| abstract | - The sun shines brightly and a few pink clouds crawl across the sky as Rebecca strolls from the barracks to the tarmac. The Squadron's X-Wings are lined up in a line and she walks down the line to the ninth one. A few techies are working on a few of the ships and look her way as she passes. There's no tech around her craft as she walks up to the sleek fighter, as she took over working on it. She just simply can't trust anyone else to do it. She walks down along side the fuselage running her fingers along the smooth hull. Fully enjoying the sleek lines of the snub-fighter. A yellow ladder stands ready to carry up to the cockpit but she passes it by as she continues to walk around the fighter, giving it a visual inspection. The sounds of footsteps approaching from down the tarmac can be heard, followed by the familiar servomotors of an Astromech droid. Second Lieutenant L'ygr is stepping down the row with a datapad in hand with a slightly bitter scowl on his face. Shaking his head as he taps out some settings, he stops near Rebecca's X-Wing without thinking, and taps over the screen a few more times. "No...no...this is all wrong. Great...paperwork time..." ebecca steps around the nose of the craft and stands before the Lieutenant, having completed her visual inspection. She continues to look at the fighter mesmerized by it's subtle lines. "Paperwork, huh? The dirty P word..." A wry grin starts to form on her lips. "Almost like the dreaded W word." Her hands still kind of caress the nose of the fighter, then she looks at the Lieutenant for the first time. She notices his sour look. "Aww, it can't be that bad." Her eyes start to twinkle with mischievous delight. "I think I know what might cheer you up." "Oh I've had lots of ideas given on ways to cheer me up today, believe you me..." Raxis replies, turning to her to offer a polite salute. "Cadet Varn." He addresses her as he shuts the datapad off. Looking over the fighter, he nods for a few moments and looks to her. "Okay I'll bite. One. What is the "W" word, and two...what's your idea?" She giggles as she glances at the Lieutenant sideways. "You know, work. The dreaded four letter word." She looks back to the snub-fighter. "And my idea..." She says at length. "Is taking this baby up and putting her through her paces." She looks more fully at the Lieutenant. "Flying always, cheers me up...." She giggles once more. "So, you game?" "Yeah...let's do it." Raxis replies, turning to head to the barracks to change. "You stay right there and I'll take you up for training." Raxis calls out. Vee-Ten moves over to Ghost 3 and is loaded in while Raxis disappears into the locker room. A few minutes later, Raxis emerges in his familiar orange flight suit. Climbing the ladder, he loads himself in. "Meet me at -1000 times three..." Rebecca salutes and says "Aye, aye, sir. The last one up is bantha fodder." While Raxis rushes off to change, she darts around the X-Wing and climbs up into the cockpit and rushes through the preflight check. Just as Raxis emerges from the barracks her X-Wing hovers above the tarmac by a few meters then rockets off towards space and the rendezvous coordinates. Arriving at his destination slightly before Rebecca, Raxis switches to a private frequency for their training, while keeping one ear...namely Vee-Ten on local military channels. Cracking his knuckles, he looks over to Ghost 9 and dips his wing slightly to the right in a wave. Opening the comms. "Check, Radio check, Did you get the radio working, Sparky?" Flying through the atmosphere of Ord Mantell Rebecca curses herself as she looks at the thruster emissions of Ghost 3. Then she hears his voice come over the com and she thinks of some horrible names to call him. "Read you five by five, Three. Though I don't know how you beat me up here, I thought I had the win in the bag." She flies the X-Wing up next to the starboard wing of the Lieutenant's X-Wing. The coordinates scroll down to the rendezvous point and she rolls over the lieutenant's X-Wing to the port side. The shields flicker green on both ships as Ghost 9 slides over the top and settles on the port wing. "Good luck, sir." Spelling it with a C and a U once more. Then banks away from Ghost 3 100 clicks distant from the established training coordinates. "Allright, Cadet let's turn this up a notch. You wanted a shot at me we'll see how good you are. I read more into your jacket and saw you already passed flight school so maybe we can look into seeing whether or not you qualify. Select train setting B. Shield hits painted first to 5 wins." Raxis replies, kicking Ghost 3 out a bit and then turning to face Ghost 9, to start a duel. Altering his blaster settings, he taps his knuckles against his helmet twice for good luck. Muttering, not realizing the comm is still on, he comments to himself. "I lose this one I'm gonna have to take them up on that stripper offer, Vee..." He adds before rocketing in and starting the duel. Laughter erupts over the com as Ghost 9 rockets towards the opposing X-Wing, having already set the weapons to training mode during her skirmish against the Fossil Lt. Colonel Ridge Archilles. She thumbs the shield selector to double front just before the reticule glows red and