The Best Star Pilot in the Galaxy

[Sanis Prent]

The Valiant was about like any other fish-head ship I'd ever seen. They all look alike in the fact that none of them look alike. My first hour aboard the damn thing was spent just trying to un-fuck myself and find the nearest bar to pour steel-bin rotgut down my pipe.

I was pissed, and I was surly. What the hell was I doing here? I wasn't some idiot soldier, some bed-wetter from the outer rim who was doomed to over-reach. I spent my years in the school of hard knocks, and knew a hell of a lot more about the galaxy out there than some shit-kicker in a T-16.

Cirr was silent as we wandered around, still without a clue. I knew he was pissed at me because he wasn't telling me he was pissed. We argue like fish swim, that's our natural state of things. I figured we'd have it out at some point. He thought I was being childish about this. What the hell did he know? I pulled that thumb-sucker from Mama Taa and taught his sorry ass about the real.

"Shit."

I paused, slinging down my side-bag at another gaudily-white hallway intersection.

"Where the hell are we?"

[Saricia Ask'lan]

"Personnel quarters, but what designation and sub-section allude me," came the timid voice behind the Human and Cizerack.

After several months aboard the fleet, Saricia had managed to figure out a simple system of her own so she would no longer get lost. The endless white corridors that repeated over and over again had given her a headache, until she noticed the color designation at the end of each hallway by the lifts. They were general features that hardly stood out - bars and numbers with the colors, but that hurt her head in trying to decipher their meaning. She had tried, and what seemed plausible was backwards in the military mindset. Why confuse your soldiers on the ship already and get them lost? She was told in case a prisoner escaped they would continuously be turned around by the repetitious design. It still made her head hurt.

Loose brown hair brought and a pale skin accentuated striking blue eyes. They were the only colorful truly about her and the white dress she wore made her seem ethereal against the white interior of the hallway. Shoulders were bare but the rest of the fabric appealed to her curves quite pleasantly. The belt was simple, just thin brown fabric to hug at her hips - fingerless arm length slips covered her arms.

"Perhaps I can help you find your way to where you need to be?" She could empathize with their frustration, though Saricia hadn't been quite as vocal about it as the Human was.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

The sound of the voice made Cirr turn, and his eyes widened a little at the sight of the beautiful and petite stranger. His ears rose momentarily before he averted his eyes, looking down at his feet, struck mute with his own sudden nervousness for want of anything helpful to say in response.

[Sanis Prent]

My eyes narrowed a little and the slightest of thin smiles crossed my face.

"...galley. Ship keeps a stocked bar, I hope."

The cut of her dress, and her very appearance seemed to betray her, and distinguish her from the baggy-eyed spacers and self-described hard cases that normally slunk around starships.

[Saricia Ask'lan]

She easily noticed the Cizerack timidness. Whether it was because of her sudden appearance or his partner's speaking first, Saricia was still uncertain how well to trust her intuition. Though her fellow Lupine was helping her to learn.

"I do know where the galley is, but I'm not familiar with what they stock. But I've learned rather quickly that the off duty personnel get, (how do you say it)*, quite plastered?" Her eyes squinted together thinking she messed up the word, but some of the more casual basic words were new to her.

Indicating that they should follow her back to the lifts in which they came, "I'm certain they should have what you are looking for."

*Bast'yr Language

[Sanis Prent]

Her accent had a familiar lilt to it, but I decided not to press the issue at the moment. I'd much rather get a few drinks in and depressurize.

"That's the colloquialism, yeah."

My smile broadened a little as I followed her. Cirr's lack of dialogue said all I needed to hear from him.

"So, I take it you're one of our many Jedi charges on this little excursion."

[Saricia Ask'lan]

She nodded with a nod, affirming his suspicions. "But I haven't really trained for so long. I've just begun to learn."

The lift opened and the three piled inside. Saricia hit a two button sequence so take them down to the main level where the galley and quartermaster were located.

When the lift began its descent, blue eyes glanced over at the pair curiously, "My I ask what brought you here? No offense intended, but you appear quite new to the Wheel."

Neither of them wore anything that designated them as Rebellion. Their auras and scents revealed no affinity of the Force, or any other information really - except that the Cizerack was quite nervous and the human tense.

[Sanis Prent]

"Came to support the cause, of course."

I put a bit too much bitter inflection on my reply, and bit down on my lower lip slightly. I looked back at her and smirked.

"Used to freelance. This and that. Even used to run my own racket in the Jedi protection business, before it all got organized."

I eyed Cirr, wondering if he was going to chime in with anything, but he was too busy staring at his feet and finding the opportunities to steal glances at the brunette. Not that I blamed him. She was definitely fair game.

[Saricia Ask'lan]

Her eye quirked up at the rather sharp inflection in the human's voice. He didn't sound all too convincing, as he still felt some hostilities towards something that had happened in the past.

"Ah," she said with a wide mouth in understanding. "At least that makes sense as to how you found your way here. I've heard most Rebels are too frightened to come here."

Blue eyes twinkle in curiosity, "But you don't seem like a frightened man ... ah. Hmm."

Cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "Apologies. I've forgotten to ask your name which is rude of me."

[Sanis Prent]

"Sanis Prent. Captain of the Layla, out of Nar Shadaa."

Glancing to Cirr, I smirked.

"Mister Strong & Silent here is my engineer, Cirrsseeto Raurrssatta, Cirr for short. You'll have to forgive him. He's a little tongue-tied because he thinks you're a cute little thing and he's partial to that."

I caught a look of terror on Cirr's face for a second and he just sighed.

"But to answer your question, no. Nothing here to scare me. It won't be my first tangle with the Empire."

The lift stopped, and I was now fairly sure I'd baited her properly.

"Come on, I'll buy you a drink, and you tell me about my new home."

[Saricia Ask'lan]

She looked positively timid at the offer and already reddened cheeks did not diminish. Suggestions to mingle more with the crew rung in her ears. It was just that s'Ilancy did not realize how socially awkward the young Lupine was. She felt compelled to say no, but all that came out was:

"Thank you." Thin lips fell back into a more calm expression, though she really wanted to retreat back to her quarters and be as far away from the crowded galley as possible. "It would be my pleasure, but I don't believe I'll be very informative."

His stories did seem intriguing. He and his friend up against the Empire? Not many could claim that.

"I'm Saricia. Saricia Ask'lan," she offered out of courtesy and continued to lead the way. "It's not that much further."

[Sanis Prent]

"Well, if not about the wheel, then about yourself."

I turned the topic about as we headed through the double doors that lead to the galley. The three of us navigated to a booth along the wall.

"I've met a share of Jedi, not many of them with an accent quite like yours."

I took the side of the table with Cirr and let the girl sit opposite. A service droid that seemed a refurbishment late came up to take our orders.

[Saricia Ask'lan]

Now that she had taken her seat, Saricia was painfully aware that both men could scrutinize her until their hearts content. They were directly opposite her and she wouldn't be moving until her drink was finished. Which also needed to be ordered. She was rather grateful for the intrusion since there was a brief avoidance of answering Sanis' question

She looked towards the droid and without even blinking, placed her order. "Water please."

[Sanis Prent]

"Water? I'm buying. Have a little fun."

I looked to the droid and asked for a double Corellian whisky on the rocks. Cirr ordered some obscure Devaronian hooch that nobody usually carried, just to see if they had it. We both turned up on bad luck, as they had neither.

"You got Hyperdrive Leak in your bartending databank?"

The droid beeped an affirmative, and I held up three fingers, sending the machine floating away again.

[Saricia Ask'lan]

She winced and with a pleading look, watched the droid hover away in despair. Saricia barely drank. Once in awhile for special occasions like birthdays and a bountiful crop, but not socially. And not alone with two men.

Saricia's face returned to regard both of her escorts, so to speak, chewing on her bottom lip in thought. Eventually she allowed it free to speak. "I'm afraid to ask what type of beverage that is."

Hyperdrive Leak conjured all sort of queasy sensations inside her belly.

[Sanis Prent]

"You'll like it. Doesn't taste anything like the name suggests. Lots of fruit."

Of course, a lot of alcohol too, but that's why the fruit was there. It's not the most terribly ethical thing, but I figured that in all things Jedi, there wasn't such a thing as cheating, just evening the playing field.

"So, how'd you manage to find yourself on the Wheel? Don't quite seem the type to seek out a life of danger on the edge of space."

[Ben Merasska]

Ben hated this ship. It might have been something no one noticed, but he absolutely despised it. It was pretty, it was white, and it simply had the aesthetic of being Rebel. And while he didn't hate the Rebellion, the emotion he did reserve for them was something akin to a desperate wariness.

