent. He spoke softly so as to show genuine pity for Steth’s late parents. In reality, however, he felt nothing but contempt for those Rebel scum and had taken pleasure in frying his frightened mother's head when his troops found her cowering in the basement.

Steth stared unbelievingly at the public official. "I just want you to know that you have a place to stay with me and I will see to your every need," Trent quickly said. He did genuinely feel pity for the boy. His parents may have been suicidal outlaws, but Steth had nothing to do with that. And Freyu had told him before hand that Steth was beginning to show genuine hate for the Rebellion. This, Trent thought, should settle any uncertainties he has about whose side he's on.

And Trent's logic was correct. Steth could only think of one thing. Hatred. He hated the Rebellion. And all he could think of when he got past the hatred was revenge.

"I only want to know one thing, sir. Can I make them pay for what they've done?" Steth spoke though clenched teeth and tear-filled eyes.

"Oh yes you can," Trent replied with an evil grin, "oh yes you can."

II

The Arrival

Three Years Later…

Steth had his worries after he decided to go into the Imperial Naval Academy. What if I’m not good enough, or smart enough, or fast enough? He would often question himself. But those fears were quickly shattered the moment his parents entered his mind. He remembered that day well. He had no choice; it was forever painfully engraved in his mind.

He had ran out of the room after being dismissed by Trent, tears streaking his young face. But he didn’t run back to class. He ran all the way home. It was fifteen kilometers and he never once stopped to catch his breath. He clawed feverishly through the rubble, trying desperately to accomplish something. He didn’t know exactly what that something was though. Maybe he thought that if he dug fast enough, he could still find his parents, alive and well. Maybe he dug because he wanted the pain in his bleeding hands to take away some of the pain in his heart.

Eventually, Freyu and Trent caught up to him using the Imperial Moff’s private land speeder. They watched with pity as Steth dug through mounds of rubble. Suddenly, he stopped digging. His back was toward them so they couldn’t see what was going on.

Why is there a stormtrooper rifle here? Steth wondered; his first coherent thought in hours, Dad only had the holdout blaster. But that was the last thought Steth wanted to think. Who cares? Holdout blaster or stormtrooper rifle, they both do the same thing, Steth concluded as he raised the barrel of the rifle to his chin.

“No Steth!” cried Mr. Freyu. Trent, a little more sedate, grabbed the rifle from Steth’s small hands.

“Don’t worry yourself, Freyu. The safety was on,” Trent commented, unconcerned as he tossed the blaster casually at Freyu. He turned and knelt down besides Steth. “You had the right idea back at the school. This isn’t the way. Revenge is much sweeter than suicide. Think about it, Steth. If you kill yourself, then they win, don’t they?” spoke Trent very softly.

“I guess so,” Steth admitted between sobs.

“Right, so lets get you cleaned up and I’ll tell you what you can do to make yourself feel better.”

Steth never knew that making someone else feel pain could make your pain go away. But it was true. Trent bought him a flight simulator and let him and his holographic TIE fighter loose upon unsuspecting rebel ships and sometimes, even peaceful cities.

But the drawback of living with the Moff was that he never had any friends, excluding Trent. He talked to Grifter every now and then but they eventually lost contact. And his education primarily consisted of Steth reading all of the books in Trent’s enormous library.

After reading a few war novels and after having so much fun in the simulators, Steth decided that he wanted to enter the Academy and become a real TIE fighter pilot. Trent didn’t seem surprised at all.

“You do whatever makes you happy,” Trent reassured Steth. What Steth didn’t know is that Trent knew all along that he would want to enter the Academy. The only books in the library, aside from the usual educational books, were war novels about the glory and prestige of being a TIE fighter pilot.

And so here he was. Steth looked out onto the crowd of people and wished that Trent hadn’t been too busy to see him off. With a sigh, Steth slowly started to ascend the gangway that led to the inside of the Lambda-class shuttle.

Steth looked around and tried to find a seat next to someone his own age. Most of the people were older. They were seeking transport to this or that system for this or that reason. But one person caught Steth’s eye. She was pretty blond girl seated in the back. She can’ t be older than nineteen, Steth rejoiced as he made his way to the back of the shuttle.

He leaned over, slapped on the most charming smile he could muster and very suavely said, “HI!”

Everyone in the shuttle slowly turned around to see just whose voice had cracked so audibly. Steth turned a deep red, almost purple, and cleared his throat. Well, that was dignified, Steth scolded himself.

The woman looked up from here data pad and smiled sweetly. “Hello,” she responded, ignoring Steth’s embarrassing greeting. She motioned for him to sit down. He slid into his seat as the rest of the shuttle’s passengers returned to what they were doing before the high-pitched squeal had interrupted them.

“So where ya headed?” Steth asked while trying to recover his self-esteem. Please say you’re going to Carida to train! Steth mentally pleaded.

“Oh I’m going home to Coruscant. I was here visiting my family for the week. My husband is already mad at me because I said I’d be home two days ago,” she explained.

Misery set in as Steth listened to her. Oh well. Can’t win ‘em all, Steth finally reassured himself. Of course, at this point, he hadn’t won any. He had grown up in relative seclusion and had little experience with women, or people in general for that matter. Well now is as good a time to learn as any, Steth concluded. Guess I just have to chalk this one up to inexperience.

Suddenly, the captain’s voice blared through the cabin speaker. “We will be lifting off in a few seconds. If everyone would please buckle your safety restraints, we can get underway. We will be entering hyperspace in approximately eight minutes.”

Here we go! Steth inwardly rejoiced as he slid the safety straps over his shoulders.

The Lambda-class luxury shuttle stopped at various planets on its way to Carida, the training ground for most of the Empire’s stormtroopers, pilots, and officers. Steth paid little attention to the passengers that came and went with every stop.

The shuttle touched down on, yet, another planet. Steth almost slept through hearing the captain say, “And we are now arriving at Carida, home to the Empire’s best and brightest. We hope you’ve enjoyed your flight, and from all of us here at Star Gazer Spacelines, we wish you well.”

Steth had heard the captain’s cheap, rehearsed speech at all the other stops but since he was finally at Carida, he didn’t seem to get annoyed this time. A few people stood in unison with Steth and they all made their way toward the ever-growing light emanating from shuttle’s exit.

Steth was somewhat dismayed by his first view of Carida. “It looks exactly the same as Kuat,” he whispered to himself. So much for exciting and exotic new worlds, Steth complained as he crumpled the Carida brochure that he had been reading on the shuttle.

Eventually he arrived at the admissions office. “Hi I'm Steth Norun. I’d like an application to enter the Imperial Naval Academy Flight School,” Steth announced.

The woman behind the desk calmly looked him up and down. A short, lean, gray eyed, blond-haired kid. He’ll wash out in a week, the receptionist thought with a mental sneer. “Here you are Mister Norun,” the woman cheerfully responded as she handed him a data pad.

III

The Training

After some rigorous physical and mental testing, Steth was relieved to hear that he had been accepted into the Academy. What Steth didn’t know was that if the admissions officers hadn’t accepted him, Trent would have had them all fired.

