Chapter 1: Baptism By Fire

[Rogue 4]

"A sentiment shared." Nat smiled. Certainly it was nice to have another of his species in the squadron. "Enjoy the downtime. Let me know how your quest for caf turns out."

Edited June 20, 2007 by Rogue

[Princess 35]

"Will do Sir." Nima turned and walked out of the sim room and headed towards the cafeteria. After a couple of wrong turns, she found it and grabbed a cup of caf. She held the cup in both hands savoring the warmth and inhaling the scent of it. Looking round the room she saw Arlan and Layla sitting at a table and so she walked over to them. "Is this seat taken?" she asked while gesturing to an empty seat at the table.

[Rogue 4]

"No please, join us." Layla favored her with a smile. "Tak's joining us in a moment, he just went to grab some food."

She extended a hand. "I'm Layla Nasrin. And this is Arlan Vaar."

Edited June 20, 2007 by Rogue

[Princess 35]

Nima shook Layla's hand and sat down. "Nice to meet you Layla. Hi Arlan. I'm Nima Secura."

Edited June 20, 2007 by Princess

[Rogue 4]

"Oh, you're our medic aren't you?" Layla asked, in a bubbly mood. "Very nice. See, I'd never have the patience to get through medical school."

[Princess 35]

Nima smiled and sipped her caf. The smile quickly disappeared when she tasted the stuff and she barely refrained herself from spitting it across the table. She swallowed. "Dr Nima Secura of Coruscant Med. I decided to join the military after graduating from med school. And the best part was, they repaid the student loans for me. Was that ever a relief, I'll tell you. Now, if only I can figure out how to cure this awful caf."

[Rogue 4]

Layla leaned over, staring at the caf. "Yeah, it does have a sour disposition doesn't it?"

She looked back up at Nima. "Well, I'm certainly not a doctor, but I'd say it's beyond help." she laughed. "So how do you like it here so far, Nima?"

[Princess 35]

"I like it. I've just got to be used to being around all these people. It's rather different than being on a hospital ship and having your own office. There's so many new people to learn to trust."

[Rogue 4]

"Yeah." Layla grinned, choosing to ignore the trust comment altogether. "You'll be on the front lines here.''

[Princess 35]

"Yeah, but hopefully I won't have to do too much patching together of you guys. I'm trusting you to make my job easier in that respect." Nima smiled and leaned back in her chair.

[Rogue 4]

"Believe me when I say I have no desire to spend any time in a bacta tank." Layla remarked with a grin, only to have that grin fade away a moment later at the memory of the last time she'd spent in a bacta tank....

She felt like she was choking. The smoke billowed around her, stealing away her lifebreath, stinging her eyes, and filling her with an overwhelming sense of despair. All she could see around her was the fire---and before she knew it, she felt that too....

She coughed involuntarily, raising a hand to cover her mouth. "Sorry..." She said, composing herself, a chill running down her spine. "Zoned out there for a minute."

[Drake 53]

Takeshi made his way over to where Layla was sitting with two of their squadmates with a tray of food in each hand. His memory flashed back to when he read their profiles. The human was Arlan Vaar , droid programmer. The Twi'lek was Nima Secura, squad medic.

He smiled as he approached. "May I join you?"

[Rogue 4]

"No." Layla shook her head, her red hair moving lightly with the motion. She gestured over her shoulder at a beasty figure cleaning tables. "We were saving that seat for the Gammorean."

She smirked, jokingly up at him.

[Mara 29]

As he was speeding away from the facility, looking for cover, Kaden noticed that the comm had gone quiet. He checked the settings. Still on the whole squadron frequency from earlier. He guessed that perhaps he was taking too long and everyone had had their interviews already. Well, then, he'd just have to hurry up and complete this. Or just die. Whichever came first.

He blandly stared at the boring landscape as he was flying by and decided he didn't want to run anymore. It'd be better to just get vaped while trying to take out the TIE than letting the TIE come up and get him from behind.

Kaden pulled on his stick and took his fighter skyward, towards open space. At least he would be a bit more maneuverable up there. Not too much because of his power loss and those two superficial hits, but better than being on planet.

He realized he didn't even check to see if the torpedo hit the TIE. Glancing down at his display, he found it hadn't. The TIE was still around and closing on him.