He was very uncomfortable around the Rebellion now. To him, he'd put in his time, risked his life, and lived. So now he'd much rather be out on the far side of the galaxy, keeping his head low and out of the line of fire. Perhaps he'd be able to find a nice woman out there, and start a family before he'd get himself killed and leave his wife a widow and his children father-less and cursing his name. It'd be nice while it lasted though.

“Lyanie! Thank whatever cosmic being there is in this galaxy!” he gasped, almost latching on the woman in an attempt for some nice familiarity instead of all this... other familiarity.

“Well, howdy Ben,” Lyanie said with her standard amount of cheery cheerfulness. Ben couldn't help but grin back. “Whatcha doin' out here? Seemed like you weren't ever gonna step foot off the Knightfall.”

“...I was hungry, and you know how I get when I start to cook by myself with no one else around,” Ben whined. “But I don't know anyone else around here, and this is a Mon Calamari ship, you now. All this white is a bit creepy. Can I eat and drink with you? I'll buy the alcohol.”

He looked over his friend's shoulder at the trio in front of them getting their own drinks.

“Oooh. A Hyperdrive Leak. It's been a while since I've had one of those. Whatcha say, Lyanie? It's gotta be better than the home-made stuff we keep stocked in the panels of the engine room, right?”

[Lyanie Quez]

“Oooh. A Hyperdrive Leak. It's been a while since I've had one of those…” <o>

</o> …and better be a damn long time before we actually do have one…<o>

</o> “…Whatcha say, Lyanie? It's gotta be better than the home-made stuff we keep stocked in the panels of the engine room, right?”<o>

</o> Lyanie smiled warmly at Ben, accompanied by the nipping of her lower lip and twirling of a strand of hair that she’d consistently been toying with since the threesome in question had entered the galley. The scruffy-lookin’ one laying the convincing talk on the pale girl had a handsome bent to him and it was something that D’Lyanettea Meresco Quez would have a hard time of not noticing.
<o></o>
“Yeah! Sounds good, for sure.” She heartily agreed, a rogueish half-smile creeping on to her face. “Anything from a semi-civilized establishment’s gotta be better than the engine lubricant we brew up on-board. Probably more legal and health-conscious, too.”
<o></o>
It’d give me a good excuse to talk to them. Not that I have any intention of… nope. None at all. No siree. I wonder what Ben would... Yeah. He’d support me anyways. He always has. Even with all the jibes.

Lyanie pulled her eyes away from the awkward-looking threesome and focused back on the man who was, effectively, her best friend in the whole damn universe - seemed that way, in any case, and she’d be perfectly happy to continue thinking that – and nodded. Ben Merasska had always been the one guy who didn’t take advantage or take her for granted and it was only these days that she had the wisdom to see such things.
<o></o>
“Yeah. Eat. Drink. Let’s do that.” She watched Ben again for a few more moments before following his line-of-sight... back to the awkward threesome that was the unspoken subject of their combined interest. She smiled. Sideways, she spoke again. "So..."

She looked out the corner of her eye at Ben, her smiled turning to a bemused twitch of a grin, then focused back on the three, more pointedly on the Cizerack this time. "...how do you feel about making some new friends?"

[Saricia Ask'lan]

Sanis' assessment was rather astute. It was becoming clearer that he was quite perceptive, that his time roaming the galaxy had made him wise and rather jaded.

"You would be correct. I was leading a mundane, but happy, life on Saccoria until one of your Generals found me. He knew I was different and brought me here once he convinced me that I could be more then a simple herder." She kept other information secret, like her Lupine heritage. That was not for such idle chit chat. "I was introduced to Master s'Ilancy, and she has been helping me to acclimate since."

[Sanis Prent]

One of my generals. I had a damn good inkling who she meant, and I resented the association. Wasn't her fault though.

"Let me guess, shoulder length grey hair, talks like he enjoys hearing his own voice?"

The waitron droid returned with all three drinks in tall, slender glasses, each garnished with a wedge of Ithorian sun fruit.

[Saricia Ask'lan]

Saricia sniff the drinks and was delighted to the pleasant aroma. It barely hinted at alcohol and the fruit was strangely fresh. In response to Sanis, she merely nodded in surprise, "Yes. That is him! How long have you known him?"

It was clear in her tone, that the girl held the General in high regard.

[Ben Merasska]

“So... how do you feel about making some new friends?”

Ben blinked, his attention taken from the pretty lady with dark hair, and that scruffy guy who was talking with her, and that cat person that was just sitting there. But then it wasn't all that hard to see that Lyanie was entertaining some thoughts about that guy, and while she was usually very cheery, it seemed to Ben than she'd been cheery despite things, and not because of them, and that she needed some sort of something to make her feel better.

Ben admitted that he was mostly lying to himself immediately after that. The truth was he was feeling guilty about having worried Lyanie so much after... after he'd gone and left the Rebellion behind, and he wanted to make it up to her somehow. Piloting and just being there wasn't something that Ben considered actually worthy of that goal, so now he saw the way she was biting her lip and the glint in her eyes, and he was quite sure that helping initiate a conversation between that guy and Lyanie would help assuage that guilty burden he was bearing.

“Yeah, sure,” he replied, making sure he stuck close to her. He wished he could be brave like her; but all these Rebels around and the further sight of the pretty lady was making him rather nervous. “New friends sounds great.”

[Corell Capstan]

Off by the food counter, where an ancient service 'droid doled out sloppy ladles full of bright green food-paste, something was a miss. Someone gasped, as another someone grabbed a handful of their hair and slammed their head down against the metal tray in their hands. “You ungrateful little shit.”

The technician, whose cheeked was flattened against the now-bent lunch-tray, hissed. Others in the lunch-line took a step backwards, distancing themselves from the pair. “Ah- what the frell?!”

Corell Capstan yanked his head upwards, just enough that his face was level with the lumpy heap of green goo they called lunch. “Every day you come in here ahead of me, and every gods damn day you whine like a little bitch that there isn't enough protein cubes or that someone put mynock shit in your paste. Either you eat up and thank the damn kitchen-droid for your food, or I'm gonna smack you so hard you'll be suckin' your synthsteak through a tube for the rest of your life.”

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"We've known hjim forr a few yearrs."

Cirr shared Sanis's lack of enthusiasm over having Dan's name dropped, but he put on a better face about it, for the girl's benefit.

"He's not a bad guy."

Conscious that he'd stepped out of his shell, he seemed to retreat behind his Hyperdrive leak, taking a few tentative sips from it, trying to look anything other than like he was hanging off of her every word.

The commotion at the serve line startled the felinoid, who turned to look at the fracas, his ears twitching as they focused in on the scuffle.

"Thjis sorrt of thjing about norrmal arround herre?"

[Saricia Ask'lan]

Saricia was quite pleased that Cirrsseeto had found some courage to speak. it was good to hear the voice behind the Cizerack instead of a shy face hiding behind his drink. Though, it didn't last for too long, for that is what ended up happening once more.

The commotion was hard to miss, and the young Lupine rested an arm on top of the booth so she could comfortably turn around. "To be honest?" she began to say with a shake of her head, "I'm not entirely sure, but there are often a few unruly soldiers amidst the ranks."

[Sanis Prent]

I half-smiled at the thought.

"Bunch of farm kids acting tough on the first bulk freighter out of Clodville."

With a sip of my drink, my smile broadened.

"You're in luck, Saricia. You've finally got a pair of real spacers in this nerf gallery. Hell, we might just even live to see a port of call, wherever that might be."

[Lyanie Quez]

Making sure that Ben was following closely behind or beside her, Lyanie had made her way over to where the trio she had steadily been examining for the past five minutes were congregated. When the ruckus started up at the food line, it made her jump and only added to Ben's nervousness. She kept giving him sidelong glances just to make sure he was still there and still okay. When she came to be near the three strangers, she could overhear that they were talking about the scuffle in question, just at the same time that she saw the subject of the scuffle. She could have choked.

"Nah. This kind of stuff really does happen all the time..." She said, as she approached. "...though usually the pilots aren't actually... Hey! I know that kid!"

"Hey, lady! Ow! Knock it off! Cut me a little slack, I'm a growing boy!" The assailed young man shouted, nearly pleading. Then it turned on to anger, as he managed to wrest himself free from Corell Capstan. He wiped at his face and proceeded to jab one more-than-irritated finger at the woman. "You're damn lucky you aren't with the squadrons, lady. I gotta mind to fix you real good... and I don't care what the commander might have to say about it!"

Lyanie whipped a quick hand up to Ben's sleeve, grabbed on, tugged and sort-of faced him. Laughter of pilots from more than one squadron permeated throughout the galley at the performance.

"I know that kid, Ben! That's Regan." Cringing from witnessing the treatment the blonde woman was giving the boy in his early twenties, a smile broke through and came to Lyanie's face. Something fond and remembering tinged that smile. "He'd scowl at me if he knew I was here and calling him by his given name. He's one of Rogue Squadron's mechanics. Pretty talented guy, from what I remember."

