Chapter 5: Convoy Cover

[Fel]

If there is one ceremony no officer enjoys attending, it's a funeral. Captain Tiberius Fel was in his Rebel dress uniform for the occasion. He had never worn it before, but the jacket fit surprisingly well. He adjusted his rank insignia to straighten it. No doubt about it, he preferred the Imperial style... His mind was wandering.

Standing at attention, the Rebels saluted those troops who died in the rescue of the hostages. Amongst them was only one of Obsidian Squadron: Flight Officer Yukostro. He was killed by blaster fire during the raid on the facility on "Sandbox". When Fel had asked for the details, he was told they were "not pretty".

The entire squadron was assembled, all of whom seemed to be taking the situation in their own way. Most people seemed rather stoic about it, as the coffin proceeded towards the disintegration chamber.

Notably absent was Flight Officer Gann, who was floating in a bacta tank at the moment. His ejection from his fighter during the attack on the facility had left sitting out in space for quite a while before he was picked up by the rescue shuttle. The coldness of the void has a nasty habit of giving people frostbite. However, he would be back in action for the squadron's next mission. Yukostro had left his fighter behind.

Everyone was upset, but Yukostro had hardly been the most friendly member of the squadron. He never attended social events, and off duty, was almost always in his quarters. Still, after some time in the trenches and hangars with a man or woman, you come to an understanding and a trust that those who sit in their offices and fly a desk can never understand. And it always hurts when those people die - even if you knew it must come, even if you tried to keep some distance.

The coffin entered the disintegration chamber. The room's silence was broken by Captain Ilven, who spoke for a moment about the deceased, his life, and his service to the New Republic. Fel hardly heard the words; lost in his own thoughts, as he was.

Fel had lost people under his command before. In fact, in his first action as commander of Sin Squadron, on the very first day in the cockpit, a new ensign, fresh from the Academy, had gotten himself killed. He had hardly had time to know the ensign, so the loss hardly seemed real. But even still, he'd lost other under his command, those that struck closer to the mark. And he'd seen lots of people killed in Lamed Squadron, his first assignment.

But still, something about this was different. Something about the undercover nature of the mission, seemed to make the difference. All officers in the Empire are valuable, but in a circumstance where trustworthy officers cannot be found, every death is a major blow to the squadron, and the mission.

Ilven finished her eulogy, and the coffin was disintegrated.

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In the black cloak of darkness, in an access shaft a long way away from his quarters, Flight Officer Renzen had spliced into the network with his datapad, and a number of items that could not be easily obtained. His tap was relatively close to the main computer control of the Pike, and he was reviewing the final reports entered by the ground command.

Renzen needed to make sure that Yukostro hadn't given anything away in his final moments. A quick check of the files revealed that he wouldn't have even had the chance. So much the better, in Renzen's view.

Renzen got to patching the access point up. He really could not afford to get caught. After some time here in the heart of the Rebellion, so far nobody had made any mistakes, but Renzen knew it was only a matter of time before something happened. Nobody's perfect. And Renzen knew it would all be up to him to keep the Rebels from finding out...

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"Convoy Guarding Duty. I can't think of anything more... boring." Wistalin was not usually one to complain, but this time she couldn't hold it back. There were few things she liked less than sitting for hours in her fighter, with nothing to do. It just was not her natural element.

Pre-launch maintenance on the fighters is one of the less exciting times, and officers normally stand by their fighters to keep an eye on them through maintenance.

"What, our last assignment didn't have enough excitement for you?" Yamaguchi was not one for believing that combat was a source of glory. He seemed to be past that point. His comments drew some nods from Arkanda and Anduin.

The squad's Iridonians disagreed, but this came as no surprise. Their lust for combat was well acknowledged.

Lieutenant Sapan spoke, finally. "Keep your helmet on. There will be plenty of time for action."

Fel couldn't let Sapan get the last word. "And don't forget: sometimes the assignments that seem the easiest hold the biggest surprises."

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Mission Assignments:

TIE: ERS203-TIE
XvT: ERS204-XvT
XWA: ERS205-XWA
GB: ERS206-GB
EaW: ERS207-EaW

Please note that the TIE, XvT, and XWA missions will be uploaded by VA Jagged Fel as soon as possible...