As his X-wing shot out of the moon's atmosphere, he noticed the TIE was only half a klick behind him. He banked away, slowly arcing his fighter around to face the other pilot and opened up his lasers on it, hoping for the best.

[Drake 53]

Takeshi gave the Gamorrean a good once over. "Well, he certainly seems like a kind and intelligent man. And would you just look at that rippling stomach. No seriously...it won't stop jiggling. Why have a six-pack when you can have a keg?" He laughed and sat down.

To Nima and Arlan he said, "Nice to meet you both. I am Takeshi Beskar, your thirteenth pilot. Don't ask me why they need a thirteenth, it's a long story and I'm sure the captain will tell you all in due time."

He passed one of the trays of food to Layla. "Not much of a selection I'm afraid. Certainly nothing to tickle those hightened Zeltron tastebuds. We got some sad-looking rhyscate, some sadder-looking bean paste and some curious-looking Ko'lunea pastries that are either over-done, under-done or dropped on the floor."

[Rogue 4]

Layla looked at the food in disdain. "If I wasn't nostalgic for my leave back on Coruscant, then I am now."

She poked the rhyscate with a fork, only to have it recoil as it met a stale cake. She leaned down to examine it more closely. "I bet they didn't even use Corellian whiskey to make this....probably some garbage liquor imported from Tatooine." she groaned at the thought.

[Drake 53]

Tak smeared some of the bean paste onto the rhyscate and took a bite. He stopped in mid-chew, a look of disgust passing briefly over his face before he swallowed. It looked as if he were swallowing sandpaper. "Smooth..." he croaked.

[Rogue 4]

Layla's eyes widened in concern at his expression, and she almost pushed the tray away. "It's official, I'm stockpiling food the next time we go to a civilized world."

She scooped up some food, lifting the fork to her mouth. "Ugh..." she groaned. "I agree with Jya Orson, this chef needs to die."

[Drake 53]

"They save the best cooks for the flagships. Maybe our first mission should be to go and abduct one."

Tak took a drink of some oddly-coloured drink that may have been fruit juice or some creature's bodily fluids. A surprised look came across his face. "Juice tastes pretty good...whatever it is. Nobody tell me, I'll enjoy it better not knowing."

[Princess 35]

"I know about 30 ways to kill a person that don't leave a mark." Nima stated wth a wicked smile. "Maybe if our chef has an 'accidental' death then we can get a better one. I gotta find out if that little droid can tinker with the settings on the caf maker to make something that doesn't taste like fighter fuel. Who knows, maybe this stuff is fighter fuel though."

[Rogue 4]

"I wouldn't be surprised. I'll distract them, you get the droid hooked in. " Layla winked at her, then looked over to Tak. "That smells like Juri juice. You know...they use a lot of different flavors in that, one of them being Rodian's blood."

[Drake 53]

Takeshi sniffed his drink curiously then downed the rest in a gulp. "Well, at least it's not Ewok blood. That stuff gives me heartburn."

He noted the other three and their looks that suggested he just stepped on a tumblebunny. "Whaaat? I thought that 'Blended Ewok' was just a funny name like 'Jawa Juice' or something."

[Princess 35]

Nima signalled to the little droid. He rolled over to the table and beeped enquiringly.

'Hi there buddy. How would you like a chance get even with that cook back there?"

The droid rocked back and forth excitedly. "Well, here's the deal. We want some real caf, not this stuff that I think is fighter fuel. Come by my quarters later and I'll give you some settings to adjust the percolator to and give some real caf to drink. I've got all kinds of recipies in my datapad. Stuff that'll make you the most popular droid on base. And we're gonna try to find you a new chef to work with. How does that sound?"

[Rogue 4]

Layla groaned at his horrible joke, taking a bite of her food and frowning in distaste.

When she looked up from her food she noticed a few people at another table eyeing them curiously. "I wonder what the hell they're looking at..." She raised an eyebrow. "Don't look now, but there's some Red Suadron members giving us the once over at Tak's six-o-clock."

[Princess 35]

"Should we give them a show Layla? I've got some good moves." Nima had a wicked grin and the look in her eyes had changed some, like she was reliving a part of her past.

The room was dark and there was a bright light shining on her as she danced. She moved in time to the senuous music, knowing that she had to perform well. Comfort for the night and not a punishment depended on how well she performed. And she needed to do well because she had to take care of some of her sisters who were injured. They needed and depended on her.