She looked again, over to Saricia, Sanis, and Cirrsseeto, thinking to take a moment to introduce herself before getting too much more fixated on the scene.

"Hey, hi." She said, turning to them, offering a handshake to the man first. "I'm Lyanie, this here is Ben and I swear to ya that we're not a part of that mess. We're with the Knightfall. I'm her engineer and all-around mechanic. Ben here's the pilot."

[Ben Merasska]

Ben smiled nervously as the roguish guy and the cat-dude both looked at him during Lyanie’s introduction. The pretty girl’s gaze wasn’t very calming either, though it wasn’t any fault of the girl’s.

“Regan?” Ben furrowed his brow and frowned as he tried to remember a time he’d been trying to forget for the past six years. “Wasn’t he a scrawny kid with a spanner that couldn’t stop makin’ moon-eyes at you?”

[Saricia Ask'lan]

Her smile was endearing right before she laughed. Sanis' observation had tickled the Lupine. "Perhaps so. I ..."

Saricia caught herself as they were interrupted by two humans. Her nostrils flared briefly to catch their scent. They were unfamiliar, but the one in the headlock was familiar to them. Hopefully the dramatic scene was over. Even the slightest of tensions could cause a more lengthy fight. But ... Saricia couldn't help but feel much hostility coming from the blonde woman. It was entirely directed at Regan either.

"What can we do for the crew of the Knightfall?" she asked in earnest sincerity. Saricia was not accustomed to the random stranger just stopping by and saying 'hi'. There always had to be a reason for someone to speak to her, at least in her own mind.

[Sanis Prent]

"Knightfall, eh?"

I nodded, remembering the transponder as we'd made our way to dock.

"Corellian ship, you've got taste at least. Saw you on the way inbound for docking

I'm Sanis Prent, Captain of the Layla. This big guy over here's my mechanic, Cirr. Best I can tell, looks like we're tag-teamed with you for close support in this mobile monastery."

I took another drink in the midst of a scoff as I continued to look at the sassy member of Rogue squadron.

"Actually, I was just giving Saricia here a bit of my resume. Figure it's best to put your minds at ease. Cirr, how many confirmed kills we got?"

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

As he'd done dozens of times on cue, Cirr presented the numbers.

"Thjirrty one."

Going further, broke the stats down.

"Fjifteen basjic TjIEs, anotherr ejight jinterrceptorrs, fourr bomberrs, two Sentjinel shuttles, one skjiprray blastboat, and a frrejighterr."

Cirr steepled his fingers together and looked up at the other two spacers.

"That was beforre jojinjing the Rrebelljion. Just on the sjide, rrealljy."

[Lyanie Quez]

"Nice. I personally don't have any kills. Nothing like that, anyway." She laughed. An inside joke, ha ha ha.

She would say she was impressed and some part of her was, given this crew was never subject to the training regimens of the Rebellion and its squadrons, as far as she knew, having never seen them around during her previous membership (that she could recall). She would be impressed if not for the fact that she had been with the Rebellion and was at least partially aware of the kill counts of some individual pilots. But she wouldn't comment. It wouldn't be nice to break their pride like that and... really, she was one of them now, too. Besides, on the other hand, some pilots never did half as well as the crew of the Layla claimed for themselves, simply due to the unpleasant survival percentage common for most fighter pilots.

"Sounds like you guys hold your own well enough." Lyanie said, showing appreciation. "Ben and I, we've kinda done this before. You know... before all that mess at Endor. How'd you guys get dragged into all of this, anyway?"

[Sanis Prent]

With a slight smirk, I regarded the pair of fellow spacers with mild interest, as they namedropped Endor.

"Veterans, huh? Thought the Rebels put a General's pin on whoever passed through more than a couple of firefights?"

An obvious joke, and one that wouldn't be lost on the group. I, in turn, humored her own question.

"I've got no love for the Empire, and it's a paying job. We'll see how long that lasts."

I leaned back, taking a sip of my drink as my eyes passed to Saricia.

"That, and I'm not a stranger to this sort of business. Keeping Jedi out of harm's way and such. Closest thing to job security a guy like me can find, and I'm good at what I do. Better to have a guy with flight hours on the run than some kid with high ideals who's just read the manual."

I at least had some bit of respect for this pair, as they seemed to be similar hard cases. Spacers who sort of fell into their lot in life. I continued to glance beyond at the gaggle of orange-jumpsuited pilots, and wonder just what I'd gotten myself into.

[Carré Inirial]

"Last time I checked, flyboy, it was kids with manuals and ideals that saved the galaxy."

A lifetime of attending courtly functions at home and being raised with an aristocrat's innate sense of timing granted Carré an entrance just as the conversation lulled slightly. She pitched her voice high enough to carry to where the man who'd commented sat, bright emerald eyes glittering.

Having only been around for two days, she'd yet to be interviewed for a sqadron position - but that didn't prevent her temper and her ego from joining forces to make her day far more interesting than it had been. Dressed casually in a pair of black leather pants and a white silk blouse that were both fitted to her every curve, she knew she looked good. Chestnut curls hung loose to the middle of her back, swaying as she sauntered her way across the cafeteria. Each step precise and deliberate as her high-heeled boots clicked across the decking.

[Jamo Jakatta]

A few tables over from Sanis, Sarcia and the others, a pilot in trademark orange sat alone, dipping protein nuggets into a credit-sized pot of blue sauce. He had shrugged out of the sleeves of his flight-suit, turning down the flak-vest and life-support box to reveal a dark undershirt. Dog-tags hung in the centre of his chest, though rare was the pilot aboard who would need to read them to know his name.

“El-tee. Mind if I...?”

Jamo Jakatta looked up, a heavily-sauced protein nugget mere moments away from making it into his mouth. The lieutenant's expectant gaze fell onto Regan Altink, whose shoulders sagged forward with the look of a man who wanted, more than anything else, to vanish from sight. With his empty hand Jakatta gestured to the rest of his table, which was unoccupied. Regan sighed into a space on the bench, scowling off in the direction of the lunch-line as Jamo licked blue-sauce from his fingertips, his eye-line on the woman striding across the cantina like she owned the place. A smirk crept onto his lips.

“This should be good.”

[Ben Merasska]

Oh look. Another pretty lady.

If Ben hadn’t been so nervous, he’d have been wondering what good deed he had done to be in close company with two very pretty women. Well, three counting Lyanie, but she didn’t count. Not really anyway. Not like that.

He’d been impressed by the kill count of the spacer and his friend, but not really. The Imperial Starfighter Corps was made up of mostly cadets, not clones as was the Army, though there were quite a few units made up of clones. Ben couldn’t stop thinking about what everyone did to deserve fighting and killing each other for.

“Doesn’t seem saved to me right now,” Ben said affably to the newcomer. “And I used to be one of those idealistic kids. Never looked at a manual in my life though. Except for that one time I was about to fly that Nubian yacht...”

[Saricia Ask'lan]

She smiled warmly towards Sanis with the mention that he has protected Jedi. It was reluctance heard in his voice that she had grasped, which was mirrored by the other two pilots that had joined them.

Unfortunately, the talk of piloting was rather lost on the native Sacorrian and she fell silent. Listening and learning, she sipped at her drink and hoped that her social deficiencies would be overlooked.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Sensing the coming conflict on the horizon, Cirr looked ahead at Saricia.

"Good drrjink huh?"

On cue, he sipped with gusto, insulating her away from an argument he had no doubt that Sanis was about to step into. It wasn't his place to start the fights, he just stayed around in case they needed finishing or if Sanis needed to be dragged away. It was an understanding that kept him from being too nervous, since Sanis popped off at the mouth more often than anybody in the galaxy.

[Sanis Prent]

I took another drink, finding the face to match the voice who'd butted in with a retort. Pretty good looking, but she didn't know a damn thing.

Ben got off the first shot, which was just fine. And he was right. Who was saved from anything in a rag-tag squadron playing hide and go seek from anything with an Imperial logo on it?

"Snub jocks get a T-16 for their fifteenth birthday and spend the next few years getting wet in the crotch thinking about being the next Luke Skywalker. You want to put them in a seat and fly virgin against a TIE wave? Better to have somebody who's been there and who knows what they're doing. Why don't you ask the Jedi who they'd prefer watching their six."

[Carré Inirial]

Tilting her head from regarding Sanis, Carré glanced instead at the owner of the first voice to pipe up after her declaration. Really, she should have likely known better, bu her ego nearly always got the better of her. Especially when it came to piloting.