He had been given a flight cadet uniform and instructions on what to do next. He followed those instructions and before he knew it, he found himself in a huge hanger bay- type room filled with newly enrolled cadets. Steth glanced around him. There must have been five or six hundred men and around one hundred women in the enormous chamber.

“Attention!” someone cried loudly. All of the cadets assumed a military stance, and Steth followed in suit.

The man who had gotten over seven hundred people to stand at attention simultaneously, spoke again. “Welcome to the Imperial Naval Academy. And welcome to hell.” He paused for a moment to let that statement sink in. “I am Commander Sawet. You are all here to be pilots, officers, and ship operators. I can personally guarantee that more than half of you will wash out, quit, or in some rare cases, die.” A few of the cadets surrounding Steth were visibly shocked to hear this. Steth knew this was just the first of many things the Navy used to scare the less determined cadets into quitting thus time and resources would be conserved. “Those of you that do make it will then go on to whatever job you have trained for. But as of now, every one of you in this room is a number. Names mean nothing here.” Sure enough, Steth looked down and saw the number 3243827 stitched into the breast of his uniform. “To all of you, I wish you luck. You will need it.” With that, Sawet left the room. Another man stepped up and announced, “Attention! All cadets report to your assigned bunkers for group formation. Dismissed!”

Switching the lights on, Steth stared into his sleeping quarters. It was a compact room with two bunk beds on the left and right walls and a computer terminal built into the far wall. He walked over to his bed and found a data pad placed on the pillow. It listed him and the eleven other cadets that were to be in his training squadron. The list was broken down further into units. Each unit consisted of four pilots. Steth couldn’t tell who was in his group because instead of names, there were numbers.

While he had been studying the list, another cadet had walked in. Steth didn’t even notice the stranger until he spoke.

“I think I'm against this whole number thing. I mean, is 3243827 really going to do justice to a name like Steth Norun?”

“How did you know my…” Steth began as his head slowly rose to meet the stranger’s gaze. The man he saw standing there almost brought tears to his eyes. “Grifter!”

“The one and only,” Grifter said with wide a grin.

The two friends slowly walked towards each other and embraced. When the parted, they threw a barrage of questions at each other. A few minutes later, the other two pilots assigned to the unit showed up.

The first to walk through the door was a lean, athletic young woman. She was almost exactly Steth’s height. But that’s not what Steth was concentrating on. Her hair was as red as fire. But her eyes were a sharp green. These complementing colors had the affect of screaming her presence. I would be insane if I didn’t try for her, inexperienced or not, Steth thought.

Those thoughts collapsed in on themselves as the next cadet walked in. He savagely grabbed her around the waist and spun her into his waiting arms. A quick kiss between the two confirmed that they were an item.

After their lips parted, the male spoke up. “Hey guys. I'm Post Kaster and this is my girl, Bri Jendo.”

“Hi,” she meekly greeted them then broke away and sat on her bed.

“Steth Norun and Grifter Delfi,” Grifter responded, “pleased to meet ya.” They all exchanged handshakes.

Suddenly, a large red light above the door started blinking. Not knowing what was going on, Steth looked at his data pad. “Says we’re supposed to go to room thirty-four beta.” With that, the group departed.

“Can’t win ‘em all, right?” Grifter whispered to Steth as they were walking towards their destination. Steth knew exactly what he was talking about. Bri. But there was a limit to how many times one could say the words “Can’t win ‘em all”.

“Right,” replied Steth.

They eventually reached their training room.

It was a dark chamber. Along each wall were four simulators with the unit numbers painted above them. And in the center of the room was a fearsome sight. It was Commander Sawet himself. The other pilots in the squadron started to arrive as Sawet spoke.

“Welcome kiddies. You all have the honor and fortune of having me as your training instructor.” With that, he smiled broadly. “Now let’s get to it. You all passed your entrance exams. This means that you can pilot a ship in empty space and not hit anything. Well, it’s going to get a little tougher now. You squadron name for the time being is Theta.” With that he assumed a more formal stance. “Everyone to your fighters!”

Steth rushed over to his designated simulator and pushed the button to open the ball cockpit. He slid into his seat while silently complaining to himself about how cramped the cockpit was. Better get used to it, he thought, I still have to get into this thing with a flight suit.

The door closed automatically, and for a few seconds, Steth was surrounded by darkness. Suddenly, small numbers and lights appeared all around him. He knew the situation well. The simulator he had at home was exactly like this one. He glanced all around him and spotted the HUD or Heads Up Display. This was, essentially, his radar. Imperial craft were represented by red dots, Rebel craft by green dots, and non-aligned craft by purple or blue dots. He then found his CMD or Combat Multiview Display. This showed the statistics of any craft he chose to target.

As Steth was checking his instruments, stars blinked into existence, as if someone had flicked a switch. He checked his HUD and found that he was in deep space with no planets around. He also spotted a large red dot that his CMD identified as an Imperial-class Star Destroyer. In front of the Destroyer were eleven smaller dots, his squadron- mates.

A voice filled the cockpit. It was Commander Sawet’s. “This is the Star Destroyer Vengeance calling Theta Squadron. We have bogeys inbound. They appear to be setting up for an attack run on the Vengeance. Break into units and engage the enemy fighters,” Sawet ordered.

Steth quickly glanced at his HUD. Sure enough, about five kilometers ahead of the Vengeance, six green dots had just blinked into existence in a V formation. The CMD identified them as Rebel Y-wings.

Steth checked his laser energy and was relieved to see that his laser banks were full. Another voiced blared throughout his cockpit. This time, it was Post’s.

“Ok, they haven’t given us orders on how we are supposed to attack the Y-wings so they must be testing our reflexes. Suggestions. Quickly!” Post yelled.

“We outnumber them two to one. I think we should take them in pairs. Theta Five and Six: You go for Y-wing Three. Theta Eight and I will take Y-wing Four,” Steth announced. He could hardly believe he had the confidence to be issuing orders, but had done exactly that.

“As ordered, Seven,” came Post’s reluctant reply. Post had been trying to assume leadership but it seemed that Steth had beaten him to it. That’s ok, Post thought, actions speak louder than words.

On that thought, Post diverted all of his laser energy to his engines and sped off in front on the unit. Theta six, Bri, tried to keep up with him but Post wasn’t about to let his girlfriend take any of his glory. Steth watched him zoom off with a sympathetic eye. With an attitude like that, he’ll be vaped before this battle even gets underway.

“Ok, Eight, lets take out our target. We can still intercept him before he gets in range of the Vengeance. Cover me,” Steth told Grifter.

“I’m right with you, Seven,” came Grifter’s reply as he pulled into formation behind Steth.

Lets hope you’re a better pilot than you are a Rebel soldier, old buddy, Steth smiled to himself as he remembered more innocent times.

By now the triangle formation of Y-wings were at the three-kilometer mark and closing fast on the Vengeance. Out of the corner of his eye, Steth noticed the other squadron units attacking their assigned targets. Two of the Y-wings broke off and started firing back at the attacking TIEs. He saw three TIE fighters explode into ionized gas almost simultaneously. And just as those balls of fire had ignited, they disappeared. Our unit had better be more skillful than that, or luckier, thought Steth as he increased his throttle slightly.

