Star Wars Alpha Thread

[Aniera]

Aniera finishes her meal as one of her ensigns comes in looking frazzled.

"Ma'am, we just received orders from the captain...all of our turbolasers are to be ready by 0900 tomorrow."

Her eyes widen and she drops her spoon into her empty bowl.

"What?! Is he CRAZY?! There's -no- -way- we are even -close- to being operational at least for another 48 hours!" She growls again. "I need Commander Vaile, where is he?"

"I-I don't know ma'am..."

"Well find him, and also gather -everybody- and start working, and please....pay attention to the wires you fuse. The last thing I need is to have to check everyone's work before we go up."

The young ensign nods, salutes and hurries off. Aniera rubs her temples. "What is this old coot thinking?!" She rises and heads for her normal post.

[Deepcrush]

'Bodyguard' he said! Ardus felt a sudden urge to snap the little man's neck. This coming from the general cannon fodder and his 'Stormtroopers'! Good for two things, looking shinny and getting stomped by any enemy they don't outnumber ten to one. Ardus took a step up to the general and glared.

"Snappy little mouth you have 'general'!" More anger came out then intended but so be it. "I need to meet with every command officer aboard before we get underway. Since the PO isn't here yet, I'm starting with you."

"Hit the mess!" Ardus yelled at his men. The squad quickly filed out of the room. *Boss is pissed!* Ardus heard over the ear-comm..

Ardus straightened himself though still burning over the general's comment. "What is the status of your legion? We may need some good fodder in the coming mission and your troops will just have to do!" And with that the General's grin left, along with any hope of the two continuing this matter peacefully.

-----------

The squad moved quickly enough towards mess. As the squad rounded the final corner, a small woman in a navy uniform slammed body first into *3*. "Who the- OH, how cute! I didn't know the navy was dressing up dolls these days!" The woman rebounded and shoved *3* for the remark, though she moved more then he did. "Damn thing is a feisty one!" Laughed *6*. "Be careful or she'll wreck you good!" "I wouldn't mind a wreck from that!" The squad broke out laughing.

"CAN IT!" ordered *2*. "Boss gave an order! Lets get too and leave the tail for later!" The woman looked about for a second the hurried past the squad. Just as she got passed earshot *2* broke out laughing. "I'll be hell in a heart beat but that was the prettiest little thing I've seen aboard ship in a long time!" The squad walked on, laughing so much it hurt as they went. Their faces strained from trying to take *2* serious as he railed them. "Poor bastards, I bet they think most of them will be coming home from this too!" "Not likely!" The squad laughed more.

[Droopy]

"If the Emperor new about this, he'd be displeased to say the least."

"What do you suggest we do then?"

The Staff Sergeant and his Corporal tried to avoid being noticed. Assuming the Bothan was oblivious to their presence.

"Report this to Captain Gyealac Corporal, and make haste. This dog could be one of the traitors he's looking for."

The Corporal scurried off as the Staff Sergeant made it his duty to follow the Bothan. Short in stature, but a little wider than your average Bothan. The brown haired creature leaned against a wall several clicks from the Staff Sergeant. Fitted in a pair of camouflage pants and a leather shoulder strapped consisting of several frag grenades. A large knife strapped to his left pants leg, the Bothan was obviously not an Imperial rank. He holstered the blaster and looked up, starring the Staff Sergeant in the eyes. A bit startled, the S.S turned his head to face down the hallway, trying to look inconspicuous. He turned back to the bothan to find him gone. He looked around nervously, peering into ever doorway and adjacent hallway. Flustered at the vanished Bothan, and worried about being punished for letting him get away, the S.S quickly made his way towards a turbo-lift.

"Your smee-ell give you away."

The sound of a charged blaster stopped the S.S in his tracks. A prelude of his death rang in his ears as he turned to find the barrel in his face. The Bothan cracked a smile and holstered the Blaster.

"You...you're in big trouble." stuttered the S.S

"Am I'ss now?"

Seconds later the Corporal came running down the hall, followed by two Storm Troopers.

"There he is...arrest him."

The Bothan turned towards the Storm Troopers and raised his hands in the air, surrendering. A courage grew over the S.S.

"Looks like a blaster won't save you now traitor."

"We be seein who the traitor is (the Bothan turns to the S.S)...in time."

The S.S smirked as the Troopers escorted the Bothan away.

[Reliant121]

Lieutenant commander Vaileturned a corner in the corridor and found Aneira fuming to herself. She almost leapt at him when she spotted him.