"No, it really isn't, is it...but we're trying. Wait...you've flown a Nubian yacht? Lucky...I've never flown anything that size. Saw one up close once - gorgeous machine." she replied with a smile, rather pleased that he'd retorted in so nice a manner. Not that she deserved it, really, but it was still nice to hear. Before, however, she could turn and properly introduce herself to him, the original reason for her sudden appearance chimed in again.

She listened, and turned slowly as he finished, taking the last few steps to stand by the table where he sat. "For the record, my father gave me a TIE Interceptor for my fifteenth birthday, because I was accepted to the Academy at Carida a year early. As for the Jedi, I would think they'd want someone who's been on the other side for the last six years as part of the 128th. Who better to fly against a TIE wave than someone who used to fly in one?" she said simply, a pained expression settling on her features before she caught herself and hid it once more.

[Kelly Perris]

"Spend a few minutes fielding a short call from command and taking the opportunity to relieve myself... just a few minutes and someone has to take offense at something. " Kelly shook his head, a trace of amusement in his eyes as he came back to the same table at which Jamo was seated, just as Regan seated himself. The boy started to stand (out of respect, one supposed), but Perris waved him off, telling him to relax. It was the galley, not the flight deck. Boy had a lot of pluck for being the Junior Mechanic on the squadron roster.Kelly was about to seat himself when an unfamiliar gal started taking offense at something said by a vaguely familiar voice.

"Excuse me again, Jamo... boys. Seems we have an idealist tarnishing our shining reputation. You know what we do with idealists." He said with a devious grin. Standing up from his halfway-seated-ness, the Commander followed sound of the female voice (which wasn't a bad voice, mind you) to find his eyes laid upon a pretty young lady. The trajectory of her offense led him to one Sanis Prent. He stuffed his hands into the trouser pockets of his flight-suit and wandered over to the second bit of commotion in as many minutes, an air of 'I-don't-give-a-fuck' settling around his person as he did. Until he got there, anyways. Until he spoke up. He briefly met eyes with Sanis, gave the spacer a small nod, then turned to the fierce young lady who decided to try and tangle herself with Prent in the first place - without having any clue who she was talking to and defending something that was definitely idealistic and not one mote of experience.

To say...

"You don't have one little clue about what you're so valiantly defending, little lady, nor who you are mouthing off to." He eyed her critically as he stood somewhat halfway between her and Prent and the other onlookers around him. He came across as slightly angry. Whether it was a facade or not was the secret between him and perhaps, one or two others. "Your ideals will get you killed and that's exactly the kind of shit I don't need in my squadron. I do not care who you think you are, what you have done or where you have come from. Don't go running your pretty little mouth about things you do not know or understand."

Kelly shifted from one foot to the other. He glanced again at Sanis, then went back to the girl. "You may have flown with the enemy, Miss Inirial, but you did not believe with heart and soul in that cause. You did not have that faith burned down to cinders when they destroyed everything you had. You have nothing, save for some romanticized ideals of what a Rogue Squadron pilot is, or any Rebel pilot, for that matter. I suggest you shut your mouth until you've earned the right."

Then he crossed his arms and stood there, awaiting a response. She would learn humility if it meant having her hate him, as long as she would follow orders in the end. Nearly every potential recruit went through this and nearly every one ended with a fight. He turned slightly to Sanis.

"That sound about right, Mr. Prent?"

[Sanis Prent]

"Heh."

Kelly Perris. Not a face I'd seen in a few turns. Oord Trasi, last I seemed to recall. So he was the head capo of Rogue Squadron?

I took another sip of my drink.

"All I know is I wasn't given a damn thing at fifteen. Got my first ship when I stole it. I survive, and that's what pays off."

Perris was one of those few Rebels who seemed to be about as hard as the front he put up. I'd put in a few hours on a co-op back when I was doing charity work for s'Il, and he could both drink and fight. Respected that much.

"Guess that makes you the guy I'm supposed to report to then, eh Kelly?. Not sure if you should be more worried about that one joining your team, or me. Hope none of the rest have any problem with being embarassed."

[Carré Inirial]

"Alright then."

Carré replied evenly and offered a shrug. Her stance changed little, save for the fact that she tucked her hands in her pockets and met the Commander's gaze without flinching. She waited, tilting her head to one side, watching the Commander and for the time being, ignoring everyone else completely.

He was no different than any other Commander she'd ever met or served under. Not that she'd expected any different from a man of his...status and reputation. Normally, however, she'd have retorted sharply and rather rudely...but she wouldn't give him or anyone else the satisfaction. One dressing down was enough for one day - no matter how ill-informed she thought it was.

"With all due respect, Commander, I did watch my beloved Empire destroy my homeworld and my entire family. They ripped out my heart they day they destroyed Alderaan. So maybe I don't know anything and maybe I am idealistic...but at least I know why I'm here." She replied softly, managing through sheer obstinance to keep her voice soft and even. In spite of it, her emerald eyes flashed and darkened with emotion as she let her gaze travel from the Commander to Sanis.

A retort formed on her tongue, but Carré thought better of it. She wasn't winning any arguments today, and she knew it.

[Jamo Jakatta]

“You kids gonna argue all day? 'Cause you know, Tink and me'll see this all off, no time.”

He jabbed his fork towards Perris' tray of half-eaten food, then strained his neck to see what was sitting in front of Prent. The meals aboard the Wheel weren't exactly delicious, but Jakatta had the appetite of a Wookiee with worms. More than that, though, he was hoping the interjection would encourage the trio to sit down and shut up. He didn't wait for Kelly to reply before stabbing his fork into something on the Commander's play and shovelling it whole into his mouth, an expectant look on his face as he chomped and chewed.

[Sanis Prent]

I nearly rolled my eyes at the brunette drama queen's spiel.

"I know why I'm here, that's for sure. You can't find any three pilots combined in this junk trader caravan to match the skills I've got."

I let my eyes purposefully pass from Carré, to Kelly, to Jamo, and the others.

"It's a hard knock fuckin' galaxy, cry about it already. That's just real life. I've been dealing with that for years, before I even decided to make a living out of killing bucketheads."

A calculated smug smirk crossed my face as I finished my drink, setting my glass back on the table with a snap of my wrist so it did a little spin on its base before coming to a rest.

[Carré Inirial]

As...calmly...as she could manage, Carré removed her hands from her pockets and eyed the Commander and Sanis for several moments before speaking. In the span of that split second or so, she decided - rather, her temper decided for her - that she'd had enough, and to hell with the consequences. The worst they could do is make her leave, and she'd be damned if she didn't at say something. Her brothers would roll over in their graves if she didn't.

The young woman met the Commander's gaze once more before deliberately stepping right up to him and then moving to the side to go around. She paced herself, taking measured steps until she reached Sanis' side of the table and gazed down at him as he was still seated. Well, glared was perhaps more fitting, given the narrowing of her emerald orbs and the strange silver threads that emerged in her irises.

One hand curled into a fist to rest on her hip, while the other rested loosely against her leg, fingernails tapping out a meaningless rhythm. "I'm surprised you're letting yourself be seen with us second-rate hicks, Prent, what with your skills being so impressive. I mean, an amazing pilot such as yourself shouldn't have to play second fiddle to someone like...me." Carré practically purred the words as her Alderaanian accent fell in thick with a heavy dose of saccharin.

Both hands fisted tightly and balanced on her hips as she shifted how she was standing, looking as if she were ready to throw a punch at the man any second. And not bothering to hide it. Which was true. She really wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to hold out without hitting him.

"I would turn on the waterworks for you and pretend to be a stereotypical girl, just to assuage your masculinity, but I just can't be fucking bothered. You can talk about the real life you've been 'dealing with' all you'd like...with your pretty kill count and your unparalleled skills, but I'm really not sure that someday down the line, someone with a bigger credit stick won't come along. Everyone's got a price, after all...tell us what yours is so we know when to expect you to turn tail and run."

[Ben Merasska]

Ben had been about to continue talking about his favourite subject (Nubian spacecraft in general), but suddenly there was another rebel pilot berating her. Even then, he’d have tried to diffuse the situation and help the pretty pilot out, but then she dropped the name.

Ben’s mouth snapped shut and he bowed his head slightly, presenting a smaller target and hopefully would not seem worth talking to at the moment. Even so, he still wanted to help the pretty woman out. The two inclinations jostled within him for a moment, with the end result being him staying silent and taking a mouthful of his drink.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr leaned a little closer to Saricia, his ears rising up a little as he talked to her.

"How about we fjind ourrselves a place to sjit away frrom these jokerrs?"

It was a suggest born mostly out of consideration for her. Probably would be best for the pretty brunette if she wasn't placed at ground zero for a fight waiting to happen. Cirr could practically smell it coming, too.

