The Officer's Lounge

[Bette Davis]

Bette didn't normally like to drink in the Lounge, because the chances of running into an Inquistorate member was just too high. Those guys gave her the heebie jeebies.

Tonight was an exception. A few of the other pilots were joining her - might already be here, for that matter - and was going to be a good night. For one thing, drinking was her favorite pasttime, especially since Val had gotten himself transferred out of Shadow Squadron. It had been after a paticularly loud and drawn out fight over some guy she'd been flirting with.

He'd asked for a transfer, ending it rather severely with Bette in the process, and she hadn't heard from him since. It had been five months. She suspected that his foul mood had originated and continued from the battle at Endor with the Rebel fleet. Losing so many wingmates had been hard on them all, but Val hadn't seemed to snap out of it.

She missed fighting with Val.

Sitting at an empty table, Bette picked up a drinks menu. It was happy hour. She smiled.

[Saul Karzai]

He'd come in about five minutes beforehand, figuring it was easier to grab a drink before most of the other pilots came in. The Kuatian quickly snatched two bottles away from an black-clad technician shrugging his shoulder in an 'oops' fashion before sliding away from the bar before a complaint to be raised.

Saul Karzai was new to 'Shadow Squadron' but not to some of the members. He'd served with Bette and Val during the aftermath of the Battle of Hoth on the Victory Star Destroyer Ignoble but hadn't seen them since their transfer while the second Death Star was in production. In his mind, both were fantastic pilots, if not a bit 'loose on the stick'.

Karzai walked over to where Bette sat, setting the two bottles of alcohol, plus a stack of sabaac cards, in front of her.

"You look like you've been patrolling the Outer Rim by yourself for two weeks."

The brown-haired pilot poured a liberal amount of liquid into both glasses, sliding one to her.

"I oughta challenge you to sabacc now. I might win more than 20 creds this time."

[Bette Davis]

She grinned at Karzai, and sniffed the glass he'd handed to her. "What is this?" The alchohol was bright green and smelled of melons. "Never mind, I don't really care." She took a generous swig before setting the drink back down.

"So! I heard we were getting some new blood in Shadow Squadron." She clapped him on the back as he was trying to drink. "Welcome to the big leagues, kid."

[Saul Karzai]

"Hey that's my drink you're splling!" he said, trying to to keep the green drink from spilling onto his grey T-shirt. The T-shirt itself was a joke between the army and navy, featuring a stormtrooper mask with two crossed bones behind it. Karzai'd been dared thirty credits to wear it to the lounge and he'd come through.

The Imperial pilot's smile was as slow and easy as shooting a Y-wing with a bad motivator.

"Kid?" he laughed, "If I'm not mistaken 'Shooter', you , Torre, and I were over Hoth together."

He slid an amber colored liquid to her. The liquid smelled of raspberries with ion wash thrown into for flavor.

"Here, this is 'Boom-Boom'. Enjoy."

[Bette Davis]

"Boom-boom?" Bette swallowed what was left of the green liquor before spinning the glass to the center of the table. "Lets not talk about Hoth. Leaves a bitter taste in the mouth, if you know what I mean."

Losing the Rebels. The insanity of sending half of their squad into an asteroid field. It had only been luck that Torre, Karzai, or herself had not been sent. The rumors of captured rebel ground troops being sent out to die of exposure in the blizzards of the planet rather than wasting the power to shoot them. She grabbed for the proffered drink and knocked it back like a shot of Corellian whiskey.

"Saul, this dren is for birds. Where's the hard stuff hiding?" Bette picked up the sabacc deck and started shuffling it. "Maybe we can attract from fresh meat to the table - I haven't taken credits from a baby in quite a while." She nodded towards a group of cadets leaning against the bar getting smashed on Chandrilan speeder bombs.

[Zachariah Jak'el]

It was another average day for Zachariah Jak'el. He'd risen nice and early, showered, eaten a healthy breakfast, and spent the remainder of the day in the training simulator. Why did he train so hard? Probobly to prove her was worthy of his position within Shadow Squadron, or perhaps to keep his mind off the thoughts of his dead squadron at the battle of Endor. But there was other ways to get your mind of something, and alcohol was at the top of the list.