"COMMANDER!!!! The captain wants all turbolaser batteries operational by 0900 TOMORROW! That is not possible, not remotely so!" She screamed at him, loud enough for the majority of the hall to hear. Vaile looked at her for a moment. It wasnt all anger in her eyes. Some of it was fear. She did not want anything to happen to her. And, so help him, neither did he.

"Very well. Do what you can Lieutenant. The closer we are to getting the systems online, the easier it will be for me to coerce him. I will speak to the captain. it may not work, but there is little i can do." With that, he span about and hurried out of the room.

He had been described as a bowling ball when he had a purpose. Both in physique and presence.

[Monroe]

"Little mouth? I'm sorry but you clearly don't know me if there's one thing I have is a large mouth. Now body guard, are you not the guard to the body of the Politcal Officer?" Koren asked tossing his fruit to the side half eatten.

"I do more,"

Koren cut him off, "No you guard his body. That would make you a body guard. Now do you hold an official rank?"

"Call me boss." Ardus replied.

"Okay 'boss' since you have no official rank and are clearly not an Inquisitor or part of the Cult of the Dark Side. Its clear that you're equilivant would be an agent. Now I'll respect you as an agent I used to work in intelligence myself. I merely ask that you respect me as a General. I'm sure you have or have access to my file and you know once upon a time I was in nearly the same situation as you are now. So you can drop the act after starring into blue and red eyes it takes a lot to scare me. So for the common interest of serving the Emperor's Will let's drop the tough guy persona and get down to the mission at hand, I've read the intelligence report same as you and I know how important this mission is." Koren said showing surprising backbone to the mechanical man in front of him.

His comlink beeped, "Sir, both the Political officer and the Captain have arrived on the ship now. Senior officer meeting at 2000."

"Acknowledge." Koren said into his comlink. "See you there boss." He smirked before leaving.

----
The Captain meanwhile arrived on the bridge. "Captain on deck!" The first person to see him yelled out sending the crew to snap to the position of attention.

"Crew." He yelled, "I have one rule, you do what I say. If you don't then I'll kill you myself."

"Sir yes sir!" One of the crew members at the sensor station yelled out.

"That didn't demand a reply." The Captain said walking along the bridge over looking the working stations towards the man, "But I like your motivation." He grinned which caused the crew member to visibly relax. "Now, there's going to be a meeting at 2000 hours tonight. Tubolasers will be 100% operational at 0900. This is not negotiable. I don't care if you have to pull Storm Troopers out to weld plates." Captain Misunichix Gyealac paused, "Where is the weapons officer...?"

"He's working on the new systems sir." An ensign said nervously.

"Good. But he missed my speech. Tell him missile tubes will be readly by 1300 tomorrow too." The Captain nodded as he saw panicing weapon officers running in hopes to complete the job on time.

[Aniera]

Meanwhile, the turret hall is quiet save for the sounds of dropping tools and small conversations between installation groups. Aniera is again, under a control panel, installing it, her fingers moving as quickly as they can to connect the wires. Panning outside her room, eight gunnery rooms are occupied with two men each to complete the installation. Everyone is clearly tired, dark circles and bloodshot eyes can be seen on just about all of them. Aniera sits up and rubs her eyes, she gives the panel a quick test, scrambles to get her tools, closes the panel and moves to the next room. Ahead of her, six more rooms still need work. As she opens the door to the next room, Commander Vaile's footsteps can be heard behind her, she eyes herself but at the moment, doesn't care much that she isn't in proper dress, no grease is on her, just her gray navy pants and a black sleevless shirt. Her back flattens against the wall as she brings her toolbox back and stands straight. Vaile nods at her and eyes the progress of the men.

"Status report?"

"Six more turrets need a complete install. I put four teams outside to complete the welding since that isn't the time issue...sir, I don't know if these are going to be operating correctly...this time constraint has really put us in a bind...we can't correctly diagnose the system. If we somehow find ourselves in the heat of battle before we -can- diagnose, we may end up losing our own gunners over what could be a minor malfunction resulting in an explosion of some sort...whether outside or in." She sighs in frustration. "We may yet have the install done at least."

Vaile nods and looks at her with compassion. "Keep up the good work, Lieutenant."

She nods somberly as Vaile walks off . Stepping into the room, her toolbox drops to the floor with a loud crash and she drops to her knees to remove the wire panel. Her stomach starts rumbling again as this is about seven hours from when she was in the mess hall. She ignores it though, completely focused on her task at hand, cursing softly to herself.