[Lyanie Quez]

Lyanie had learned well enough the first go around with the Rebellion to just not get involved in dominance battles between pilots. She glanced at Cirr, who seemed to take a fairly similar stance towards the increasing heat of the 'conversation'. And she didn't know what to make of the spitfire girl from Alderaan, but between Saricia and Carré, Ben had his eyes full.

She sighed, mostly to herself. It was one of those times where she might say 'Men', roll her eyes and shake her head. At least Ben had the sense to not stick his nose too far into contest to see whose was bigger. He always had an healthy and admirable sense of self-preservation about him, which could either be construed as intelligence or cowardice, depending on whom you asked.

Lyanie found herself backstepping away from where she had been standing near Sanis. It wouldn't do to be standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Instead, she wheeled herself around a little closer to Cirr and Saricia.

"That sounds like a great idea." She interjected, then suddenly giving Cirr a look. She jacked a thumb back at Sanis. "If I didn't know any better, which... hey, I don't!... I'd almost say your buddy does this on purpose. Or is he just a magnet for this kind of thing?"

[Kelly Perris]

He was taken aback by her reaction. It was, to say the least, unexpected. Also, it was the consequence he got for not reading the file, the whole file and everything in the file before deciding to 'prep' the woman for the squadron whose membership she was being brought (and some would say, most foolishly, for what the Rogues tended to get into was hardly good for the lifespan) in to.

Well, from the looks of it, she's dealing better than I ever have. He realized, inwardly, keeping even the slightest look of admiration from his face about the fact. Instead, he watched her go to Sanis and inevitably, he knew what was coming. It was never pretty, but it was still part of the business. Let's hope she can fight as well with her hands as she can with her mouth.

To that end, Kelly simply crossed his arms and looked on, waiting for the ball to drop. Tonight, the fight was not his.

[Sanis Prent]

I laughed in her face.

"You think I'm getting paid for this shit? It's charity work. I've been at this sort of thing longer than any of you."

Rising from my seat slowly, I looked down at her a bit.

"But I tell you what. When I do get you out of a jam, Princess Entitlement, and believe me I will, we can arrange for compensation later."

I winked at her, brushed past, and headed to the bar to get another drink.

[Carré Inirial]

She had a long history of letting her mouth ramble on without the intervention of a single brain cell. A rather colorful one at that, followed closely by a string of fights she was notorious for starting. Especially at the Academy, where her classmates and later members of her squadrons had learned, if nothing else, to not insult her within earshot.

Not that she expected Sanis to learn anything at any point.

Carré had made up her mind to walk away as the man spoke and then rose too his full height, staring down at her from his several inch height advantage. She had already started to turn to leave by the time his comment finally registered in her ear and he brushed by her.

Fingers reached out and tapped Sanis on the shoulder before he'd gotten far, emerald eyes lifting to trace along the line of his cheek and jaw. Under any other circumstance it would have been a heated glance of a warm, almost intimate nature. However, when it was followed by a closed fist powered by a short, compact swing, one took the glance a different way.

[Sanis Prent]

About damn time.

I took the shot. I mean, I knew it was coming sooner or later. She had a good hook on her too. If I didn't duck it to catch the fist on my cheekbone, it might have really rung my bell. Suffice to say, I saw a few stars and got a nice welt across my face.

Now, I don't know about other people. I'm sure there's a genteel code for gentlemen on Naboo or some other place about the virtues of women and the inviolate natures of their person. Lemme just tell you - fuck that shit. I'm from the vertical city. Nar Shadaa doesn't have any sort of rule, written or no. A bitch can tote a blast can on her thigh or in her cleavage, and if it's life or death on the line, nobody takes a shot without blowback.

So, in the time-honored tradition of other fine gentlemen from the hard vertical streets, I checked that bitch with a closed hand.

That oughtta stir shit up.

[Carré Inirial]

That hand was gonna hurt like hell in the morning.

But she'd be damned if connecting with his cheek hadn't felt fucking spectacular.

If Carré had been paying better attention or could move faster, she'd have been able to avoid the punch he threw. As she couldn't, the best she could manage was tilting her head enough to catch most of it on her cheek and the edge of her lip. Bloody hell, the man could punch. It garnered him a bit of respect in her mind, as the hit had plenty of body behind it.

It was just as hard as the hits she used to take when she was fighting with her brothers, and it rang in her ears rather loudly.

"Not bad, flyboy."

Carré licked the corner of her bruised lip as she aimed to introduce her left fist to his chin with an uppercut that had all of her weight behind it.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr didn't change his expression, since the outcome had already been a foregone conclusion. He stood with Saricia by the bar, and relatively out of the brawl. The lupine, however, seemed upset by the scene, and Cirr laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"He'll be okay. He's got me arround just jin case he gets jin too deep."

As a practiced veteran of bailing Sanis out, Cirr coolly finished his drink, easing the empty glass onto the bar's counter. He interlaced his fingers, turning his palms away as he cracked his knuckles.

[Ben Merasska]

He yelped softly when the first blow landed, and it hadn’t even been swung at him, much less hit.

‘Okay, exit stage left!’ he thought, sidling away from the escalating hostilities to find a position that would hopefully be much safer. Well, as safe as it could be on an Alliance boat, that is. When he couldn’t find Lyanie, or any other familiar and safe face, he felt panic begin to rear in. Even when he had been a pilot in Red Squadron he’d been known as the guy who never really fought. The fight was compounding matters greatly, and though he tried to hide it, he got the feeling he wasn’t doing too well.

[Jamo Jakatta]

That fact that Prent had landed a blow on the brunette didn't bother Jakatta so much as the fact that he'd punched anyone at all. There was a place for beating the crap out of each other, and it wasn't the dinner table.

“Hey!” He slapped a hand down onto Inirial's shoulder, meaning to pull her out of the fight before things got nasty.

[Sanis Prent]

A lucky grab by Jamo pulled Carre's uppercut just shy of my face. With a wide opening, I drove in a pair of body shots to knock the wind out of her. No such thing as fighting dirty where I come from. I was going to finish this.

[Carré Inirial]

She had no chance to avoid it as her momentum shifted backwards, and her well-placed uppercut missed completely.

Now she was fucking pissed off and she couldn't breathe.

Carré was far too off-balance to do much except grab two fistfuls of Sanis' shirt and yank him with her as she toppled backwards. And slam her forehead against his. If she was going down, she sure as hell wasn't going alone.

[Saricia Ask'lan]

Cirr didn't change his expression, since the outcome had already been a foregone conclusion. He stood with Saricia by the bar, and relatively out of the brawl. The lupine, however, seemed upset by the scene, and Cirr laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"He'll be okay. He's got me arround just jin case he gets jin too deep."

As a practiced veteran of bailing Sanis out, Cirr coolly finished his drink, easing the empty glass onto the bar's counter. He interlaced his fingers, turning his palms away as he cracked his knuckles.

"In too deep?" Saricia's echoing of Cirrsseeto's comment was incredulous as Sanis was headbutted by the fiery female pilot as they tumbled to the ground in a mess.

She didn't know what to make of the entire fiasco. Pilot bravado gone mad is what it looked like, but for what purpose? The Lupine could see no point in this and the scowl on her face only deepened.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr smiled at the confusion.

"My people would call jit cheei'aittha' ruhaai, but forr us jit jis somethjing morre that a woman would have."

He looked at her and his ears tilted a little.

"You know the terrm swaggerr?"

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her brief vacation from the Dauntless wasn't entirely a vacation, as there were always bits of regulation busy-work to tend to no matter what ship one found themselves on. But, the fact still remained that the bulk of her duties were shuffled to the wayside, giving room for other matters to tend to. Matters that she tended to prefer far over her normal day to day duties.

Now however her stomach ruled the hour, and the Lupine found herself making her way through halls and corridors, intent on the mess hall. She was more than happy to satisfy her culinary cravings in such surroundings, as her food preferences weren't so particular. Hunger ruled the moment, and she was not about to deny herself.

[Henry McDonnaught]

As he entered, Donut neatly side-stepped around a staggering couple who tumbled to the floor in a flurry of grappling arms and legs. He leaned on the bar. Had someone mentioned swagger?

"A pint o'Correlian thanks, mate"

He grinned goodnaturedly, noticed Jamo and Kelly and gave them a greeting nod.

"Who're the lovers?" he asked to noone in particular.

[Sanis Prent]

I saw stars as I pitched to the ground, my head colliding with hers as we fell. I had no idea why she thought it was a good idea. I was giving as good as I was getting on that one, that much had to be true. My bell rung, I just decided to use leverage and pound down on her with a half dozen body shots, at least until I felt alright to stand again.