she sends out a cycling burst of red laser fire. "Great just great..." Raxis grumbles in response to the laughter as he barrel rolls and dips underneath the blasterfire. Righting himself he approaches her ship from the front, yet slightly beneath and returns fire as the two prepare to pass eachother. Rebecca inverts her fighter and and dives out of the way as a flurry of shots go sailing by. After the two X-Wings pass, she inverts the fighter and climbs after Ghost 3. She thumbs over to torpedoes and settles the brackets over the fleeing X-Wing hoping to send the droid into a fit and distract the pilot. She keeps bouncing the brackets over the fighter then at the last second switches back over to lasers and opens fire. "Not today, sister..." Raxis says under his breath as he rolls the ship to be inverted and pulls back hard on the stick to perform an inverted climb. When his nose reaches a 90 degree angle, he cuts his thrusters and spins, and then reingages the thrusters to perform a rolling dive. His signature move ends with an immelman turn to bank hard towards his target. Getting a bead on the tail end of her X-wing in mid turn, he opens fire. Snapping the shield selector double rear just before the fighter completes it's impressive maneuver and shots are fired. The laser blasts impact the shield and drains some of it's strength. She snaps the thrusters off then pulls up sharply on the stick and loops the X-Wing into an extremely tight loop. Rebecca winces as the G-Forces start to overwhelm the inertial compensator as Ghost 3 shoots past. Pulling out of the loop Rebecca throttles back up to attack speed and hurtles more shots toward the Lieutenants ship. Cutting his thrusters in the face of the attack, Raxis rolls his ship to deftly avoid the fire and begins a slide. Turning to see the approaching Ghost 3, Raxis opens fire and reignites his thrusters at the same time to harass her, firing the shots he pulls up and to port, to rush them past eachother again. That cursed thought about the Lieutenant becoming a stripper sneaks up on Rebecca and laughter rolls over the com once more as laser hits the aft shield and it collapses. Sparks erupt in the cockpit and fills up with a bit of smoke. "Sithspit." Rebecca swears as she tries to swipe some of the smoke from her face. "Nice shooting, sir. Though it wasn't a fair victory. Joking about becoming a stripper and totally distracting me." Emotion is hard pressed to get through over the New Republic standard issue com equipment, but her pouting tone comes over loud and clear. She flips the switch to reengage the shields and the fail to respond. She shunts some of her weapon power into recharging the shields a bit faster and waits a few moments. She loops the fighter around and sidles up onto the port wing of Ghost 3 for the flight back to Ord Mantell. Changing his settings back with a few switches flipped and the rest controlled by Vee-Ten, Raxis regards Rebecca with a glance from his cockpit. "You know...I can't believe I hadn't shut off the comm..." He adds with a sigh, shaking his head. "It's been a really, really strange week. Off the record." Rebecca glances over to the other fighter. "That doesn't excuse that underhanded tactic, Lieutenant." Her tone almost sounding like she's the higher rank for a moment. "Good news is, you won't have to worry bout stripping for money, now." She giggles and it carries over the com, so despite her tone she's not angry. The planet looms in the view screen and she flips the switch to return the S-Foils back to cruise position. "See you, ground side, Lieutenant." The X-Wing splits off to make it's entry vector into the planets atmosphere. Rebecca settles her X-Wing onto the tarmac a little wobbly than she normally would as the thought of Raxis stripping sends her into fits of laughter. The canopy pops slowly open and Rebecca leaps from the fighter before the techs can move the yellow ladder into place. When she lands her legs wobble and she almost tumbles to the tarmac, her legs weak from laughing so hard. She leaves her helmet in the cockpit and undoes the top of her flightsuit and ties the arms securely around her waist and she walks unsteadily over to where Ghost 3 will land and waits for the senior officer to arrive. Landing, Raxis' canopy opens as well as technicians hustle to remove his astromech as well as provide him with a ladder. A strange look in his eye passes as he seems to be preoccupied more than his usual self. Pulling off his harnesses, he removes his helmet and begins to lower himself down the ladder. Dropping to the tarmac with a grunt, he turns to face the cadet and provides her with a nod. "Cadet Varn..." he pauses, choosing his words. "...this was a good training mission. Not to upset you, but I want you to remember how badly you were beaten today..." He continues, lips grimmacing at his choice of words. "...be it luck or just a bad draw...there's always going to be someone up there that can do that to you for real." Rebecca sets upon the Lieutenant a steely glare, but softens it a bit as she nods solemnly "I know, sir. It's not the first time I've lost a dogfight, and my father said the same thing just before I joined the Academy on Corellia." Her eyes mist over a little