[Mikey]

It seemed like hours before Kir got back to his quarters. He'd had to attend both his debriefing and squadron review in his flight suit. At review, the wing commander surprised Kir by complimenting his recent performance. The debriefing was more typical of what Kir had come to expect - the results were excellent, but the methods were nowhere near the book.

Finally showered and dressed, Kir intended to check the status of the interceptors. Instead, he opened his door to find a pair of men in unfamiliar uniforms with no decoration but the ISB emblem. "You're wanted," one said gruffly, and they turned and strode away without bothering to make sure Elan was following.

************

The political officer's quarters had an antechamber which served as an office. The room was dim and spartan, and Kir waited alone in the cold silence - an effect which he was sure was intentional. Finally Kir was joined by an officer who bore a singular air of gravity and the deliberate gait of the bionically repaired. "Good evening," the man said formally, "I am Political Officer Tarrian."

"Flight Lieutenant Kir Elan, #AT-25-3," Kir replied quickly.

"I know. Please," said the officer, indicating a chair as he seated himself opposite. "I apologize for the hour - I've been in staff meetings. As have you." Tarrian smiled humorlessly and continued, "That's why I've asked you here; to discuss the issue which Squadron Leader Tarl had raised."

"But that was just- yes, sir. I doubt there is any more detail I can add than what was in my report."

"Mm-hmm." Tarrian looked Elan up and down, and Kir straightened; he was proud of what he did, and that pride was reflected in the condition of his uniform and the polish of his boots and belt. "I am more interested in your motivations than your actions, flight lieutenant. But first, satisfy my curiosity: not many pilots wear a sidearm anymore."

"Better to be prepared for any eventuality, sir."

Tarrian leaned forward. "Why? What are you planning?"

Kir was stunned by the unexpected question. "Er, nothing, sir. But my duty doesn't end when I climb out of my fighter."

Tarrian leaned back and stared for a moment, then chuckled. "Well said! If I didn't know your history - and didn't think I threw you with my question - I'd call that a well-rehearsed answer. But I believe you are earnest."

"I am, sir. I learned very young to despise outlaws and to be prepared for their willingness to stoop to any level."

"Indeed. As to your performance against the pirates-"

"Begging your pardon, sir, but Squadron Leader-"

Tarrian held up a forestalling hand. "Don't interrupt," he said coldly. "I'm not interested in Tarl's analysis. In fact, I'm glad to find someone who is capable of using a little - imagination - in the pursuit of the Empire's goals. Perhaps you'd be amenable to a working relationship with this office?"

"Absolutely! I'm happy to serve."

"Hmm... I believe you are. Dismissed," Tarrian finished abruptly, then turned to study something on his desk as though Elan had never been there at all. Once again, Kir was sure that the impression was deliberate.

[Monroe]

"Aniera you're going to be late to the senior officer meeting!" A lieutiant said running past her.

"Am I even invited?" She asked as she finished installing an emergency dead switch for the turret.

"Yes, everyone lieutiant and above, now get your ass moving.. ma'am!" He added hastily as he sprinted away. Sighing Aniera took off after him getting more than one look from passerbys as her breast bounced while she jogged.

"Get back to work!" She yelled after them.



"Here you go sir," An aid told Koren as the General arrived. Someone yelled General on deck and everyone stood. "Saved a chair for you here in the front." Koren nodded thanks as he sat down, the room was standing room only in the largest of the meeting. hallways. Crammed with nearly a thousand of the ship's crew, the rest sitting back as Koren took his own seat.

Captain Misunichix Gyealac walked behind the podium. Koren smirked as his presence made the other officers not stand up since Koren technically outranked the Captain and ruined the dramatic entrance with the lack of everyone rising to their feet. The Captain looked Koren's direction before beginning his speech, "Officers of the Storm Trooper and Naval core and our friends at the Political Institute what I am about to tell you is top secret. If word of this spreads outside this room I will execute half of you. This comes straight from ISB." The older Captain leaned on the podium gripping the sides strongly before continuing, "We have on the Vlanxian system two known Jedi. Yes real Jedi and there may be more." He scanned the room as the intently listening officers glanced at each other. News of the old evil assassins of the Republic was grave indeed. "They have stirred up trouble in system and the Rebel Alliance has offered to assist the Vlaxian rebels. ISB believes that the Rebel Alliance's offer has not been accepted yet and the local rebels remain disorganized. So it is now why we must strike.

"We will arrive and gauge the level of rebellion. Execute the traitors and their families and reestablish Imperial law." The Captain continued, "General Fodakan, what is the status of our troops?"