[Jamo Jakatta]

Though he'd narrowly avoided being dragged down by Carre, that didn't mean Jamo was out of the fight yet. Prent was still on the offence and whether because the guy irked him, or just because it seemed like the most appropriate thing to do in the situation, Joker decided now was a good time to thump the guy one. He jerked Sanis' shoulder up with one hand, whilst the other swung hard for the spacer's head.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

"Hmm..."

Cirr watched as another Rogue pilot finally actively joined in the fight. Now Sanis was outnumbered 2 to 1.

The big felinoid still stood idly by. Not quite enough lopsided odds.

[Kelly Perris]

Kelly had made his way back to the bar, opting for a pint instead of getting involved in a fight that was, for once, not his. Sanis was the dominant, this time. He seemed to even want it, too and Miss Inirial didn't seem adverse to obliging him. He approached the bar, seeing Donut there and grinned.

"About time you showed up." He commented. He heard Henry's question and shrugged, though he knew full-well what was up. He turned halfway to the barkeep and asked for a pint of Corellian, much as Donut had. Receiving the requested beverage in short order after asking, he thanked the barkeep and turned back to the view of the fray, leaning against the bartop.

"Well... blondie there's Sanis Prent and this kind of thing is, well, normal for him. Didn't I tell you about the guy? We got some history, him and I." And then he gestured to the dark-haired beauty beneath the aforementioned Prent. "And that is supposed to be Bailey's replacement. And you know, a pretty lady... I guess Jamo couldn't help himself."

Perris shook his head and laughed, taking a gulp of the ale afterwards, letting out a long breath of refreshment after swallowing.

[Henry McDonnaught]

"Oh, thats Prent?" Donut's interest piqued slightly, as it does when a reputation preceeds the actual individual.

Henry twisted round for a second look, catching just in time to see Jamo swing a haymaker at the object of appraisal's head.

"Doesn't look much from here" he observed with amusement, "especially if Joker can land a punch on him"

He lifted his glass, "The new girl's cute, though."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

She cut a serene figure, striding down the corridor at an even pace, her off-white robes spot-free. She nodded to all she passed, and they to her, but beneath that calm exterior was a stomach waiting to be released.

Brushing a strand of hair back, the Lupine Jedi rounded a corner and caught site of the doors that would lead her into the mess hall.

She smiled to no one in particular as she approached.

[Carré Inirial]

Her ribs were going to despise her in the morning.

No...no, they definitely hurt right now. Breathing hurt, for that matter, as she tried to scramble backwards. Out from underneath Sanis, in the less than delicate conglomeration of limbs that they'd landed in...no, frak no, she wasn't even going there.

Carré made a mental note to thank Jamo at some point for the hand, whether he was intentionally helping her or just after the pilot for his own agenda. Now, either Sanis' hands were getting a bit friendlier or the back of her head had hit the floor harder than she'd originally thought. As Jamo pulled back on Sanis' shoulder, she brought her right knee up hard right where it would hurt the most if he didn't get off of her.

[Sanis Prent]

Jamo lifting me up and delivering a cross at least saved me the trouble of dealing with Carré's low blow, as I was jerked up enough so that she kicked hard at my inside thigh. Still, more than enough to send me off balance, and I tumbled to the floor in a heap, my ears ringing from the shot across my face.

Tasting blood, I reached out along the floor for the closest thing at my disposal, which was an unoccupied chair. I used its leverage to hoist myself up, then upturned it, and brought it around to drop on peoples' heads.

[Saricia Ask'lan]

"Hmm..."

Cirr watched as another Rogue pilot finally actively joined in the fight. Now Sanis was outnumbered 2 to 1.

The big felinoid still stood idly by. Not quite enough lopsided odds.

"No. Swagger is a slang word in basic then?" she asked, eyes narrowed in wonder at Sanis' odds decreasing when another pilot entered the fray. Saricia sensed Cirrsseeto readying to pounce if needed.

But something else had forced eyes away from the fight. The familiar scent of her teacher had invigorated her senses and she looked towards the direction of Lok, but the crowd was far too thick to see her just yet ...

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr looked over about the same time as the Lupine did, and his ears fell slack at the sight of a big glass of petrol getting ready to pour on this open fire. He closed his eyes and sighed deeply as Lok s'Ilancy came in at probably not a good time!

"Jai'carre e' rreessa nai! Now, Sanjis wjill trry to fjight the whole galley forr surre."

Shaking his head, the exasperated felinoid took to examining his claws one by one as he slid them out. He'd gone a whole month without breaking a nail too.

[Jamo Jakatta]

“Frak!”

The word exploded into existence as the chair slammed into Jamo's side, one elbow coming up protectively to deflect the shot from crashing into his head. The collision sent a tremor through his bones like a plucked string, striking just the right – or wrong, depending on your point of view – chord with Jakatta. He sucked in breath through his teeth and threw a jab wild and fast, meaning to catch Prent off guard and take advantage of the time that he had his hands full.

[Carré Inirial]

A chair?

How cliché.

With neither of the two men paying any attention to her, she rolled to the side and flipped neatly to her feet - but not without a grimace of pain shooting across her features. At least it was something she could handle; her brothers used to deal out worse when they were all younger.

She heard the murmurs shooting through the crowd of onlookers and paid them no mind. Being so new to the Wheel, she hadn't the faintest notion of who was approaching the fray.

Instead, she stepped around Jamo and Sanis and with a rough twist tried to wrench the chair out of Sanis' grasp while he was distracted - she had every intention of flipping it around in her hands and hitting him across the back of his knees to knock him down.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

The crowd parted before her, their murmurings falling silent as they watched the Jedi stride forward at a clipped pace towards the fight.

Her once amiable mood now instantly soured, s'Il's features were set in a stern scowl. This was the Wheel, not some spacers brawling den, and fights such as this were unacceptable in her mind.

Two of the combatants she didn't know, but the third... she swore under her breath. Why was she not surprised?

One hand went up to deflect Jamo's strike, her fingers closing around his wrist. Pulling suddenly, she used his own momentum to send him to the ground. Her other hand took a hold of the chair as Carré and Sanis seemed to briefly wrestle for possession, wresting it from the both of them in one clean, powerful motion. It clattered to the deck a short distance away, and very much out of reach.

The Lupine clenched the front of Carré's shirt and held her at bay while shifting her feet to stand between Carré and Sanis.

"Stop this."

Narrowed eyes, one blue and the other a dead white, went to each of the three pilots.

"Now."

[Sanis Prent]

Jamo's jab went full-through my guard, and hit my nose dead on. I felt the pop that I knew would land me in the infirmary. Shit. Well, even the best statues on Coruscant had a few cracks in them. I recovered, just about ready to send the chair across his face when Carré nearly snatched it from my grasp. I wrestled with her with poor leverage for a moment, only to see Lok s'Ilancy, the bitch who put me in this situation to begin with, glide in and piss all over my good time.

I glared at her, wild-eyed and full of adrenaline, bleeding from multiple cuts, including a broken nose and a busted lip. She sure had a lot of gall, didn't she.

"Should've expected to see you drop in just in time to babysit your..."

...I kicked a rising Jamo square in his chest, sending him back down where he'd come from.

"...fucking lifer boyscouts!"

[Carré Inirial]

Carré stood perfectly still, her limited sense of self preservation kicking in as the woman separated them. The fistful of fabric in her fist pulled the rest tight across her ribs and made her wince briefly as she continued to glare at Sanis from where she stood.

There was a palpable aura of power around the woman, that broadcast 'do not fuck with me' in no uncertain terms.

So she waited, instead, fingertips gently tracing her bleeding lip.

[Henry McDonnaught]

Henry sat up straighter as he saw s'Ilancy enter the bar room and signalled hurriedly to the barkeep for another brew. Perris looked round to see what or who had captured Donut's sudden attention.

Hank hadn't remembered Prent at first, but Loklorien was not someone he'd easily forget. He had met them both on Prents intial arrival to the Wheel, along with his Cizerack mechanic - who was probably round here too, now that Henry thought about it, looking around. He could be forgiven for not remembering the cocky pilot - pilots come and go - but not the lovely Jedi, who, he realised, seemed to be always in a grump.

The second beer arrived and Donut grabbed it up, flashing a smile to Kelly beside him. "Bet ya 50 creds she leaves with me"

He stepped over Jamo who was recovering his feet and ducked around Prent to stand before s'Il and a huffing Carre, "Ello Master Loklorien, great to see ya again"
Henry nodded a hello to Inirial and extended the pint towards the glowering Jedi, "Beer?"

[Kelly Perris]

Kelly saw exactly who he was looking to and remembered the Master Jedi well. With Sanis, there inevitably came Loklorien s'Ilancy. No love lost between those to. From his experience, the case was rarely otherwise. He laughed, knowing well enough what s'Il was like when Henry made his proclamation.

"Alright, you're on." He agreed, patting Donut on the back as the man walked away. He sniggered. "The Force be with you."