He stepped into the Officer's Lounge and stopped. His blue eyes roamed the area until he spotted Bette and another man sitting at a table by themselves. With a carefully slow step he made his way over to them, moving with the caution of a green recruit in unfamiliar territory. On his way a few patrons turned and cheered at him, now because of who he was but because of the the Shadow Squadron insignia patched to the shoulder of his black flight jacket. He ignored them like a bantha ignoring flies and continued to walk to Bette's table, a bright smile screwed on his face

"Good day Bette, and friend," He didn't feel it was right to refer to Bette Davis by her first name. He prefered to be more formal and had called her Miss Davis for awhile, up until the point that the other pilots started giggling every time he did it. So now he just called them by their first names, "I don't believe we have met," He said to the man beside Bette before he stretched his hand out, "Zachariah Jak'el."

[Saul Karzai]

Karzai looked up at the newcomer, noting the Shadow Squadron patch on his flight suit.

It was good to see there were more Shadows out there interested in drinking. Most of his former squad spent their time in simulators instead of relaxing after a patrol. While Karzai believed in the importance of practice, a stressed mind never helped a squadron during a mission. Especially when most TIEs out there had no shields.

"Saul Karzai," he grasped Jak'El's hand in a firm shake, "Just transferred over from Captain Wyst's squadron.

"Wyst was good but a ronto when it came to relaxation. He never knew how to do it."

He refilled his glass, then paused. It was too 'light' of a drink.

"Here," Karzai slid the glass to Jak'El, "Enjoy. I'm gonna grab us something stronger."

Davis mentioned something about Karzai not doing that in the first place, but the pilot only half ignored it as he went back to the bar.

'Sithspit' placed the bottle of 'Boom-Boom' in front of the tech who he'd taken it from earlier. Bending down behind the bar, Karzai picked his way through some of the bottles, eventually, finding an unmarked clear bottle. Unscrewing the top, he took a whiff of the alcohol and shivered as his sinuses were suddenly more clear then they'd been in a while.

He took the bottle back and set it in front of his Squadron mates.

"I think," his smile was slow again, "We got something stronger."

[Bette Davis]

"Excellent!" Bette crowed, quickly abandoning the sabacc deck for the bottle. "How about a game? Ensign, you're under orders from a superior not to say no."

Zak closed his mouth and sat down, eyeing the Lieutenant Commander as she poured three shots of the clear liquor and slid one in front of both of her two companions. "Called Dren. You've played before, Saul." She quickly separated out the trump cards and dealt the remaining cards into three stacks - consisting of the ace through ten of Cups, Sabres, Wands, and Coins, and the face cards of each suite (page, knight, queen and king).

"We go around, putting cards into the center, and telling the others what they are. For instance..." Bette placed four cards face down in the center. "Four aces."

"Dren!" Karzai laughed.

Bette winked. "And then if someone calls Dren, you have to flip them over. And if you were bluffing..." her four cards were revealed to be two aces, a four, and a Page, "you drink!"

She threw back her shot, and Saul refilled it. "Easy, right?"

[Saul Karzai]

Karzai laughed again, the sound was quick and easy. He didn't laugh often but when he did it was reserved for times like this

"It passes the time," he added, "Also can get people real drunk real fast."

He drew four cards, leaning back in his chair, "Remember that one pilot went by Falcon or Hawk...some dumb bird...anyway...played .'Dren' for the first time...he was professing his love for everyone that night.

"Gods he was terrible."

Karzai looked at his cards, set two down, then gaily said, "Two twos...

"Anyone wanna bet I'm bluffing?"

[Zachariah Jak'el]

Zak said nothing as he sorted through his cards, putting them in order from least to greatest. The game seemed simple enough, but since it was his first time he decided to play it with caution, "Two threes," He said as he set two cards down on the table and slid them onto the pile. He was not, but nature, a good drinker. He tended to cough and hack if given anything stronger then a light sherry. Normally he would back out of such a game, but he didn't want ot look like a wussy in front of Bette.