Koren stood up, "Captain, all Storm Troopers have arrived onboard. Waiting for deployment."

Captain Misunichix Gyealac smiled, "Very good. I would like for them to aid in finishing our weapons and hyperspace drive." He smiled almost friendly towards Koren before looking into the audience, "Where's my weapons officer? The deadline remains." He said turning to Lieutenant Commander Ulysse Vaile. "Do not disappoint me Lieutenant, I demand peak efficiency from my officers."

"Yes sir." Lt Cmdr Vaile replied. Aniera next to him sighed a little. Leaning over as the Captain moved to the engineering commander he whispered, "Least you're not engineering, we can fake completion. Don't worry about safties just mark the ones you don't get 100% finished and we'll fix them while we're in hyperspace."

She nodded looking around to make sure no one heard them, "The missile tubes will be more difficult to fake."

He nodded not really having an answer for her.

The Captain meanwhile replied to the hanger controller, "Then maybe you're the wrong man for the job if you're not properly motivated to complete the refueling line."

"S-Sir my men are working as fast as you can, you've taken too many for the weapons."

Captain Gyealac grinned, "Officer please report to Officer Tarrian for a word about your job performance after the meeting. As for the rest of you, your job is laid out before you. Get to work. If your department is working help another. I will not tolerate failure, we fight together, we live together, and we die together." He turned and hurried out the side door leaving his officers behind.

"So Koren which department do you want to help out in?" A friend of Koren's asked next to him.

"I'm thinking flight. I used to be in the Flight Corps myself remember?" He smiled back, "Relax, I've got to approve any Storm Trooper executions remember. You know how to space walk, land weapons a hand." Koren caught Aniera's eye as she stood, "They've got some pretty nice officers over there." He muttered as he likewise stood. "Maybe I'll go see if they need a hand first."

[Aniera]

Koren stars down the hallway where various workers are finishing on a large turbolaser. Aniera stands at a panel with an ensign under the panel connecting the wires. She is testing the controls.

"Alright Ensign, this one is set. Well done." She smiles. "I'll handle the plasma conduits below, I want you to grab the rest that are done and start on the missile tubes."

The ensign says nothing at first, just groans a bit as he slides out from under the panel.

"Won't you need help here ma'am?"

"I will be fine."

Koren flashes a charming grin as he steps in, leans against the panel that Aniera works on and eyes her.

"Hey there..."

The ensign attempts to stand at attention but not before smacking his head into the console. Koren smiles wider.

"At ease ensign."

Aniera also stands at attention. "General.."

"At ease, Lieutenant" He says while looking at the stripes on her jacket that is slung over the chair behind her. "You know, I recently had a woman in uniform run into me, she had horrible grease stains all over her."

Aniera looks back to the panel in front of her, powering it down. "Yes sir, that was me."

"Ensign, leave us." He tells the poor ensign who still holds his head from smacking into the panel, he manages a salute and leaves. Koren waits until he is out of sight and lowers his voice.

"Least you could do is offer your name, I am Koren Fodakan."

Aniera looks a bit uneasy. "I um..you didn't give me a chance sir...Aniera Rumabarick. I apologize for staining your uniform."

"It's alright, don't worry I won't take yours." He grins. "Care to join me tomorow evening for mess?"

"Can...I do that?"

"You're an officer, right?"

'"I am sir, yes."

"I eat at the officer's mess hall right?"

"I would assume so, yes." She turns to him, the top of her sleeveless shirt clinging tightly to her.

"And I gave you permission to sit at my table, right?"

"I believe you did, sir."

"Then the answer to your question is yes, it is allowed."

She hides a bit of a smile. "Well..thank you sir, I'd be honored."

He smiles. "Good! Now...what can an old TIE Interceptor pilot do for you?"

She smirks and leans against the panel. "Other than create a miracle? Not entirely sure."

"I used to be a freelancer when I was young, I can help you connect those plasma conduits."

She blinks in surprise. "Well...we could use someone who knows how to...Seeing as how only me and a handful of others know how to."

He chuckles and takes his jacket off and slings it over hers. "That's what happens when you take people from loading and tell them to install a turbolaser strong enough to wipe out a city. After you."

She climbs down the ladder ahead of him to a bare hallway beneath them. He looks around.

"Oh wow, only a few were installed, this will take hours."

"I know..." She frowns "My group was concerned with the turrets and we thought we had all week..."

"Maybe day after tomorrow..." He turns to her. "You're going to want sleep tomorrow night."