And what he didn't say was that Donut would lose, terribly, either for not wanting to warn him or the fact that his fellow pilot walked away before he ever got the chance. He just shook his head and settled back against the bar counter, quietly sipping at his ale and continuing to watch everything that went on.

[Jamo Jakatta]

Back on his feet, Jamo's nostrils flared with deep breaths. He couldn't have said whether he hurt more at his back, from being thrown to the ground, or his chest, from the dirty kick Prent had landed. Joker's eyes went quickly to his Commander, who he saw sitting idly by, apparently happy to let the Jedi pull rank on three of his pilots. Squaring up his shoulders, Jakatta looked away and muttered something about frellin' Jedi.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

If Sanis was hoping for a reaction by his words, he got none. s'Il only glared at him, then slowly her gaze swept first to Jamo, then back to Carré. She pulled in a deep breath, carefully releasing her hold on the woman to fold her hands before her. It had not taken long for her to fall once more into her habits of old, from when she had been with the Rebels before her self-imposed exile, and the exterior she now put forth hearkened back to years past. She knew that it was a side of her that Sanis was slowly becoming more aware of, just like this behavior he was now showing was something she was seeing exhibited.

"This is not a pub for barfights," she made sure to look each one in the eye. A strange sight, as she was shorter than all three.

She was no stranger to rising tensions in the field, and knew it best to provide the means for men and women to let off steam - settle differences even should the need arise.

"If you wish to ruffle your feathers in such a fashion then I will see about having a makeshift shockboxing ring set up in the hanger."

A step back, as the Lupine came to stand beside Henry. She placed a hand on his shoulder, an indication that she was not necessarily ignoring him, but rather that she would answer him soon enough.

"Until then, I will politely ask that you all control your tempers."

[Sanis Prent]

"I don't need a shockboxing ring or anything like that. Let's do this the way we do it on the Rim and settle this shit right now."

I looked to Carré, Jamo, the other pilots, then right back to Lok, my face inches from hers. I was tired of her playing mother hen, and I was going back to survival the way I knew how.

"Any of these jealous bumpkin wannabe snub pilot motherfuckers want a shot at me, no line, no wait. It's a cafeteria, so bring your fuckin' plate."

[Henry McDonnaught]

The touch to the shoulder was sweet, but clearly Henry would not get the Jedi's full attention with Prent chirping off in her face.

He held two beer glasses, which was a conundrum - No free hand to hit with.

"Would you mind?" he turned, passing them off to Carre` - who found them in her hands before she could refuse.

Prents lips were still sounding off when Hank's fist tagged him squarely against the jaw.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr sighed as he watched Henry deliver the bell-ringer he knew would come eventually. Sure enough, Sanis switched off with that one, after taking enough abuse, and fell limp against s'Il.

"Che' seerra igaala."

Cirr sighed, shook his head, and detatched himself from the bar and Saricia's comany. Guess he had to finally go defend his troublemaking friend's honor.

He hoisted Henry off his feet with a hand at his throat, and pulled him across the nearest table, knocking over an assortment of drinks in the process.

[Henry McDonnaught]

It was not his shiningest moment, Donut knew that instantly. Table surfing by Cizerack strong-arm was a rather ignoble way to tussle and there was not much to do, but go with it.

Hank heard glasss and bottles upending beneath him, their contents slooshing into his shirt were cold against his skin. Patrons springing out of the path of the forward progress were more a blur than any clear impression but he was sure he saw a lot of grins. He felt his feet bouncing along behind his legs and the humiliation was complete.

"Oh. Cirr," he grunted as the felinoid finally yanked him upright, "there you are. How ya been?"

Henry tried the two arm chop down onto the inside of Cirr's elbows in an attempt to break his grip, but with no success. "Been good?" he asked cheerily and butted his head into the Cizerack's...er...chin. Henry was a good deal shorter than the Cizerack he realised a little too late.

He called to Perris, who was still sitting at the bar - he hoped.

"A...little help maybe..?"

[Carré Inirial]

Shaking her head, she stepped away as Cirr approached, and soon found herself in possession of two beers. Sipping from one, she walked around the fracas and tapped Prent with the other to offer it to him.

"Have a drink first. Then we can continue."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A frown was sent to Carré, and s'Il shifted the unconscious Prent in her arms. He wasn't so heavy to cause her any hardship, thankfully, but his cheek on her shoulder gave rise to a larger irritation - he was getting blood on her clothing.

"Absolutely not," she warned Carré, watching as Henry was taken for a table ride, courtesy of Cirr. A sigh, and she angled her head to look at Sanis' battered, slumbering face on her shoulder.

[Carré Inirial]

Carré couldn't help but shake her head as she noticed that the only reason Prent had shut up was because he'd passed out. On the woman's shoulder. She hoped somebody had a holocam for this - it was truly priceless.

Setting the other beer that Henry had given her down on a nearby table, she took a seat beside it. Sitting down and still reminded her of just how many punches Sanis had landed to her ribs and Carré grimaced, hiding it as she sipped.

[Jamo Jakatta]

Jamo shot the Jedi a look of disbelief, as he gestured angrily towards Cirr.

“Oh, so we can't have a little rumble but it's fine for the cat to man-handle Donut?”

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

There was no indication in her expression that the Lupine had paid any attention to Jamo; rather, it was in the arm she raised, hand flicking back in a quick motion.

And as if jerked back by an invisible leash, Cirr was pulled away from Henry to land roughly on his back, sliding the short distance to where s'Il stood, still holding Sanis. She looked down at him in silence, a stern, disapproving glint in her single eye. It was the first time she'd ever cast such a look to the hulking Cizerack, and in a way it pained her to do so.

"Check yourself, Son" she cautioned evenly.

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Stunned momentarily, Cirr was quick on his feet, stilled only by the Jedi's words. His coiled body relaxed reluctantly under her words, and his switched-back ears slowly swung forward again as he glowered at the ground.

He stared down Jamo, tapped his nose with an outstretched index finger claw, and let the Rogue Squadron pilot know full well he saw what he did, and would remember it.

[Henry McDonnaught]

Hank would have been happy for the help had it come from any other than the one person he was hoping to impress. Having the girl rescue him kinda crimped the dashing image he had wanted to convey.

Still, all was not lost, Prent had finally shutup and Henry was proud of his contribution towards that.

Tossing an acknowledging smirk to Jamo for his help, Donut sidled up beside his team mate and, in a gesture of solidarity, gave a stern scowl to Cirr, "Thats right, Cirr, you do as the lady tells you"

[Kelly Perris]

It was an observation of interest to see how his pilots fared without his intervention. It was true that they lived up to the name of the Rogue, that they were just as good with their fists as their snubfighters, that their appetite for the drink seemed to know no bounds, that their love of women (or men, depending) often made a glaring show of their lack of real ability at diplomacy. As ground troops, they all might have been the 'shoot first, ask questions later' type.

Pilots, after all, were hunters. Predators to the very core and hardly political material. That was alright with him. Politics were a headache.

When Donut looked to him for help, Kelly had just shook his head and waved his hands, laughing, as if to say 'you're on your own'. Just a little lesson - your wingman is supposed to look out for you, but he is not your saviour. A little something that might have said to avoid drawing unnecessary trouble to yourself. Be stealthy.

On the other hand, that sometimes did require a certain subtlety that most pilots didn't seem to have...

[Carré Inirial]

In the few moments of commotion where no one in particular was looking at her, she'd drained both mugs of beer. A distinctly colorful line of cursing left her slightly swollen lips, the lower bloody and worse for wear. It stung something fierce as she absently trailed her tongue over it, the coppery taste of her blood making her stomach turn.

Charming, she mused, this day just cannot get any better.

Carré sighed as she leveraged herself off of the table and returned the now empty mugs to the barkeep. The man arched a brow at her until she flicked a credit chip at him, one hand catching it as the other grabbed up the mugs to be refilled. Emerald eyes wandered as she waited, until they reached the man she'd met earlier. Rather, found herself standing toe to toe with as he made assumptions.

She decided that the stock holo-pics she'd seen back in her days on Carida simply didn't do him any justice.

Fingers accepted the mugs as she offered the barkeep a nod of thanks and took them back to the table she'd been sitting on. She set them down and stepped up to Jamo's other side, her glittering gaze passing briefly over Cirr and Henry. Carré remained silent and observant...for the time being.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

"Ah-tsss," her rebuke was accompanied by a slap at Cirr's hand. There was no need to further provoke anyone, and s'Il shifted Sanis a bit in her hold - which only seemed to spread his blood on more of her robes.

She was sure that at this point, if she scowled for much longer she would give herself a headache.

"You and I will talk later," she spoke in a low tone to the Cizerack.