Ahead of him, Post had reached the Y-wing formation and plunged into the maelstrom with wild abandon. He had just knocked out the lead Y-wing’s shields, when a red laser from one of the attacking bogeys lanced through the cockpit of his TIE. And just like that, Post Kaster was, theoretically, no more.

“I knew it,” Steth whispered to himself. He watched with horror as Bri struggled, pathetically, to shake the Y-wing that had vaped Post.

Steth glanced at his HUD and did some quick arithmetic in his head.

“Eight, I’m going after Six. Those Y-wings won’t be in range of the Vengeance for another thirty seconds,” Steth figured.

“But if we can’t make it back in time, we’ll never stop that attack,” Grifter complained as he saw four more red dots disappear from his HUD.

He’s right. “Ok Grifter you stay here and guard the Vengeance. I’ll be back as soon as I can. If they start launching their proton torpedoes, radio me and then just try to spike them,” Steth concluded.

“You want me to pick off explosive projectiles that are traveling three times faster than my own ship?” Grifter asked, astonished.

“Well, yes,” was all Steth come back with.

“And here I thought you were going to give me a difficult order,” Grifter chided his friend and he throttled down to wait for the immanent attack.

Steth smiled and that remark but that smile soon faded as he saw a laser blast from a Y-wing melt half of Bri’s solar fin.

“Bri, I'm right behind you, but I need your help,” Steth told her in a very soothing and relaxed voice, “I need you to force this guy into a turn so I can hit him broad-side. On three. Ready?”

“Ready, Seven,” came her very shaky reply.

“One!” Steth duel-linked his lasers, “Two!” He placed his finger over the firing stud, “Three!”

Bri TIE, suddenly, pulled up sharply. The Y-wing, being less maneuverable, started its long, wide climb in pursuit of Bri. That was exactly what Steth was looking for. He now had a bird’s eye view of the Y-wing and as soon as his crosshairs lit green, Steth pressed the firing stud harder than he thought was humanly possible. A green hell erupted from his duel laser cannons. The first volley of about four blasts splashed along the Y-wing’s tough outer shields. But once they had failed, Steth’s green attack hit the cockpit of the bomber, totally melting any metal, or person, in its way. The remaining hulk of the Y-wing flew off on a wild trajectory under its own inertia.

When Steth finally became aware of the situation around him again, it was too late.

“Seven this is Eight. I got at least 24 torpedoes coming at me. There’s no way I can stop them. No, wait there is a way. See you on the flip side guys,” was Grifter cryptic remark.

Steth watched from afar as Grifter positioned himself between the torpedoes and the Vengeance. The lead missiles exploded when they hit his TIE fighter. But, amazingly, the next few torpedoes hit the cloud of super-charged ions Grifter’s fighter had made, and they exploded as well. In total, Grifter had taken out about eight torpedoes.

While Steth was watching this, Bri’s voice cut in. “Steth I got a bogey on my ta…” and then static.

“Stang!” Steth swore as he flip-rolled his TIE. He didn’t know where this enemy was, but he did know that if he remained on a straight-line trajectory, he was done for. So Steth did what all new pilots do. He panicked. He dove, then climbed, then spun, and climbed again.

While Steth was performing his erratic evasive maneuvers, the remaining torpedoes hit the Vengeance. Four torpedoes ripped through each shield tower above the bridge, thus totally obliterating them. The Vengeance was, now, defenseless. The last ten missiles impacted all along the Destroyer’s hull and a few sliced through the bridge itself.

Steth was totally unaware of this event, however, because four Y-wings had converged on him. His HUD showed that he was the last remaining friendly fighter alive. And after the Vengeance finally lost all power, his HUD showed him as the last Imperial ship of any kind. That’s comforting, he sarcastically thought, Even if I vape all four of these guys, there’s no where to dock.

Once again, though, he found himself diving on an unsuspecting Y-wing. He fired his lasers again and was rewarded when the lasers punched through the bomber’s shields and on into the R-2 unit behind the cockpit. That was the last thing Steth saw as his entire cockpit glared red for a nanosecond and then reverted to darkness. Only this time, the stars were missing.

His cockpit opened and bright light shined in. He stepped out, and had to wait a few seconds for his eyes to adjust. When they finally did, he found that Grifter was right beside him, standing at attention. He was also surprised to find that Commander Sawet was looking directly at him. Steth clicked his heels together and straightened his stance, despite the exhaustion he felt.

“Glad you could join us, Cadet,” he coldly remark. Sawet then spun around and pointed to the screen above the entrance to the room. “Your scores and kills are listed there, and will be transferred to your data pad.” His mood changed slightly as he continued, “This was a trial by fire, so to speak. The odds were against you, despite the two to one advantage. While you were supposed to last longer than thirty seconds,” with this, he glared at a group of cadets to Steth’s left, “you were not expected to accomplish the mission objective.”

“Surprisingly, two of you made decisions that were on par with trained and even veteran pilots. Theta Six, step forward.”

Without hesitation, Grifter advanced.

“You showed a very mature attitude when you decided to sacrifice yourself for the Vengeance,” Sawet then turned to the rest of the cadets, “This is a example you should all follow. Sacrificing one’s self for the greater good is not only an advanced way of thinking, it’s the Empire standard. You all will eventually need to adopt this attitude, or you will not graduate from this academy,” Sawet finished.

“Theta Seven, step forward.”

“Sir,” Steth replied as he advanced.

“You have shown leadership abilities that surpass your current training. These methods were not the most effective possible, but it did show that you are thinking, and not just taking orders from others. Therefor, I am temporarily naming you Squadron Leader. You official rank is still Cadet and you are still assigned to your current unit. But in next few training exercises, you will issue the orders for the entire squadron.”

Everyone stared at Steth for a few moments. Grifter finally broke the silence by applauding Steth. Soon everyone was clapping.

When the applause died out, Sawet spoke again, “ But if you screw up, you’ll be doing droid work for the next month.” A small smile crept over his face, as if telling Steth this brought him pleasure. “Dismissed” mumbled the Commander.

A few hours later, the pilots of Unit One, Theta Squadron were sitting on their beds discussing the day’s events.

“I still can’t believe what you did Grifter. That was genius!” Bri exclaimed. She was, as usual, in the arms of Post; they were both sitting in the bottom bunk.

“It was really nothing. I mean, it’s just a simulation. In real life, I don’t know if I’d be so generous with my life,” Grifter responded from the top bunk, feet dangling down in Steth’s face.

“I have to admit, I never thought that was your style. Usually you get simu-vaped by accident,” Steth casually joked.

“Hey I’ve come a long way since those little games we used to play,” Grifter retaliated, taking a little offense to Steth’s teasing.

“So it seems.”

“I would’ve stopped that attack if someone had been covering me,” Post said as he glared at Bri for a second.

“I know Post. I’m really sorry I let you down,” Bri replied with obvious regret and sorrow.