as the memory flashes through her mind. "Still an underhanded thing to do, just to win. I won't take any excuses about it." She looks off toward the barracks and the pilot's lounge. "C'mon, I read somewhere that it's customary for the loser to by the winner a drink." She turns on her heal and starts walking toward the lounge. Nodding softly, Raxis pads after her. "Let me go get cleaned up first. I know of a good place in town we can go. We're off duty now anyway..." Raxis replies, padding past her towards the barracks. As he walks past her, he mutters under his breath. "I need to get off of the base for a bit." Showering and changing quickly he rushes out and calls for a transport to take them into town. Night having already fallen, the cantina is a rush of customers enjoying themselves after a hard days work. Raxis, having said little since leaving the base, maneuvers through the crowd until he finds a slightly secluded corner table that is empty. Recently cleaned off the glint of being recently wiped clean reflects light from the dim lamp above the table. Sliding into his side of the rounded bench style seating, a Rodian female walks up to take their order. Looking to Rebecca, he glances back to the server. "I'll have a beer, house draft..." He motions to Rebecca to order. Rebecca looking around the Cantina is noticeably distracted until she realizes there's someone waiting for her to speak. She looks up to the Rodian and says. "Whyren's Reserve if you have it, if not, any other Corellian whiskey will do." She then looks around once more and sees some types that could cause some trouble under the right circumstance and wishes she had brought her service blaster, but no use ruminating about now. "Nice place." She says to the Lieutenant as she glances over to him, while the Rodian scurries off to fill the order. "Ah it's a little rough and tumble but it's good for the ball games on TV. It's where Lance and I come." Raxis replies, turning to regard her quietly. Watching for a long moment, he finally decides to speak. "I...don't want you to think that I was going hard on you up there. To be honest there's something I learned in service that I haven't quite decided whether or not it'll scare off some of the cadets if I talk about it." He smiles and looks up in time to see their drinks placed before them. Pausing, he looks back up to her. "How have you liked your training so far?" Rebecca hands the Rodian some credits for the drinks, and had developed the habit early in the academy while performing stake outs, you never wanted to be stuck paying the bill when your mark suddenly leaves. She looks over at the Lieutenant with a wry grin. "I'm a big girl, Lieutenant. There's not much that can scare me off. As for training." She pauses to collect her thoughts. "I love challenges, but it's very similar to what I went through in the Academy." She reaches down and picks up her glass and takes a sip, then nods approvingly as the amber liquid sends liquid fire down her throat. Nodding to that, Raxis quiets and takes a sip of his beer, seemingly still distracted. Scratching his eyebrow after he sets his beer down he nods quietly to her. "Do me a favor, Rebecca. Someday you're going to come to a point when you have to decide whether the smart thing to do is run or fight. Take my advice. If you have doubts that you can fight and win, and have a duty to get back home? Do it...you may hate it, but do it." Rebecca looks at the Lieutenant curiously. "I know how to follow orders, sir." Spelling it with a C and a U again. "If I get the order to bug out I will, no questions asked. Even if we're winning the battle." She takes a sip of her whisky again and places her other hand around the glass and rubs it back forth, swilling the amber liquid. "Even without the heads up, I would still follow the orders...after all. I don't have to like it, I just have to do it." Nodding into his beer, Raxis sighs and takes another swig. "You know...on one hand I have to remember that the last thing I should do is show you a familiar office with human emotions..." He says with a silent laugh. "...if I ever saw any of my instructors having an issue with something I would have lost confidence, but I can't help but be a little gruff about the issue." He turns to her, looking her square in the eye. "Do you know Flight Officer Corbet?" Rebecca's eyes shift to a spot just over the Lieutenant's shoulder. After a few moments she shakes her head. "I don't believe I've had the pleasure." She reaches over with her right hand and scratches her arm over the tattoo of the skull. Watching her, Raxis motions with his hand as if he's raking his fingers over his face. "Flight Officer Corbet is easy to recognize really...he's covered head to toe in scars." He gives a weak smile. "I guess it all ties into the stripper thing. See...we were here the other night. A girl, possibly an old flame of his, came up to him and was shocked to see all of his scars. Turns out this girl is an entertainer and was trying later to get me to agree to audition for her and her crew as a male stripper..." He huffs, taking a sipp of his beer. "Anyway...to make a long story short. Officer Corbet and his wingman were on patrol in deep space. They were ambushed