[Bette Davis]

Bette flipped down three cards. "Three fours." She leaned back in her chair to wink at a few of the cadets over by the bar. "C'mon Jackal, at least pretend you're having fun!"

She grinned, drumming her fingers on the tabletop.

[Saul Karzai]

"I'll call dren on that," Karzai said, eyeing Bette, "No one gets that lucky."

As he waited for her answer, the Kuatian asked a question which had been on his mind, "Hey when'd you get your promotion to Flight Commander anyway? Before or after Endor?"

[Zachariah Jak'el]

Zak listened to the small talk, only looking up from his cards when Saul called dren. He hadn't had the nerve to call dren, but thankfully Saul did it for him, "Flip your cards, Miss Davis," he said as he returned his gaze to his cards, "And let us just see how truthful ya are."

He grinned a little.

[Bette Davis]

She turned over her cards, "Read'em and weep, boys." They were all fours, to Saul's dismay. "Drink up! And take the cards. You have to take the pile too, I forgot to mention that, Zak."

She shoved the cards at Saul, and added to the other pilot, "And if you call me Miss Davis one more time I'm going to rearrange your face for you, is that clear Ensign? Lt. Commander, Davis, Bette, or Shooter. Or else..." Bette waved her fist threateningly.

[Saul Karzai]

Karzai shook his head, "Thought I had you there for a moment."

The TIE pilot turned towards Bette, raising his full glass of alcohol.

"Bottoms up," He touched the drink to the table, a habit he'd picked up at the Academy, then shoved the alcohol into his mouth. The strong taste caused him to cringe as the unnamed drink poured down his throat and into his system.

"Damn that's strong," Sithspit shook his head and smiled, "Good though...and what is up with calling Shooter here, 'Miss'.

"She ain't a 'Miss'...hardly misses anything. Well, except those two specks last flight out."

He winked, then pulled four cards.

"Two fives."

[Aliya Vahlshalynn]

Chipper was late in getting to the bar but can one really be late to drinking and camaraderie? She spied Shooter, Zak and a new face over by one of the back tables.

Making a quick stop over at the bar, she got herself an ale and wandered over to the trio. "Hey guys," she tipped her bottle in greetings, "Sorry took so long. Lucky wanted to go over our new specs and decided to give me his famous 'pep talk' on teamwork."

[Saul Karzai]

Karzai nodded to the newcomer, noticing the Shadown Squadron patch on her shoulder. She was cute.

"Techs can be like that," he gave a half-smile, "They can screw around with the ships as much as they want to, but we're the ones risking our necks."

He extended his non-card carrying hand to Vahlshalynn, "Saul Karzai...nice to meet you Lieutenant...?"

[Bette Davis]

Bette's eyes widened at Saul's comments, and interrupted the introductions. "Karzai, Lucky isn't a tech, he's our CO. Captain Tal Kellison." She punched him in the shoulder, and then looked at Aliya. "Chipper, he wasn't screwing around with our ships, was he?"

[Aliya Vahlshalynn]

"It's Vahlshalynn." She gave Saul an uncertain look and then answered Shooter's question. "Nah, he didn't touch anything. He just wanted a personal explanation by yours truly to translate all the technical crap he couldn't understand."

Chipper thumbed the new guy. "Who's this?"

[Saul Karzai]

Karzai shook his head in slight embarrassment at the comment about Kellison. He'd forgotten Kellison was called 'Lucky' by the bunch. Some of the other pilots called him 'Crooner', based on his proclivity on singing in his office.

"Well, like I said," he took a shot of his drink, then refilled it, "I'm Saul Karzai. Just transferred in from Wyst's squad.

"I'm 'Sithspit'."

[Aliya Vahlshalynn]

"Yeah, I'm not deaf. I heard you." She still looked to Shooter for verification. Aliya wasn't a trusting sort when it came to newcomers on the team. Shooter and her were friends and she trusted her judgement.