She chuckles softly as she scoops her hair into a ponytail. "I want to sleep now. Unfortunately, Captains orders don't allow for it"

"No, you'll run into those types in all branches." He shrugs. "THere are good days and bad days."

"Seems his bad days severely outweigh his good."

"Yeah, I don't have an excuse for that." He shrugs again. "Maybe you'll get transferred."

"To where?" She says as she rummages through the parts.

"Another ship? I hear the Executor is a fast moving career."

"Wanting to get rid of me that quickly?" She laughs. "Did my crashing to you in the hallway have that big of an impact?"

"Not really, it cleaned off easily." He picks up a hydrospanner from her toolkit and begins to work. "I did like the soft impact."

"That so?" She asks cooly as she brings a fuser out.

"Yes, sure beats running into the Captain."

"Not sure he would survive the impact." Grins and bites her lower lip.

"He's old and tough, I wouldn't want to get in a fight with him."

"Oh I don't know, you seem like you would fare well in a fight."

"I've had my fair share. It's the way I meet most of my girlfriends. " He smirks and places some conduits along the narrow hallway. She follows.

"Not sure I would find myself attracted to someone who beat me up."

He smirks. "Not what I meant, I mean, most women I date have a bit of spunk to them."

She grins. "I would assume you are with one now."

"I am but she is along way away...you?"

"Just recently became...unattached." Nods a bit as she attaches another conduit.

"Oh? I'm sorry."

"That's what happens when you have an affair with your commanding officer I guess. We left it amicable enough. I guess deep down, I knew it would happen. No one knew of it though. We were seeing eachother secretly for months."

"Reminds me of my ex-fiance."

"What was she like."

"Moody, but trusting. Moreso that my current girlfriend...well...wife."

She nods a bit and stays quiet for a time while working. After a long period of seemingly awkward silence, she pipes up.

"So what do you intend to do now? You know, since you're a general."

"Surface Marshall Fodakan has a nice ring to it." He grins at her.

She smiles. "I'm thinking Admiral for me someday..Admiral Rumabarick."

"A female Admiral? That'll be a first!" He smiles. "If you meet the Captains deadline, maybe."

"The turrets are installed, I flagged the ones that are questionable in my data pad. Only Commander Vaile and I can see it and he knows of my situation. When we make our jump, I'll go back and troubleshoot them."

"For these though..." he closes the panel. "It'll be a bit more time consuming. And you still have missile tubes."

"I have a crew working on those. The tubes themselves are in, it's just connecting the controls and making sure they work correctly."

"That shouldn't take too long then."

"I just worry that the lack of sleep will make my crew more lax in their focus and attention. They'll make more errors."

"Don't worry, we have a few days before we get to our destination. Plenty of time."

"He wants them in tomorrow."

"Yes, but after that we have to make sure the TIE's blasters are operational. Who knows when he'll ask for those."

"Plenty of time to sleep."

"How bad is it that I fantasize about my bed in my quarters?" She says jokingly.

"Pretty bad." He smirks as he helps her work. "Hopefully I'm helping instead of slowing you down."

"No, you're helping quite a bit." She steps over to him. "You're doing nicely."

"Thanks, it's been a while since I've worked on a Starship. I flew a Z-95 as a freelancer. My boss had a YT-2400. Fun stuff."

She smiles. "I've worked on smaller ships myself, nothing this big. I'm used to about twenty turrets or so."

"You're new here too?"

"Arrived only four days ago."

"Well you're doing well for someone whose new."

"Not new to battery sir, just new to battery of this magnitude. And to this ship." She sighs a bit thinking. "Do I look like a doll?"

He looks at her quetioningly. "Pardon?"

"Well I encountered a squad in the mess hall shortly before I banged into you. They referred to me as a doll. Seriously, some people have no maners at all."

He smirks. "Well manners aren't taught at Cardia. But you do have nice features."

She smiles in turn. "Well thank you..I think."

"You're welcome." He says with a smile and snaps a control panel shut that feeds the conduits. "And we have tiberium."

"Huh..guess it didn't take so long after all.." She grins wide and looks over. "Thank you so much."

"I'm just that good." He grins as he climbs toward the surface. She follows.

"You sure you dont want to be in battery?" She grins as they reach the top.

"No I think I like my pay grade. Well, I think I'm going to go to the hanger. Good to meet you. See you tomorrow evening?"

"Yes sir, good to met you too." She gives a salute.

He smiles and exits the room.