“Yeah I've been meaning to talk to you about this Post. I don’t want to get in the way of your… creativity, but what you did today was bordering on stupidity. Normally I wouldn’t care how you go about your training but, for now, I'm Squad Leader, so it’s now my duty to ask you. What the hell were you doing? You know better than to go up against six shielded Y-wings by yourself!” Steth wondered with a slight edge in his voice.

“Hey, my attack would’ve worked if you guys…” Post was cut off by his girlfriend.

“Steth, it was my fault. I should have covered him. Please don’t blame Post. Blame me,” Bri pleaded.

Steth was about to push the issue, but something in Bri’s eyes told him that to reprimand Post for what she believed was her fault, hurt her.

“Well, alright. But if you two are going to be pairing off in an attack again, you guys better work on your communication.”

“We will,” Bri exclaimed cheerfully, then assumed a mock-formal tone and threw Steth a salute, “Squad Leader, sir!”

Everyone started laughing.

Later that night, Steth awoke suddenly when he became aware of a presence. All he found, though, was Grifter’s head hanging down from the top bunk.

Through the darkness he whispered, “Hey you awake?”

“I am now,” Steth replied as he rubbed his eyes, “what’s up?”

“I was just wondering what you think is going on with Post and Bri. I mean, come on Steth. We both know that Post’s ego got in the way of his judgement. It had nothing to do with Bri.”

“Yeah I know. And I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe Bri just didn’t want a fight to start. But the odd thing about it, she actually seemed to believe that I really was blaming the wrong person. Either she’s really stupid, which I doubt, or there’s something else going on here.” Steth fell back asleep wondering just what that “something” was.

The training continued. Steth still wasn’t making the most strategic commands, but his wingmen were following them. Strategy could be learned but Steth had something you couldn’t learn: the respect of your wingmen. Grifter didn’t have any more suicide attempts but he did improve on his flying. On many occasions, Steth had Grifter to thank for saving his simu-life. Bri showed herself to be a natural behind the stick. During an attack on a simu-Mon Calamari Cruiser, she took out eight X-wings and raked laser fire across the cruiser, taking out ten turbo laser emplacements along its hull. But for some reason, most of the squadron started ignoring her and, at times, even mocked her when she started to perform better in the simulator. Everyone seemed to improve. Everyone except Post. His flying was adequate but he had little, if any, respect for Steth. In fact, it seemed as though the only person he did respect was himself. He would constantly belay Steth’s orders, at times issuing his own orders. This confused the rest of the squadron. They had to pick between the more aggressive, and therefor more appealing, order and the order given to them by their leader. This caught the attention of Commander Sawet.

“… And finally, simulator four will be repaired by tomorrow. Is there anything else?” Silence. “Alright then. Dismissed. 3243827 may I have a word with you?”

Once everyone had filtered out of the simulator room, Steth snapped a salute at he Commander. “Yes, sir?”

“Mr. Norun is it? I don’t believe we have spoken outside of briefing and training sessions. We have something to talk about.” Sawet cryptically remarked.

Confused and slightly worried, Steth responded, “Sir?”

“This 9042846, Post Kaster, seems to be giving you some trouble.”

“Yes, sir. I have tried to stop him from being so reckless and insubordinate, but all attempts have failed,” Steth admitted.

“Normally, if this were a Star Destroyer, he would be dishonorably discharged. But I'm afraid that it doesn’t work that way here. The other pilots seem to want to follow his orders as well as yours. He does have adequate flying skills for his level of training. I'm taking a chance here, but on the next training mission, he’s got the lead.” Sawet finished.

Steth’s jaw dropped. “Are you sure you want to do that?” Steth blurted out. Sawet eyed him for a few seconds. “Sir?” Steth added.

“Are you questioning my judgment, Cadet?” Sawet angrily shot back.

“N-no, sir.”

“I would hope not. You are dismissed.”

“He did what?” Grifter practically screamed.

“That’s right,” Steth responded.

“Crazy, just crazy.”

“Everyone hear the great news?” Bri announced as she came sprinting into the bunker.

“Yeah we heard,” the other two snapped in unison.

“I’m so happy. We are going to be the best squadron on Carida now that Post’s leading us,” she exclaimed.

Grifter cleared his throat loudly.

“Oh, I didn’t mean any disrespect Steth. You understand.”

At first, Steth was slightly hurt but he let a smile come to his face. “Don’t worry about it.”

Post then came strutting in, a wide smirk on his face.

“Yes we heard,” Grifter remarked.

“Good. I plan on changing our squadron strategy. We’ve got to be more aggressive if we are going to be one of the better squadrons,” Post said.

Steth shrugged, as if that action would take away some of the sting to his ego. “It’s your squadron…now,” he commented casually.

The cool Caridian night air blew past Steth’s face as he sat on the highest balcony he could find on the Navy campus. His feet propped up on the guardrail, he silently thought to himself. Carida’s orange sun had just dipped below the surrounding cityscape, but there was no absence of light. All around him, Steth could see artificial light, some from buildings, some from ships. He watched as a Lambda-class shuttle slowly rose into the air with its repulsor-lift engines. Once it reached Steth’s altitude, it opened its s-foil wings and made its way toward space.

Steth was so transfixed by the sounds and sights around him, that he didn’t even notice Grifter coming up behind him.

“So this is where you’ve been,” Grifter commented, mostly to get Steth’s attention. Slightly startled, Steth looked over his shoulder but didn’t move otherwise.

“And leave it to you to find me,” Steth shot back with a smile, “Pull up a chair.”

Grifter grabbed the nearest chair and swung it around so that he was sitting in it backwards. He folded his arms over the backrest and observed Steth for a few moments in silence. He watched as Steth studied things beyond the balcony, but every time he tried to trace Steth’s line of sight, he found nothing of much interest.

Grifter broke the silence with, “Credit for your thoughts.”

Steth’s eyes never left whatever they were focusing on, and he didn’t speak for a few seconds. Grifter again turned and watched the city’s activities when Steth finally spoke.

“I don’t care, really. I mean, being the squad leader was never what I really wanted to begin with,” Steth admitted off-handedly. Grifter just assumed that he was trying to make himself feel better about the situation as Steth went on. “That’s what you thought was on my mind, right?” Steth asked as he turned away from his focus to look at Grifter with a grin.

“I guess so. Just figured you were down about it, so you came out here,” Grifter told him with a shrug. “It’s normal to feel that way.”

Steth kicked his feet off the guardrail and turned his chair to face his friend. “Oh, I know it is, but like I said, I really don’t care. I'm here to learn how to be a pilot. I'm not here to play mind games with my fellow cadets. No, I had other things on my mind.” With that, Steth turned again to the view and propped his feet back up.

It took another minute or two for Grifter to ask what those things were.

“Actually, everything, besides this squadron rank thing. This place looks a lot like Kuat. Reminds me of the past,” Steth remarked as his gaze, once again, focused on nothing in particular.

“I know what you mean. I thought the same thing when I got here,” Grifter paused for a moment. “Your parents?”

Nothing was said for a short while. Grifter again joined him in studying a unit of TIE fighters streak by. Steth lowered his head and began staring at his open palms. “What if it never happened? What if I had had normal life? How would things be different?”

“Things may not have changed. You wanted to be a pilot when we were kids anyway.”

