Chapter 1: Baptism By Fire

[Princess 35]

She put a hand on his shoulder. "You're welcome. Judging by your wounds, we're going to try 48 hours in the tank and then bring you out and reevaluate. Hopefully that'll do it." She reached up and grabbed him a breath mask to fit over his head. "Whenever you're ready, into the tank."

[Rogue 4]

He nodded, secretly despising the idea of two days in a bacta tank. He did like the idea of the hole in his leg even less though.

"The sooner I'm in, the sooner I'll be out, right?" he asked her. "Might as well get this over with then. Get some of it out of the way before they move me to a tank groundside. I'm sure they'll have techs all over this ship when we get to Coruscant."

[Drake 53]

Takeshi smirked at the mixed reactions around the bridge. A few of the other Revenants were fingering their blasters, warily. He laughed hard as the false image of Captain Brax walked down the middle of the bridge with a very feminine sway to his hips.

When Brax finally stopped before Aeric and Tak, 'he' said, "What are you laughing at, Rebel scum!? I should vent you out an airlock! Or maybe I'll eat you for lunch!"

Tak laughed again and reached through the Captain's large holographic belly to pinch Layla's. "Yeah. We wouldn't wan't you to get too lean, now."

[Ender 8]

Jaim walked back onto the bridge just after Layla arrived, pulling off his work gloves and sticking them behind his belt. He noted her stride.

"So I take it the dear Captain was a bit of a... shall we say... ladies' man?" he asked.

[Rogue 4]

"Well if you like a little meat on your women, better look elsewhere. I'm all muscle babe." The words sounded strange coming from the masculine voice of Brax. She rubbed at her stomach, a hurt expression coming across her face.

"As you can see, our esteemed Imperial Captain Bruttex Brax recorded most of his conversations. I saw a few with the corpulant Warlord Zsinj among them. Most of the log is encrypted farther than my skills, but I'm sure Aston could make quick use of them. I transferred them to the datapad here for convenience." She handed Aeric the datapad.

"I also transfered the data to my holographic image disguiser, if you haven't already figured that out. We could probably use it to call the rest of Buddy-boy's mock-fleet and lure them into a trap. All the contact protocols are also on that Datapad I handed you Captain."

She turned to Jaim with a grin and a wink. "Care to find out hun?"

Edited August 7, 2007 by Rogue

[Chickenman 9]

"Sir! An Imperial warship has just entered Coruscant space!" Lieutenant Dagg exclaimed. Captain Wellen, his superior spit out the caf he had been drinking in surprise.

"What?" He stared at Dagg's screen. It couldn't be an attack. One warship against the entire Coruscant Defense Network? "Hail them. Put it on loudspeaker."

"Unidentified craft, this is Coruscant Traffic Control. Identify yourselves, immediatly."

"Traffic Control, this is Captain Aeric Tunon of the New Republic Defense Force. We've uh, well, it's a long story..."

Last posts, guys.

[Ender 8]

Jaim smiled. "Not if you're playing power-hungry despot dress-up."

Suddenly, the ship lurched out of hyperspace, into Coruscant's orbit.

"Well, someone just woke up."

[Rogue 4]

Layla pressed a button on her belt, the hologram fading around her to reveal her normal, lean form. "We did it!" She exclaimed excitedly. "We made it!"

[Drake 53]

A smile crept across Tak's face. This relatively fresh batch of pilots had come together as comrades and toppled overwhelming odds to capture an Imperial cruiser with nothing but blasters, brains and and getts of durasteel. They had lost two friends but their sacrifices helped to achieve victory for the Revenants. Their selfless acts of bravery were worthy of a Mandalorian death.

"Good job, guys," he said. "Well fought."

[Chickenman 9]

***

Aeric grabbed the two drinks from the bar. The squadron was back at Altagak Base, having been denied the leave on Coruscant they had been hoping for. Rather, they had been promoted to active duty. Single-handedly capturing an imperial interdictor cruiser had impressed the brass. In an attempt to partially make up for Coruscant, Aeric had given the squadron the week off. No training, no schedule, just relaxation. Meanwhile, the Screaming Mynocks had been busy, with blue milk run after blue milk run.

Aeric made his way to a table occupied by Captain Slade, offering him a drink.

"Here, Captain. A congratulations on another successful mission." Captain Slade took the drink with a slight nod. Aeric frowned.

Nerfherder still hasn't congratulated us for capturing the Revenant. "Say, what are you working on there?"

Slade turned back to his stack of datapads. "Oh, just trying to find a more efficient way to organize my-" His attention drawn away from his drink, Aeric dropped a red color tab into his drink.

"Sounds great, Captain. Look, I've got to go, I'll see you around."

That night, everyone on base was awoken by a scream coming from the refresher.

To be continued...