"But first, please do me a kindness and take Sanis to the infirmary."

Her features softened. "Please."

[Cirrsseeto Quez]

Cirr looked to s'Il and then to Sanis's unconscious body she was keeping propped up.

"Alrrjight."

He hoisted Sanis over his shoulder unceremoniously, giving Jamo a stare-down before turning back to the Jedi. He opened his mouth to say something, promptly closed it, and walked away, his dour mood telegraphed in both his ears and tail.

[Jamo Jakatta]

He watched the Cizerack go, glare near enough boring a whole into the back of Cirr's head.

“Yeah,” he said, nodding to himself as if he was responsible for the big cat's exit.

With a hard sniff, Jamo turned to Donut. His expression remained severe for a moment, before a grin cracked his lips and he held one hand up for a high-five.

[Henry McDonnaught]

Hank responded in kind and with a broad grin, whacked Jamo's palm with his own.

"Nice moves on Prent back there" he congratulated, "Nothing like a girl at all. I dont know what Perris was talking about"

[Carré Inirial]

The urge to smack them both upside the head was strong.

Jamo for getting involved and pulling her back at the wrong moment, and Henry for...well, in that moment, existing.

"If he'd hit like a girl, we'd have been done sooner." Carré said quietly with a roll of her emerald eyes. Aiming to cross her arms over her chest as she walked away, she settled for grimacing at the pain shooting through her side. Hands fell to hook into her belt, where they had the least amount of impact on her now aching ribs.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Relieved of Sanis' weight, s'Il looked at her shoulder and its' new blood splatter. Mixed with spit. And drool. She heaved a sigh, looked away, and lifted a hand to massage her temple.

No longer hungry, the Lupine forlornly lowered herself into the nearest seat.

[Ben Merasska]

Ben poked his head up over the edge of the table the Jedi-lady with one eye was sitting at.

“Is it safe now?” he asked, his eyes flitting back and forth in search of danger. Most of his body was still hidden underneath the table. He caught sight of s’Ilancy, and smiled; though she looked intimidating, she wasn’t all that scary.

“You’ve got blood on you,” Ben said, trying to be helpful.

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

His observation was met with a kind smile, and s'Il shifted in her seat so that she faced him more fully.

"Sadly," she chuckled lightly.

A hand went up to unsuccessfully wipe away the blood on her shoulder.

Her efforts wasted, the Lupine gave up and rested her elbows on the table.

"It's safe enough to come out now I think."

[Ben Merasska]

Ben nodded, moving out from underneath the table and standing. He dusted his hands off, and sat down, sighing in relief.

“Thanks for stopping all that. It was pretty scary. I’m not much for excitement anymore.”

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

Her smile continued as she watched him.

"Oh, I would consider it more an annoyance than anything else."

Strange, how she wasn't truly angry at what had just happened, simply more frustrated at having lost her appetite.

Her fingers wove together, and she said nothing for a few more moments - almost lost in a distant thought - before dipping her head.

"Apologies; I am Loklorien s'Ilancy. And you are... ?"

[Carré Inirial]

I need another drink.

Carré turned, emerald eyes passing over the two pilots and lingering on the woman - Loklorien s'Ilancy, she'd said - before she found a small smile for Ben. She made her way over to the bar and hopped up onto one of the stools this time, and passed another tiny cred-chip over to the bartender.

"Can you make me a Borealis, please?"

"Single or double?"

Carré rested her chin in her hand and winced as her ribs ached something awful. "A double, thank you."

[Ben Merasska]

Ben grinned widely.

"Ben Merasska. Nice to meetcha."

He brought his hand up to shake hers in greeting.

"Annoyance, eh? Well, you're tougher than I am then. They all seem to listen to you. You must be important."

[Loklorien s'Ilancy]

A cryptic grin of her own, and the Lupine looked away briefly, at the woman who'd wandered her way to the bar for no doubt more drink. The way she walked, it was apparent that Sanis had done a bit of a number on her ribs, and s'Il gave an inward wince.

"Oh, no one of consequence," she answered finally, her voice airy, almost wistful.

Her broken gaze once more returning to Ben, she allowed her body to relax, her arms resting on the table.

"So then, Mr. Merasska. What is it you do?"

Surely he wasn't a pilot in Rogue Squadron...

[Henry McDonnaught]

Henry turned his head, following Carre`s retreating form with an appreciative eye, but then his line of sight crossed to s'Ilancy and...who was that schmoe she was now talking to?

He turned to ask Jamo, but decided a drink was much needed instead. Donut, distractedly, took a seat at the bar all the while scowling darkly across at Ben as he did so.

"They just let anyone in here now, do they?" he asked Carre`.

[Carré Inirial]

Carré smiled at the bartender by way of thanks, fingers lifting the glowing blue concoction to her lips. A sip was followed by a soft sigh of satisfaction - it had been made perfectly, both sweet and tart all at once. Another sip followed that one, and by the time Henry sat beside her, half the drink was gone.

Arching a brow at his words, she glanced back over her shoulder to Ben and shook her head. "Actually, yes...including recent Imperial pilots like me." She smiled and motioned to the bartender to fetch the man a drink.

"We haven't met. I'm Carré...and you are?"

[Henry McDonnaught]

"Im Henry, Donut to my friends" he said geniallly. He accepted the beer with a nod. "So, former Imp pilot, eh?" he tipped his bottle in the direction of the colourful drink, observing, "still haven't broken the habit of drinking like a nancy Imperial though, I see. We'll have to straighten you out on that one, wont we"

His words, along with a gleam in his eye, held a friendly challenge.

[Carré Inirial]

Oohh...a challenge. Equally as intriguing as her first fight.

Downing the rest of her drink, Carré set the glass on the bartop and turned in her seat slightly. A friendly grin curled her lips, and answer to his, in spite of the ache in her jaw. She motioned the bartender over and flipped a second credit chip over to the man.

"Apparently he's decided I need straightening out, and I've never backed down from a challenge...so Henry, where should my re-education start?"

[Henry McDonnaught]

The barman met Henry's eyes and the pair of them exhcanged twin rueful shakes of their heads. Too easy.

"Carre' luv, it wouldn't be right for me to take advantage of you since you've already downed the two beers that belonged to me (I did notice, yes), one of those puff drinks and who knows what else. Maybe you should pace yourself, work up to it, like before taking me on"

Both men were looking at her and doing a poor job of hiding their amusement.

"Why dont you come back when you've built up to things a bit?"

[Carré Inirial]

Carré arched a brow and toyed with her empty glass, turning back to contemplate it. A fingertip swept across the rim, catching a lingering drop and a bit of the sugar that was left. Licking it away, she tilted her head briefly to regard the matching smirks being cast at her.

"Its adorable that you think you'd be a challenge." she said evenly, her Alderaanian accent more prominent than usual. Managing to mostly stifle her wince, she gingerly pressed a hand against her ribs. She'd really need to have them looked at before too long...she felt as if she'd been dropped off the side of cliff.

Fingers reached out to take back her credit chip as she slid off of her barstool.

[Henry McDonnaught]

Henry got quickly to his feet, the manner in which Carre' favored her side suddenly registering with him, chasing the grin from his face.

"Hey, are you hurt bad?"

[Carré Inirial]

"Actually, I've had worse. Six brothers and the Empire saw to that."

Carré replied honestly, tucking the credit chip into her pocket once more. A smile crossed her lips as she shrugged slightly, her left arm held close to her side. "Sanis packs a solid punch though, and I think I've got a cracked rib amidst the bruised ones."

[Henry McDonnaught]

"Well, lets get you checked out shall we?" Henry moved a chair out of the way, obviously set on assisting her to med-bay.

"Six brothers, that explains the attitude" he said with a warm grin.

[Carré Inirial]

"Thanks." Carré replied, gratefully accepting his assistance. She had a two-fold reason, really, one, she didn't think she could make it all the way to the med-bay on her own, and two, in this state, she wasn't even sure she remembered where it was supposed to be.

Her pride was already shot to hell for the evening...this wasn't going to make it any worse.

She uttered a short laugh at his next comment and nodded, a grin curling her lips. "It really does, doesn't it? My mother gave up early on, trying to make me a lady."

[Henry McDonnaught]

"Oh, I wouldn't go as far to say that" Henry said with sincerity, "There's more to bein a lady than a girl who has fainting spells and needs smelling salts y'know. Besides, good manners and primness are useless in life and death situations right? Better a girl who can handle herself, I always say. Um..this way I think" he steered Carre' out of the bar and to the right down the corridor. "I been to med-bay a few times myself, get a bit clumsy with the laser torch from time to time"

She shuffled along beside him, it took effort to talk he realised, so prattled on himself, "This Wheel gig is a strange one eh? I find myself feelin all revved up with no where to go. You?"