Steth shook his head. “Actually, I really wanted to become a medic. Killing never really sat well with me. I guess I grew up while I lived with Trent.”

“We all grew up.” Another silence. “Are you really here to kill, though?” Grifter asked cautiously.

It hurt Steth to admit it. “Yes. I don’t want to, but it’s the only way I can avenge my parents death.” Steth closed his eyes to the point of where it hurt and continued. “I couldn’t sleep for months after it happened. All I dreamt about was what I imagined to be what the explosion looked liked. Over and over it would play in my head like a bad holo-recording. The only thing that changed was the camera angle. Every night I would see inside a different part of the house as the bomb went off. I dreaded the nights I saw the kitchen. Having to see their bodies ripped apart by the fire and…” Steth trailed off. He hid his face in his hands to hold back the tears. He finally looked up, visibly shaken. “Trent showed me that the only way to make it stop, the only way I can make the pain and the visions stop, was to kill the people responsible for it. It made me feel good to simu-vape those rebels. Sometimes I would program the computer to simulate human responses during battle. I would switch my comm. frequency and listen to the rebel pilots scream as I cut through their cockpit with my lasers. I wish I wasn’t like this, but I am.” Silence. “Why are you here?” Steth asked, mostly to get his mind off himself.

Grifter was taken aback by this admission. It took him a few seconds to absorb it all. “I, uh, I'm here because I always wanted to fly. You remember my stories about how I was going to be able to fly rings around Darth Vader someday. Well now’s my chance to learn.” Grifter responded.

“And the killing?”

“Well, that’s the price I have to pay so that I get to fly the fastest starfighters around.” Grifter sighed. “Ya know, I have no idea how hard it was for you to lose your parents like that, but the way I see it, this hatred of yours is going to eat away at you forever. You remember that kid, Pavet Beelo?” Steth nodded. He had been a real mean kid when they had been in elementary school. “Well, he beat the daylights out of me once. I went home and literally planned his death. My dad walked in on me and taught me a very important lesson. He told me that revenge never ends. You keep trying and trying but no matter what you do, the hatred won’t go away. And even if you end up killing everyone you hate, it’s still there, burning you from the inside out. If you’re not careful, you could go up in smoke.” With that, Grifter stood and left the balcony. As Steth heard the metallic whoosh of the door closing behind Grifter, he leaned forward on the guardrail and began to cry into his arm.

Months went by quickly. Under the direction of Post Kaster, the squadron did, in fact, rise to become one of the better training groups in the academy. Theta squadron had been in existence for about a year when Commander Sawet had to make some important decisions.

“So, you understand your orders, Commander?” came the dark voice over the holo-connection accompanied by the mechanical hiss of an automatic respirator.

“Yes, my lord, but I’m still telling you that none of them are ready yet,” Sawet replied.

“Get them ready Commander. If they fail, you fail.” The connection was abruptly severed. Sawet reclined in his chair and considered his predicament.

“Break left, Eight!” Steth shouted at his friend. Grifter complied without question, trusting Steth’s observation. Steth flipped his TIE fighter until it was in a formation right behind the enemy A-wing. He wasted no time in blasting through the rear shields of the craft. He had just hit the engines of the bogey, causing it to careen off course, when he saw the Rebel platform start to go up in flames, pieces of it breaking off into space. The TIE bombers, that had done the platform in, veered away and set a course back to the Nebulon-B frigate Fearless. Steth and his unit breathed a sigh of relief as they watched the remaining A-wings and X-wings prepare to make their jump into hyperspace.

“This is the Fearless. Good work Theta and Gamma squadrons. Return to the hanger immediately for debriefing,” Sawet spoke over the comm.

As he entered the hanger bay of the frigate, the cockpit light blinked off and the exit hatch opened. Steth stepped out just in time to see the last of the Gamma squadron pilots leave the simulation room. They were ok, but not nearly as good as us. We made that bomber run last week without a single loss, Steth thought as he looked up at the kill board to see that Gamma squadron had lost five of its twelve TIE bombers.

“Attention!” Sawet yelled from the front of the room. Everyone snapped their bodied into a rigid posture. “Before I go on, I want to make it perfectly clear that what I'm about to say goes against everything I believe in. You scrubs aren’t nearly as good as you need to be…” Sawet paused for a moment before continuing. “You are, however, the best training squadron we currently have here on Carida.”

“I have orders from up top to advance the best squadrons to the status of ‘combat ready’. You will be transferred, effective immediately, to the Victory-class Star Destroyer Revenge…” When this was mentioned Grifter glanced over at Steth, who had a look of pain on his face. “…and there you will be flying TIE interceptors and bombers. If you need more practice with these types of craft, I suggest you familiarize yourself with them in the simulators tonight. Your departure time is oh-six-hundred hours tomorrow at docking bay three. I wish you all luck. You will need it.” Sawet repeated from his first briefing with them. “Dismissed!”

The members of Theta Squadron arrived at docking bay three, almost simultaneously, at six in the morning. Ten minutes later, they were on board the Revenge in an orbit around Carida. As soon as they set foot on the black, metallic bulkheads, they found themselves surrounded by hundreds of stormtroopers, about twenty officers, and one other squadron of TIE pilots. Someone yelled, “Attention!” and everyone instinctively clicked their heels together. Directly in front of Steth, and about ten meters away, a door quickly opened and, for a moment, only darkness could be seen behind it. Two small red dots appeared in the shadows and grew in size as each click of a boot-step was heard. The shadow, suddenly, melted away to reveal the captain of the Revenge.

The blue-skinned, black-haired alien spoke, “Welcome, Cadets. I am Captain Thrawn.”

The First Assignment

“I should amend that title, though. You were chosen to become ‘combat ready’ early because of certain…situations. Therefor, I am now hereby advancing you all to the rank of Flight Officer,” Thrawn began. An officer appeared at his side and whispered something to him. Thrawn’s expression never changed. A “thank you” was barely audible and Thrawn continued, “I’m afraid I’ll have to make this brief. The squadron you will be partnered with is Devil Squadron. They are fairly experienced so listen to what they have to say. We will be leaving in ten minutes for the Sullust system. I suggest you get yourselves and your fighters prepped for immediate launch upon arrival,” he finished. “Dismissed,” he said almost as a side comment.

The flight deck was very busy as Devil Squadron, Theta Squadron, and the rest of the deck technicians raced to prepare for the upcoming battle. No one knew who the enemy was or why they were going to fight, but it didn’t matter. Their job was only to follow orders, nothing more. But still there was the curiosity.

“Why would we need to go to the Sullust system. Have they gone Rebel now too?” Steth called to Grifter from across launch bay.

“I have no idea.” Grifter paused and thought for a moment. “You realize of course that we aren’t supposed to care why we are throwing our lives away. If the galaxy were ‘perfect’, us military types would charge blindly into battle with not a care in the universe. Wasn’t there an old Imperial proverb? Something like ‘Ours is not to reason why…” Grifter began when Steth jumped in.

“…Just to do and to die. Yeah, yeah I know. I got to tell ya that that doesn’t help much,” Steth shouted over the loud roaring on the flight deck.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to,” Grifter shot back.