[Deepcrush]

The squad laughed and played about in the mess, throwing food and screaming at each other. Pounding fists on the tables and stomping their armoured boots against the floor. They acted like a group of you ensigns fresh out of the academy more so then a commando unit.

Both fire teams in the squad had voted agaisnt each other, each betting weither or not the Boss would kill the Stormtrooper General. 'Bravo's were mad that they had lost, betting a full weeks credits on the matter. The 'Alpha's were having a great time, talking about how they would spend all that money.

"Did you hear how he was talking to the Boss!" Grumbled one of the 'Bravo'. "Like Boss is some damn plasticboy! An everyday army trooper!" Rang another.

"How could Boss not kill the fool! Talking about they were 'incommon' with eachother." Mocked one of the squad. "That stupid old trooper wasn't even born yet and the Boss was already Boss!" he yelled as he stomped a table hard enough to flipping end over. The power needed to so would have broken any normal human's leg up to the hip.

"Even the Boss might get chewed for killing a General, atleast one who is commanding Stormtroopers. If it were just an Army Genny, then no doubt he would have beat him to death like that traitor LT on Visnor."

"How long did Boss keep him alive though all of that?" Asked '11' Bravo. "Longer then even that traitor should have gotten. Most get the blaster or blade, but he " "He got something worse." Finished another.

----------------------------------------------------

"Officer Tarrian." Ardus said with a nod, coming into the PO's office. Tarrian answered with a nod of his own. "Please, sit with me." Ardus took the chair and relaxed a bit. "Tea, its fresh?" offered Tarrian. "Please, thank you."

Officer Tarrian leaned in his chair as his aid served their drinks. "Have you read your brief on this mission?"

Ardus nodded, enjoying his tea. "Yes, I have. The Emperor wants the student alive. The young jedi is not even using double digets for his age yet. Perfect for the Emperor to bring to the path of service." Ardus took another drink of his tea, noticing the poison placed in it. "You should know by now, as I am sure, that this has no effect on me." Ardus said, hinting to his cup.

"Just making sure you are who they say you are, that's all." Smiled Officer Tarrian. "A poison from your own world that only your people can live through. Some what needed since there is no other way to tell your kind from others. You know this. If we can't read you in the force then how can we know your intent?" Officer Tarrian's face went cool looking into Ardus' eyes.

Ardus just laughed under his breath. "My intent isn't your concern, nor is it anyone else's. Only the Emperor needs to worry about what my intent is. That's why I report to him." Ardus downed the rest of his drink. "You shouldn't mix so much in next time, it ruins the flavor of the tea." joked Ardus.

"I'll try to remember that. What are the Emperor's orders for the Jedi master?" asked Officer Tarrian. "What is the Emperor's will with him?"
Ardus stood, "He dies on sight. Quick and maybe clean but with no loose ends."

Officer Tarrian stood. "All costs are acceptable in the service of the Emperor. Against a Jedi master your team may have to suffer some losses?"

Ardus laughed, "That's what the Stormtroopers are for." Ardus turned to leave. "By the way, you don't have to quote the rules to me Officer Tarrian. I was there when they wrote them." Ardus chuckled as he left the office. "Hell, I even wrote some of them."

[Sionnach Glic]

Ardus had just left Tarrian's office when the political officer's aide came back in.

"Lieutenant Erinsion to see you, Sir." He said. Tarrian had to think for a moment before remembering the young hanger master that had earned the Captain's displeasure. Tarrian had looked up Erinsion's file when the meeting was over, and had found the officer to be overall highly effecient, loyal and competant. He just had the misfortune to have to report the wrong thing to the wrong person on the wrong day. Tarrian had seen plenty of such incidents during his career.

"Thank you, Ferik, send him in." He answered. As his aide departed, Tarrian took a datapad out of a drawer in his desk, turned on a random text file and placed it down on the desk before turning back to his computer and began typing nothing in particular. A moment later the door opened again, and the young Lieutenant entered nervously. He walked up to the desk and gave what was probably the carefullest salute of his life.

"Lieutenant Erinsion reporting as ordered, Sir." He announced. Tarrian ignored him for a few seconds, still engrossed in typing nothing, and then gestured for the officer to sit down in one of the two uncomfortable chairs in front of the desk before returning to his typing.
He left Erinsion sitting there quietly for another two minutes before turning to him suddenly.

"You seem to have aroused the displeasure of the Captain." Tarrian commented, picking up his mug of tea and taking a drink.

"Yes, Sir." He replied. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it again, as if thinking better of it.

"He has requested that I suitably punish you for raising his blood presure like that."