[Tannis V'larr]

Lieutenant Tannis V'larr rarely went anywhere on-ship without a datapad in his hand. The hangar, the briefing room, the mess -- he spent so much time walking the corridors with his eyes glued to the screen that some of the techs swore he could see out the top of his head. And then some of them had made the dreadful mistake of asking what was on there.

Suffice it to say, when the datapad came through the door of the Officer's lounge, everyone looking knew that Tannis was right behind it.

The Sikarran halfbreed followed it like a divining rod to the bar and didn't even give a glance to the steward behind it. "Kiva juice, chilled," he ordered. The steward handed him a tall glass of pulpy orange stuff, and he turned to find a place to sit. His customary table against the starboard bulkhead was open -- it was well out of the way of the game tables and poorly lit, and it usually escaped everyone else's attention.

He was halfway there when he froze. Directly on his path was a table of Shadows. Much as he respected the flight skills of his squadmates, he'd come to realize that their company was not conducive to a productive evening of work. He quietly turned himself around to find a less disruptive seat.

[Zachariah Jak'el]

Zak looked down at his cards and mumbled something like, "I was only being polite," only he said it silently enough for few to hear him, "And it's your turn, Saul," He acknowledged nodded his head to Aliya , "People like Lucky don't understand the concept even if you translate it into layman's terms for him. You just have to make it sound exciting and amazing. At that point they just nod their heads and walk away," He had had to deal with many non-technicians asking stupid questions about the ships, their schematics, and whatever new upgrades had come in. You simply wowed them with the techno jargon and sent them away confused.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a black uniform and the purple isignia of the Shadow Squadron pilots, the same that rested on his shoulder. He turned to see Tannis skuling around the lounge and backpeddling away from their table as if they were the plague, "Hey Professor!" He called out, using Tannis' callsign, "Don't be a stranger. Pull up a chair and sit your caboose down."

[Bette Davis]

Bette poured Aliya a shot and shoved it towards her, the card game forgotten. "I served with Karzai here a few years back. He's good people. But..." She held up her right hand, thumb and finger about an inch apart, making a face.

Saul threw a card at her, and Davis ducked. "He's very enthusastic, though!"

[Saul Karzai]

"You didn't even look," Karzai's expression was a mix of humor and mock anger, "Even then you had your eyes on a 'Razor'."

Bette returned the card across the table and Karzai escaped that one.

"Well you did."

[Tannis V'larr]

Reluctantly, Tannis turned back toward the pilots' table, hoping that perhaps there wouldn't be an extra chair.

Krasst. It was a table for six.

He approached the table and took a seat between Zak and Aliya, setting his juice and datapad down in front of him as a volley of cards passed between Bette and Saul.

"Good evening," he said, and then, nodding toward Saul, added, "Lieutenant Karzai." He hadn't met the lieutenant yet, but he'd reviewed the rosters as soon as the transfer had been announced. Without another word, he picked up his pad and began scrolling through performance statistics.

[Saul Karzai]

Karzai took a look at the newcomer. The Kuatian all ready recognized him, Lieutenant Tannis 'Professor' V'larr. Good pilot...bit of a stick in the mud, but there was nothing wrong with that. Karzai had that rep when he left the Academy. Then he ran into Bette and Val...

"So Professor," he stated, tossing one more card at Bette for good riddance, "What do you have there? Anything interesting?"

[Tannis V'larr]

Tannis's yellow eyes briefly darted up from the datapad and back down again.

"An analysis of the performance curves of Rebel and pirate starfighters encountered in this sector," he replied, "along with some of my own spectral analysis of their ion trails. I believe I have discovered an alarming trend. Of the thirty-two enemy fighters our pilots have encountered since entering this sector, twenty-eight have distinctly shown signs of inhibited performance -- my analysis indicates their engines are burning between twelve and six percent less efficiently than the norms for those models. I am still working on the ion trail analysis based on the sensor records I have been able to correlate, but already I have discovered elevated isotopes of barium and xenon in the exhaust of five different types of Rebel fighters and other insurgent vessels. Barium and xenon have no practical use in engine systems, but they are common impurities found in improperly mined tibana gas."