Once everyone was in their flight suits and ready for combat, they just stood and waited by their fighters. Each pilot looked like death itself, with only the white Imperial insignia breaking the solid black of their helmeted uniforms. Steth looked around him and shuddered. He was intimidated by everyone else just from looking at them, and he was on their team. They should dress stormtroopers like this. People wouldn’t even put up a fight against soldiers that look like us.

Steth heard the crackle of static fill the bay and he listened intently for instructions. “Attention all TIE pilots! This is Commander Etdan. We will be in orbit around the planet Sullust in six minutes, thirty seconds. We are here in the aftermath of a Rebel uprising. A group of four hundred Sullustans have forcefully taken possession of an Imperial garrison. Your mission objectives are to neutralize or destroy the garrison and any attacking craft. Devil Squadron will fly the TIE bombers in an attack against the garrison while Theta Squadron flies escort in the TIE interceptors. You will be launched from orbit and you are to proceed through the atmosphere to the ground base. This is a cut and dry mission. Losses will not be tolerated. Prepare for launch.” More static and then silence. The black clad pilots jumped to life as they began to climb aboard their fighters.

Steth climbed the ladder that lead to the top of the ball cockpit of his interceptor. He pushed a button and the hatch popped opened just enough for him to slip his fingers underneath. With little effort, Steth pushed the hatch open and vaulted into the cockpit. He flicked a few switches and the craft came to life. Post’s voice filled Steth’s helmet. “Ok, we are launching first. I want Unit One in the lead on scout duty. Two klicks should be enough distance. Units Two and Three, we’re going to form a perimeter around the bomber formation. If we encounter no resistance, I want every fighter to still be in formation with the bombers when we re-enter the hangar. If we do get shot at, I want everyone to call their man and split up. Stay close to the bombers at all times. And like the man said: no losses. The price for getting hit is twenty credits per laser blast. And I will collect.” Post’s grin was obvious even over the comm.

Steth flexed his hands to get them loose. Suddenly, the Star Destroyer lurched forward as it exited hyperspace. The huge launch bay doors slowly opened and the magnetic seal that held the air pressure in replaced it. As Steth throttled up, the piercing shrill of the ion engines made him wince. I guess simulators can’t simulate everything, he thought. It was his turn to launch within a matter of seconds. He throttled up and shot out of the Revenge like a red bolt from a stormtrooper rifle. He fell into formation behind Bri and readied his systems for combat. Post’s voice once again came over the frequency, “Sign in boys and girl!”

Bri’s displeasure at being singled out by Post’s casual remark was evident. “Theta Six standing by!” came her annoyed reply as she slammed her fist down on the comm., shutting it off abruptly. “… Theta Eleven standing by…Theta Two standing by…” After all of Theta Squad checked in, an unfamiliar voice filled Steth’s headset.

“This is Devil leader. Send out your scouts and we can get this party started,” came the veteran’s voice.

“As ordered, Devil Lead. Ok, everyone, all weapons are live and the target is hot. Proceed with mission.”

Steth watched as the four TIE interceptors from Unit One of Theta squadron dove toward the atmosphere of Sullust.

After a few moments, Post spoke again. “Alright, they are at the two klick mark, let’s get going.” At that moment, the remaining twenty TIEs lurched forward and started in their pursuit of the scouts. Steth had to keep his throttle at half thrust so that he wouldn’t outrun the bombers. As the first few fighters of the attack swarm hit the thickness of Sullust’s volcanic atmosphere, the scout group reported in.

“Theta One here. Nothing, yet, Squad Leader. I'm detecting no alien engine emissions. We’ve hit ground level and are proceeding…wait…I now read four Z-95 Headhunters on a direct intercept course. Orders?” Theta One insisted.

“Break and engage Unit One! We’ll be there in thirty seconds!” Post yelled into his comm.

“Right, Lead. But this might be over in thirty seconds. Hurry!” came One’s response.

“Are they the only bogeys out there?” Post asked to no one in particular.

Various forms of “yes” came back in response. “Good. Theta Squadron, throttle up and engage those fighters!”

Steth couldn’t contain himself. “But what about the bombers?”

“The only enemies out there are those four Headhunters. I will not tolerate even one lost fighter so we are going to make sure that we overwhelm them. The bombers will be fine.”

“As ordered, Lead,” was all Steth could come up with.

The interceptors hit ground level at, what seemed like, a ninety-degree angle. But at the last second, all eight fighters pulled up and skimmed the ground as they proceeded toward the engagement area.

A dogfight abruptly raised above the horizon. About three kilometers opposite the dogfight, the captured Imperial garrison stood resolutely.

“Call your men!” Post ordered

“I got number three!” Steth shouted as he angled his interceptor toward his target. All the other pilots, then, called out which Headhunter they wanted to vape. Three to one odds. Guess I can’t complain, Steth thought with a small grin. He set his lasers to quad fire.

The odds alone must have scared the Rebel pilots because as soon as all twelve interceptors of Theta Squadron arrived, they immediately started flying very defensively. As Steth closed in on his panic-stricken enemy, he was pleased to see two green dots disappear from his HUD display. Just as he got within firing range, Grifter sideswiped Steth’s target, taking out his shields entirely.

“Didn’t think you’d mind the help,” came Grifter’s excited voice.

“Never do,” Steth responded as he pressed the firing stud on his flight stick. Four green laser blasts shot out ahead of him and impacted on the fleeing Headhunter. From where Steth was watching, it looked as though the fighter’s engines just decided that it was time to power down. And so the once deadly Headhunter became a harmless rocketing piece of scrap metal.

Steth smiled for a moment and when he glanced at his HUD, he saw that all four enemies had been vaped. He breathed a sigh of relief and loosened his grip on the flight stick.

“Devil Lead, this is Theta Lead. Sector is clear. You may begin your attack run,” Post announced with pride.

“Copy, Theta Leader. Nice work,” came Devil Lead’s response.

“Ok, Theta Squad, power down ion engines and engage repulsor lifts. Sit back and enjoy the fireworks.” Post said casually.

All twelve fighters hovered motionless a kilometer above the ground as the bomber squadron sped by them. Suddenly, the bombardment began. Devil Squadron launched their proton torpedoes simultaneously. Looks like a big blue ribbon, Steth thought to himself. Just as the first wave of torpedoes hit the garrison, large groups of Sullustans poured out of the building. They began firing their blasters into the air in a vain attempt to hit one of the bombers.

Steth noticed other pilots in his squadron laughing and joking over the comm. frequency about the pitiful Sullustan display. But Steth was in no joking mood. You’ve lost, dammit! Give it up! Stop fighting! Animals! That’s all they are! Steth thought with increasing anger. Without a word, Steth throttled up to full thrust and headed toward the, now, flaming garrison.

“What the hell are you doing, Seven? Get back here!” Post screamed.

Steth’s only response was to turn off his squadron frequency completely. As he neared the desperate Rebels, he dove and started firing volley after volley of laser fire at them. If you won’t surrender like civilized people, then you will die like the animals that you are, Steth thought as he continued his murderous rampage. Steth was so intent on his new mission that the voice that came into his headset seemed to awaken him from a trance that he didn’t even know he was in.