"Yes, Sir."

"I presume you know why?"

"Yes, Sir. Our fueling times weren't quick enough for him."

"And you have an explaination for this, I take it?"

"Yes, Sir. Well, it takes close to six hours to complete it under optimal conditions with all hands helping out but some of my men were conscripted to help ready the weapons so I didn't have all the people I needed and there was a problem with the fueling barge that was bringing it in so that delayed us another hour and then one of our people reported a problem with Tank 9 so we couldn't use that one and had to bring a spare out of storage which took even longer and...... " The lieutenant began babbling in one run-on sentance. Tarrian coughed pointedly to get him to shut up, but the lieutenant didn't seem to notice.
"....then the pilot on the replacement fueling barge that came up fouled up the docking maneuvers twice so that caused us even more problems that took us even longer and then my shift ended so I wasn't even there when they began fueling it so I didn't really have any part in it so....."

"That's enough, Lieutenant." Tarrian said quietly, but Erinsion ignored him, desperate to find an excuse that would allow him to escape whatever was coming.

"....I wasn't there at the time and I had only come back on duty when the Captain called me up to the meeting so I didn't even get a chance to...." Tarrian had had enough. In one quick move, he unholstered his compact blaster pistol and slammed it down on the desk in front of him. Erinsion stopped talking immediately.

"Now then." Tarrian said, picking up that datapad and leaning back in his rather comfortable chair as if nothing had happened. He made a show of looking through the file as though it were the lieutenant's file, though in actual fact it turned out to be instructions on how to properly cook roast gundark. He wondered vaguely how that had ended up in his office. He wasn't even that fond of the stuff. One of life's little mysteries... he thought, putting the datapad down on the desk again. Erinsion was staring at the pistol on the desk as though it were a large and poisonous insect preparing to pounce on him.

"It says here in your file that you are a fairly good officer. Quick to act, competant, never late. Is that true?"

"Uh, yes." Erinsion said, finaly looking away from the weapon.

"Have you ever shirked your duties?"

"No sir."

"Have you ever allowed an error by one of your subordinates to go uncorrected or unreported?"

"No sir."

"Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Rebel Alliance?"

"I - wait, what? No! Of course not!"

"Oh, good." Tarrian said brightly. "In that case, you can go." He said, gesturing towards the door. Erinsion looked at him in surprise.

"Excuse me, Sir?"

"I said you can go."

"Aren't you going to punish me?" He asked, then immediately looked as though he regretted saying so. Tarrian leaned forward across the desk towards him.

"Do you know what my job is, Lieutenant?"

"Uh, weed out traitors and keep discipline?" He ventured.

"Correct. But in addition to that I am responsible for making sure this crew runs as efficiently as possible. Tell me, Lieutenant, do you believe that executing the ship's hanger master would be beneficial to efficiency?"

"Uh, no, Sir. Not at all."

"Good. Neither do I. Therefore punishing you would be counter-productive. Therefore I shall not punish you."

"Uh, thank you, Sir."

"You're welcome. I will inform the captain that you have been dealt with. Though I believe it would be a good idea for you to complete refueling as soon as possible."

"Yes, Sir. I'll get to it now."

"Good. Dismissed." Tarrian said. Erinsion stood up, executed another parade-ground salute and all but fled the office, still stunned he had escaped alive, let alone without any punishment at all.

[Monroe]

"Give a commedation to the grav plating team for having their work compeleted by 0600 this morning." Captain Misunichix Gyealac said as he marched quickly along the deck with a string of aids following him taking his every word. "I'm in the mood for ethnic food for lunch. Inform the cooking staff to scrap the meal they had planned and instead cook Kuati." He paused a bit, "Something greesy, I want to feel like I kiled something."

"Yes sir." An aid replied wondering how the cooks will figure that one out by noon today.

"Ah here we are." He said walking towards one of the heavy turbolaser controls along the bottom of the ship. "Where's the weapons control officer?"

"Sir, he's waiting outside your officer to file the report." Aniera said snapped to attention.

The Captain gave an aid an annoyed look, "And who are you?"

"Battery Control lieutiant Rumabarick."

"Your work complete?" The Captain asked.

"Yes sir, we've prepared a demo if you'd like."

"Just fire," The Captain ordered.

"Yes sir." She said and fired a stray shot into the depths of space.

Captain Misunichix Gyealac eyed a poorly weilded piece of metal with jagged corners holding a plasma conduit which looked like it nearly burst. "Very good. I want these weapons fully operational by the time we get there. If we have to perform a DBZ I want the four billion people you kill to recieve the finest blast Imperial money can buy."