He glanced up from his pad with the air of a trial lawyer who has just presented a damning piece of evidence against the defense.

[Saul Karzai]

"In other words, Karzai stated, taking another drink. A nice warm feeling was starting to gather in his stomach.

"They're mining bad gas..." Bette giggled at the comment.

"So we should be able to find the source and eliminate it."

He grinned, "Sounds good to me."

[Bette Davis]

"Yeah, you go right ahead and get right on that, Sithspit."

Bette frowned, and upended the bottle over her highball glass to fill it about halfway. "But we don't get paid to plan the war. We get paid to follow orders."

"We get paid?" Aliya joked, wiping her mouth and slamming her empty shotglass down to the table.

Shooter grinned, swirling the liquor around in her glass. "Right now we're getting paid to drink. Ain't life inthe Navy great?"

[Saul Karzai]

"Yup. Sure is," Sithspit replied.

"Beats beaing a stormtrooper. They just get paid for showing up'n getting shot."

He filled his own empty glass with the clear liquid, "Oh and 'Shooter'. I'll get on it when you stop bringing 'passengers' on your flights."

[Zachariah Jak'el]

"Flying beats being a ground pounder any day," he commented as he selected one of his untouched shot glasses and downed the glass- a choking, coughing fit followed directly afterwards. A minute passed before he could finally still his churning stomach, burning throat, and look out through watery eyes. He set the glass down and thudded the table with his fist, "Wow-y!" He exclaimed as he wiped the tears from his eyes, "You two must have livers of durasteel," He said as he patted his stomach in the area he believed his liver resided.

[Aliya Vahlshalynn]

"Pfft. This stuffs tame!" Aliya tapped her glass asking for another. "Anyway, welcome aboard Karzai."

So she tried to be a bit social but with anyone new, it would take some time before Chipper warmed up to someone.

[Saul Karzai]

Karzai grinned.

"I don't think Bette ever had a liver," he turned towards Chipper and raised his glass in salute, "Thanks Chipper. Happy to be here."

[Tannis V'larr]

Tannis eyed the collection of spirits dubiously and took a sip of his decidedly non-alcoholic kiva juice before returning his eyes to his work.

[Bette Davis]

"Had the ol' liver replaced with a cybonic unit years ago." Bette paused momentarily to consider the new word she'd invented, and then helped herself to another drink. "Jak'el, you're goin' to have to learn how to drink. Girls don't like pilots who can't keep their liquor down."

She carefully refilled the Ensign's shotglass, not spilling a drop. "Drink up!"

[Zachariah Jak'el]

He eyed the glass and slowly reached out and wrapped his fingers gently around the glass, "Bottoms up," He mumbled before lifting the glass to his lips and downing the contents of the shotglass in one go. The coughing fit resumed, "Frell, what is this stuff made from? Engine cleaner?" He sputtered a few more times before getting the burning sensation in his throat under control and setting his glass back down. He was starting to feel ill already.

[Aliya Vahlshalynn]

"Oh, oh!!!" She wrapped an arm around Shooter and pointed at Jak'el with a pinky that momentarily detached itself to her drink. "We might have ah hurler!"

[Bette Davis]

Bette eyed Jackel with a practised eye. "He'll be fine."

The younger pilot got a little greener around the gills (figuratively speaking, of course), and she hesitated. "Well, maybe not." She found another shot in front of her, something that was striated red and clear. She drank the shot.

Setting the empty glass down, she found Aliya and Saul looking at her curiously, as though she was a strange new classification of human. She raised an eyebrow at them. "I'll get Jackel some water."

She stood up, and took a step.

She fell down.

[Zachariah Jak'el]

"Should my stomach be on fire?" Jak'el asked no one in particular just as Bette bit the dust. He leaned to the side and looked around the table as Bette. If he'd managed to make it to the drunken state he'd probobly have cracked up laughing and thrown up, at the same time. Thankfully he was still sober, although he might still throw up, "Walk much?"