“Mission objectives complete. Return to the Revenge immediately for debriefing,” Commander Etdan ordered bluntly.

Steth shook his head violently to regain coherent thought. He, then, angled his TIE interceptor straight up into the air, toward the orbiting Victory-class Star Destroyer.

“What in the name of Tarkin’s ghost was that all about?” Grifter asked immediately after removing his helmet.

Steth had no answer for his friend. He just continued with his post-flight maintenance checks. He had a look on his face as though he had aged fifty years. Grifter stepped up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Are you ok?” Grifter asked, concerned for his wingman.

Steth violently shrugged Grifter’s hand away. “We’re all here for different reasons, remember?” With that Steth stalked out of the room with a confidence he didn’t feel.

All the pilots aboard the Revenge met in the briefing room. They took their seats and waited patiently. Many of the other pilots stared at Steth with either confusion of resentment. Post practically radiated some of that resentment. The door to the room whooshed open and Captain Thrawn walked in accompanied by a stranger.

“This is Commander Etdan, the man that issued you your orders out there. He is in charge of the fighter squadrons here aboard the Revenge,” Captain Thrawn said in his usual calm manner. Commander Etdan looked to be a very robust energetic man. In fact, if not for his silver hair, Steth would have mistaken him for a younger member of Devil Squadron. Thrawn continued, “Now, onto more immediate matters. Your mission against the captured Imperial garrison was a complete success. The base was destroyed and as we speak, a battalion of our stormtroopers is regaining order. I am aware that Commander Sawet back on Carida thought you, Theta squadron, were unprepared for battle. Today you have proven him wrong. If you had graduated through the normal process, this kind of performance would be expected, but since you were promoted early, your squadron, and especially your leader, Post Kaster, went above and beyond what was expected. Therefor I am promoting Mister Kaster to the rank of Lieutenant. Congratulations. We will be setting off for the Sluis Van system for routine guard duty as soon as everything here is in order. That is all; you are dismissed.”

Devil Squadron got up and headed for the exit as some of the Theta Squadron pilots went over to shake Post’s hand. Steth took one look at the cocky pilot with his girlfriend slung over his arm, almost like an ornament, and decided he didn’t care to shake his courageous leader’s hand.

Steth stared at his data pad, focusing on what it said. He had gotten a kill in his first mission. Some called that luck, but he knew he couldn’t have done it with out the rest of the squadron, especially Grifter, backing him up. But what surprised him is that Bri had gotten two kills. That was not only lucky, it was unheard of for a rookie pilot. And yet Post received the promotion.

Oh well, Steth thought as he tossed the pad aside, as long as she continues to perform like that, she’s bound to get notices sooner or later. He was still dressed in the uniform he wore underneath his flight suit. His skin was itching from the dried sweat of the recent battle and he decided he needed to change. He had just finished unbuttoning his pants when Captain Thrawn walked in, almost silently. Steth looked up in shock and immediately snapped into a formal salute, only his pants didn’t follow his quick action.

“Sir!” Steth practically yelled.

“At ease, officer, and for Palpatine’s sake, pull up your pants.” Thrawn said with an amused look on his face.

“Yes, sir!”

“I was just wondering what it was you were trying to accomplish with your, how shall I put this, over-enthusiasm during our last mission.”

“Sir, the Sullustan Rebels were firing at the bombers. I felt it necessary to divert their attention away from the attack on their base.”

“First off, the bombers were about two klicks above ground level, way out of range of the Sullustans. Secondly, you and I both know that even if the bombers were at ground level, hand blasters would do no damage to them.” Thrawn said with a slight edge in his voice.

Steth had no response for the Captain so he just stood at attention until Thrawn continued. “I don’t know what it was you were trying to accomplish, but from now on you are to follow your flight leader’s orders. Understood?”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Steth shouted.

“Sorry to have disturbed you in your quarters, officer. Good night.”

“Good night, sir.”

As Thrawn left, Steth continued to undress. He had just removed his pants when someone else walked into the bunker.

“Bri!” Steth squeaked as he searched furiously for his pants again.

“Oh, hi Steth. I was just…” She trailed off as her eyes slowly scanned down Steth’s body. She smiled slightly but continued as if everything were normal. “…just looking for a holo-camera.”

Steth yanked his pants up again and then considered what Bri was saying. “Camera? Oh yeah, a camera…here use mine,” Steth said as he reached for the top drawer of his dresser.

“You do know there’s a party going on in the mess hall, don’t you?” Bri asked.

“Yeah I know. Wasn’t interested.”

“Why not?”

Steth regarded her for a moment. He then decided that it was ok to speak his mind. “Don’t take offense to this, but the less time I spend around your boyfriend, the better my day is.”

“What? You don’t like him?” Bri asked, perplexed.

“No, not really. To be honest, Grifter and I don’t know why you do. He’s obviously treating you like bantha dung.”

“N-no he isn’t. He’s a very sweet guy.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he is when he’s not blaming you for his mistakes or telling you what to do and when to do it,” Steth shot back sarcastically.

“I…I don’t believe what you’re saying…I…have to go,” she said, obviously disoriented.

Steth reached out and grabbed her hand. “Bri, I’m being brutally honest here, I know, but you have to listen to me. He isn’t good for you.”

“You’re being brutal, alright. But you don’t know what you’re talking about. Just…don’t talk to me…” she cried, violently twisting her wrist out of his hand.

“Bri!” But she was already gone.

Somewhat more melancholy than when he first started, Steth resumed studying the battle statistics.

The Beginning of the End

The Sullustan incident turned out to be one of the more exciting times Steth had experienced so far on his time on the Revenge. Guarding the shipyards of Sluis Van was comparatively boring. His days consisted of getting up, getting in his flight uniform, circumnavigating Sluis Van ten times, returning to the hangar, filling out a report of how uneventful his flight was, and then going to bed. They advanced us to ‘combat ready’ so that we could fly rings around a docile planet? Steth would often wonder. One afternoon Post made the announcement that they were no longer Theta Squadron. “From now on, we will strike, or rather stab, fear into the hearts of those Rebel scum. We are now Dagger Squadron!” This seemed as good a name as any to Steth.

“Head into the atmosphere and check out the anti-grav ball game score, would ya, Eight?” Steth remarked with a yawn. Grifter and him were on their usual circuit around Sluis Van while Post and Bri were on the opposite side of the planet doing more of the same.

“Roger, Seven. But I'm willing to bet that the Sluis Van Renegades are up by at least 5 points.”

“How much would you be willing to bet?” Steth returned with a wide grin.

“Yeah, yeah. Ok, I’ll be right back.”

Steth watched as Grifter’s TIE interceptor suddenly dipped into a vector aimed at Sluis Van. As he was headed down through the atmosphere, Grifter noticed a freighter making its way out of the atmosphere and into space. He took little notice of it as the clouds parted and he spotted the anti-grav ball stadium. Steth caught sight of the freighter a few seconds later as it hit the icy depth of space. He watched as it slowly crawled to its hyperspace jump point.