"Fully operational?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

"Lieutiant I asked the impossible, I just wanted to see if you could get it done. You got damn close and I got my start in weapon control." He began walking away, "Don't lie to me again." He warned before moving on to the next heavy tubolaser. "Give the weapons crew extra duty this week. It'll allow them to do their job right." He told the aid then switched subject, "Ask security to question this Bothan we found on board, I want to know who's pet it is and how he got on board."

[Mikey]

Kir was tired, but restless and wired from his recent conversation with the political officer. He wandered down to the hangar to check the status of the new TIE/in interceptors. He was pleased to see that they appeared to be ready to go. It was only after a moment that he realized that someone else was also admiring the sleek, aggressive lines of the new models. With a start, Kir realized that the other man was in fact General Fodakan. Noticing the newcomer, the general commented, "No sense gawking at them - grab a wrench and get to work."

"Begging your pardon, sir," Kir replied, "I fly them, I don't fix them. Although I probably could make a go of it."

Fodakan turned a narrow stare on the pilot, then relaxed slightly. "I guess a set of brass ones comes with being a starfighter pilot. That's where I grew mine. I bet these run a bit differently from my old Z-95, though." At Kir's dubious look he added, "I wasn't always in the face-to-face branch. Do you know these new interceptors?"

"I had one of the first ratings on this model when they came out of the experimental stage. You still might as well be outside for all the protection they give you; but as fast and maneuverable as they are, you've got to be asleep to get hit by anyone you can see. But yes - I imagine it's pretty different from a Headhunter. Closest I've gotten was flying an ARC-170, and that's a whole different animal."

"It's an AT-AT compared to a swoop," snorted the general. "Which one is yours?"

Kir indicated the third to the left in the interceptor formation. "It's got the standard four laser cannons, but they still have the hardpoints under the cockpit. There's no additional power system, but I hate to see them go to waste. An ion cannon, laser cannons, even blaster cannons would be better than nothing."

"I might know someone who could help, when she's free," answered Fodakan. "You'll have to wait until the ship's systems are done, but I'll see if Lt. Cmdr. Vaile could do me the courtesy of making her available," said the general, thinking of his own reasons for getting Aniera some free time.

[Monroe]

Captain Misunichix Gyealac walked across the bridge over looking his underlings at their posts. "All systems are green." His second in command told him.

"Good break orbit and make course for the Vlanx system." He told the navigator. Below him a small but somewhat comforting hum began as the massive engines fired to life pulling the dagger shaped vessel out from its docking berth and into the reaches of space.

"Clearing planetary gravity sir." Another officer chimed in.

"Hyperspace in 3... 2... 1." The navigator took a deep breath and made the jump towards lightspeed. Deep in the hypermatter reactor the system flared to life as the ship approached the speed of light. Within a second a tear in the fabric of space-time launched it into the swirling abyss of hyperspace.

Captain Misunichix Gyealac smiled at the vivid blue and pitch black swirls as the ship made its way towards the white light aways seeming to be out of site. "Tell the engineering team an adequate job on the ship's engines. Our atoms are not spread over ten light years."

"Speed holding at around 165,000c." The navigator smiled, "Optimal speed for this hyperspace route."

The Captain nodded, "I had hoped to be there faster but that'll have to do. What's our ETA?"

"Little under three days sir." The navigator replied.


---

Koren meanwhile took the opportunity to knock on Aniera's quarters. He had thought about bringing flowers or chocolate but in the end had decided against it. He was, afterall married and flowers implied prior planning whereas this way he could fake amazement by the route the actions took.

[Aniera]

She doesn't answer the General's knocks because she is working on one of the turbolaser panels. Her crew changes their shift, doing double rotation, however she hasn't slept in about three days. She nearly dozes off but a loose wire zaps her finger and she quickly comes to.

"Ow! Dammit!" She says as she sits back and sucks on her finger, then examines it. "That'll be a nice little burn."

After a minute or two she goes back in, working to connect the wires to the control panel, nearly dozing off again.

"Come on Aniera...stay awake...have to get this done..."

The exhaustion becomes too great, the three days of no sleep taking its toll. She collapses under the panel, passing out.

An ensign walks by and sees her on the floor. He walks in.

"Ma'am? Ma'am are you alright?"

He kneels down and shakes her, she doesn't respond. Another passes by and sees the scene.

"What's wrong with the L.T.?

"I don't know! Get Commander Vaile! Quick!"