by a Mark-2 TIE. The TIE made short work of Corbet, and began to duel with his wingman. Since they were on patrol, there was possible intel so one of them had to make it back. Well...the wingman fought the best he could and nearly disabled the TIE...but the wingman's sublight drives were failing. He had no choice but to jump." Looking away from her for a moment, Raxis takes a sip from his beer. "So he got captured. Hasn't been the same since." Rebecca looks at the Lieutenant. Then she decides not to ask the question forming on her mind and let's the Lieutenant explain in his own time, instead she takes a sip from her glass and looks around the cantina once more taking note of the new people who have entered and left. Noticing her attention distract, Raxis shakes his head and waves away the thought. Taking another drink from his beer, he leans back in his seat a little. "Well...at least we got him back." He mutters under his breath, folding his arms across his chest to watch the patrons enter and exit the bar. Gene makes his way in, alone, but not really, he is followed soon after by Comdore. A glance about the cantena, he notices the one he was supposed to meet for drinks, but seems that person is busy at the moment. He shrugs and heads for the bar, and places an order for Corillian rum. "I can pay for it, fill that glass boy." he says to the tender. Digging for a handfull of credits for it. Rebecca nearly chokes on her whisky as she recognizes Gene as he walks into the Cantina followed by another fellow. She catches Gene's eye and waves him over. She glances over to the Lieutenant, and explains. "I met Lieutenant Malentean earlier and he offered to buy me a drink, though I had no idea he'd show up now, of all times." She shrugs in apology for not finishing the conversation. "We can talk later, though." She smiles warmly. "Ask me about it sometime...if you want. It's not your job to listen to what I have to say when we're off duty." He smiles softly, glancing over to her for a moment. "But for what it's worth? Thanks..." He nods to her politely, downing the last of his beer to look over at Gene and his shadow. "Oh a Marine Officer..." He jokes quietly, "...buying you a drink no less? Smart girl...big strong guy with less brains than a typical Naval type?" He teases, his frowning eyes fading from view. Gene notices the wave and nods, smiling at her. "That I did, and what would you like? I'll get it and then I'll be right there" he calls over, "Actually, here, for the bottle." he's off duty tonight, he's good to go, for now. "And whatever the lady would like." digging out more credits to pay for the bottle, and her drink. Comdore glances over at Gene, unable to help but hear the conversation somewhat and he looks the man over with interest, the former imperial taking a seat at the bar and hums "... martini. What kind? errr... any kind." he waves it off. Rebecca glares at Raxis. "He's not a total Marine, from what I hear he used to be a Ghost. But for some reason I haven't found out yet, he up and transferred." She hears his answer and nods in his direction then gives a slight wave. She finishes her whisky as the Rodian server shows up with another drink. "Compliments of the gentleman at the bar, ma'am." The Rodian buzzes in heavily accented Basic. Rebecca smiles as she sneaks a glance at Gene. Then shifts her gaze back to the Lieutenant..."Never judge a Marine by his uniform..." She giggles as she takes a sip of her new drink and starts to feel the effects of the alcohol. "Well I could be a rude officer and remind you of your duties in the morning," Raxis smiles softly and starts to rise from the table. Looking over at Gene for a moment, he glances back to Rebecca. "Big strong marines like that walking around town in uniform might make me actually have to take up stripping to meet girls around here." Smiling, he gives her a curt nod and does another glance back and forth from Gene to Rebecca. "Have a nice evening, Sparky. I mean that." He finishes, turning to leave the table. Gene gathers up the bottle nodding to Comdore, "Hey man, you can join us as well, if you like." he then carries it all over to the table. He offers Raxis a polite nod, they are equal in rank, so no need for formalities. "Evening" he mutters to the man, and settles into a seat at the table.. "I didn't mean to interrupt, you can stay, if you'd like." Looking startled, the thin man slides out of his seat, making his way over. Hands deep in his pockets he smiles a little, saying nothing yet as he takes a seat indeed. Rebecca salutes and giggles "I promise to be on my best behavior, sir. I get buzzed easily but never suffer from hangovers." Her eyes pick up the movement as Gene starts to head over to the table. "See you back at the base, Lieutenant." She says as Gene approaches the table. "Hey, Lieutenant." Addressing Gene the same way she does Raxis. She takes another sip of whiskey. "No no no..." Raxis replies to Gene as they begin to pass eachother at the table. "It's allright Lieutenant, I was just leaving as it was. They wake us StarOps officers up earlier the higher we go in rank." He smiles, looking to all of them. "You guys have a good night."
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