Steth’s attention had drifted to other matters when, suddenly, alarm claxons started blaring through his cockpit. Disoriented for a moment, he finally gathered himself and checked his HUD. Sure enough, eight blue dots had appeared on his starboard side. His CMD identified them as R-41 StarChasers, a ship well known for being the favorite of pirates galaxy-wide. It also appeared that their target was the freighter. Almost as if the freighter pilot could read his mind, Steth found his comm. blinking. He pressed the switch that opened the comm. to the civilian frequency.

“This is the medium transport Granald’s Excursion calling any spacecraft. I am under attack by pirates. Please respond!” the pilot cried desperately.

“This is the Star Destroyer Revenge, civilian transport. We are making our way to you now. All recon TIE interceptors, engage those enemy fighters until we can get the rest of our fighters launched,” Commander Etdan calmly ordered from the security of his Imperial constructed safe-haven.

Alright, all I have to do is not get dead, Steth thought to himself, Just got to hold ‘em until Revenge can get here.

Grifter came shooting out from the planet’s atmosphere as if he had been fired from a cannon. “It’s thirty-four to fourteen, Sluis Van. I told you, man. You owe me,” he said with a grin.

Steth assumed that Grifter hadn’t heard the alert due to his light mood. He was about to hail his friend and tell him that they were in deep bantha dung, when Grifter’s lasers, unexpectedly, sliced through one of the StarChasers with uncanny accuracy.

“What are you waiting for, Seven? Let’s get this show started!” Grifter cried in an emphatic voice. Collecting his thoughts, Steth throttled up and fell into a wild pursuit of one of the pirates.

Steth thought that he faintly remembered hearing Post say, “We’ll be there in ten seconds, Eight. Hold tight,” but he wasn’t sure. All he was worried about was shaking the StarChaser that had latched itself to his tail. He rolled and juked, but to no avail. He saw another object coming straight for him and was about to press his firing stud. Fortunately, Steth decided to target the object before firing. Good thing, too, he thought as his CMD identified the oncoming craft as Dagger Six, Bri. The only word said in those few seconds that held Steth’s life in its hands were of Bri screaming, “Now!” Right on cue, Steth pulled up so fast that he momentarily blacked out. But it didn’t matter because his pursuer no longer existed. The only remains of that poor pirate were the chunks of metal alloys that had once been a starfighter, now super-cooled by the frigid cold of space. Steth came to in a few seconds to hear Post yelling, “…ack in the fight, dammit!” And he followed that order. His blackout had caused him to drift about five klicks away from the dogfight. From this vantage point, and as he made his way back to battle, he watched with a dropped jaw as Bri single handedly destroyed six of the remaining seven pirates. Before he even got back into the furball, it was over. The last bandit saw that all of his comrades had been vaped and he promptly turned tail and ran.

“Let him go, guys,” Post said in an exhausted voice.

A few minutes later, the Revenge came sailing over Sluis Van’s horizon with a dozen TIEs escorting it. “Thank you Imperial ships. I am in your debt,” was all the freighter pilot said before he jumped into hyperspace.

“Marvelous, work Unit Two. Dock with the Revenge for debriefing immediately.”

“And in closing, I’d like to once again congratulate Officer Delphi for hitting the ‘ace’ mark today. Ok, I think that’s it. Dismissed.” Commander Etdan finished. What Steth found so puzzling is that there was no word of Bri’s accomplishment in the debriefing. It was as if no one even knew that she killed six shielded bogeys in two minutes. But Steth shrugged it off by assuming that she would be complimented for her performance privately by the Captain later.

But that never happened. Bri sat alone in her bunk wondering what she had to do to get attention. She wasn’t a stupid girl. She knew that the Imperial Navy didn’t like women among their ranks. But she never thought it would affect her. She thought it would be different, somehow. Back on her home planet of Yaga Minor, she had spent every last credit she earned on simulator lessons. And it had paid off. She was the best in either Dagger or Devil Squadron, no question. But did she get recognized for it? No! Of course I don’t. I never do, she thought to herself. With tears blurring her vision, she stood up and tried to make for the exit. But her emotions wouldn’t let her leave. Before she even knew it, she had thrown her fist into a nearby wall. She heard, rather than felt, the bones in her fingers buckle and snap.

A few minutes later, Post walked into the bunker and found her curled up into a ball and crying loudly. Looking up and seeing that Post had appeared, she got up and put on a fake smile.

“Hi, Post. What’s up?” she asked in a shaken voice.

“Uh…are you ok?” Post replied, uncertain.

“Of course,” she responded with an even bigger smile. But her smile soon melted away and tears threatened to return. “No, I’m not.”

“It’s about you being ignored isn’t it?” he asked.

“Yeah. I don’t know what I have to do to get noticed around here. I could stop the Rebellion single-handedly and still no one would mention my name. It isn’t fair!” she cried.

“Bri! Your hand is broken!”

“Yeah I know. I don’t care.”

After some coaxing, Bri finally relented and let Post take her to the sickbay. After a few splashes of bacta, they returned to the bunker.

“You know,” Post said with a slight grin, “I was going to wait and surprise you but I think this would be as good of a time as any.” He walked over to his dresser and pulled out a small pouch. Sitting down on the bed next to Bri, he opened the bag. At first, all Bri could see was a faint blue luminescence emanating from the pouch. Post reached in and pulled out, what looked like, a wire thin strand of blue light.

“A guy in Devil Squadron gave this to me. You know what it is?” Post asked. Bri slowly shook her head, never taking her eyes off the blue mystery. “It's called glitterstim. See, what you do is just bite down on this, and then for a few minutes, you can see into my mind.”

He held out the strand to her. She cautiously reached for it and held it in her hand as if it were a newborn child. She sniffed it a few times and then slowly put one end into her mouth. As she bit down, small blue sparks crackled between her teeth. She was tried to spit it out in fear, but the drug had already taken effect. She looked up at her lover and was instantly thrown back. She saw not only Post, but she felt him. She felt his emotions, his desires, his fears, his pride and his anger. She felt everything. But she not only felt them, she heard them, she saw them, she smelled them and she tasted them. For what seemed like eternity, she was herself and Post at the same time.

“Pretty impressive, huh?” Post remarked with a grin. After observing her reaction to his little surprise, he bit down on his own piece of glitterstim. They sat there together, in the dark, and felt as if they were gods.

The Ambush

Glen Dertev sat, or rather lounged, in his seat. This was the “night watch”. The more important personnel aboard the Revenge were in bed, including the captain. The ship was basically running on a skeleton crew. With his feet propped above his scanner screen, Glen conversed back and forth with the lieutenant currently in command of the bridge. Then it happened.

“So there I was with a pure sabacc, and all I have to do is…” Glen was in mid-sentence when he heard a loud bleep coming from his console. He kicked his feet off his monitor so fast that he almost fell over backwards. What had, seconds before, been an entirely blank screen was now bright green.

“Holy hell! We got incoming! Two Nebulon-B frigates and a full squadron of x-wings. Get the captain up here fast!” Glen said as he

|-o-| Ours is Not to Reason Why |-o-|

I

The Spark…

II

The Arrival

Three Years Later…

III