Garik Antocha was in one of many mission briefing rooms on the Star Destroyer Tyrant, seated in front of his squadron leader, Flight Captain Kael. Garik, along with over half the other pilots in the room with him, had only recently been brought in as replacements for the heavy losses the squadron had sustained during the battle of Turkana. The feeling from the survivors was palpable in room. They wanted revenge, and Imperial Central Command had only been too happy to offer them the opportunity. A large rebel presence had been discovered in the Tion Hegemony, a state that had been generously granted some amount of autonomy despite it's Seperatist ties during the Clone Wars. The Tyrant was being sent to attack one of the rebel bases within the region, as well as the planet that had been harboring them. Codenamed Operation Strike Fear, Kael outlined the squadron's mission. "Once we exit hyperspace, our group will be responsible for establishing orbital superiority over the planet. While First Squadron stays back in reserve, Third Squadron and us will be out front on reconnaissance. We're the tip of the spear today, pilots. Follow your flight commanders, and remember your training."

It wasn't long before Kael dismissed the squadron to their craft, and the more veteran pilots began filing out of the room. The others, like Garik, hadn't been acquainted yet. Operation Strike Fear would be their first mission together, and some miniscule part of Garik felt compelled to get a good hard look at who would be flying with him. Against his better judgement he approached the wing-man he had been assigned, Lieutenant Cora Tarneia, and inspected her like an instructor from the Academy might, maybe for a little too long. Her hair seemed to meet military regulation, which made a good first impression on him. He tried to find the right words to say to her, but ended out blurting: "Lieutenant Antocha. Don't get me killed."

Cora sat patiently still during the briefing, observing Flight Captain Kael as he spoke. The woman had crossed her legs and upon her lap rested her datapad. During briefing she’d note down every once in a while, trying to figure out how she felt about the whole scenario. Indeed, the flight school was over, but their first mission – her first mission was affected by the survivors of Turkana’s lust for revenge. But it was only fair, as much as it worried Cora. However, the new squadron to which she had been assigned, had no emotions concerning the situation, seeing as they had not participated in the battle. At least Cora prayed they didn’t. She wasn’t especially keen on being shot down on her first run.

As the briefing came to an end, Cora stood up and quickly dusted off her black uniform and gave her ponytail a quick tuck. Her eyes glanced around the room, observing the seasoned pilots as they went about their business. They reminded her much of the workers back home on Balmorra, all going about their business in their matching uniforms. Still, they carried different expressions. Some were cheery, eager to finally acquire the opportunity for revenge that they so heavily sought after. Some looked ever so melancholic. Perhaps they had lost a wingman, a friend? Cora became still in her observation, still clinging onto the datapad, holding it against the bottom of her imperial shirt.

It wasn’t until she was approached that she reacted. The pilot inspected her for an unusual amount of time, which she finally noticed. Cora turned her head to return the favour, finding him almost scanning her as if she was a droid.

"Lieutenant Antocha. Don't get me killed." Garik blurted out all of a sudden. Cora blinked for a second before she recognized him from the message she had received, when she was assigned to the squad. Caught slightly off guard, Cora extended her hand just as she spoke.

“Do you greet all girls like that, Lieutenant Antocha?” she carefully smiled, before continuing. “Lieutenant Tarneia, but I’m assuming you already knew that, no?” Cora observed him with a curious, yet careful gaze. Flight school had done what it could to get used to meeting strangers, but she wasn’t exactly a natural. There was an attempt, at least.

“We’ve been assigned as wingmen if I’m not mistaken, right? I’ve not met anyone else from the squadron yet, have you?” Cora asked as she once again wrapped her arms around the datapad and let her emerald green eyes look around, to reinforce her question.

Lieutenant Amos angrily ran through his preflight checks. The stims he'd just injected into his thigh didn't help his attitude one bit either. He had skipped out on the briefing halfway through to get his ship ready early, and self-medicate. Once his diagnostics were complete, he continued to fiddle with the seal on his face mask as an increasingly bothersome itch had started to develop on his nose.
Fucking Vaccies and their bullshit atmo-suits, he thought.

He had in fact just been transferred to the Tyrant from his previous posting in the bush. Amos had been what the "Vac Heads" referred to as a "Ground Hog". He was used to flying in atmosphere in support of Stormtrooper operations on the ground. Smoking savages from the heavens was his forte, not this bullshit in vacuum. He double checked the concealed blaster pistol he kept in his flight suit and the folding vibroblade he kept on his harness, useless to him in vacuum, but he felt naked without the tools of his previous trade.

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Corpses on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate...now he was stuck in the proverbial meat grinder.

Amos hailed his new wingman, "Marick this is Lieutenant Amos, I believe we're saddled together for the rodeo tonight."

Marc sat silently listening to the briefing, trying to enjoy the fact he was wearing his flight suit rather then his normal off duty officers uniform. so much better then that stiff uniform... he thought as he watched the presentation of the mission continue. It was the usual fair, defending the empire from those who would do it harm by wiping them off the face of the galaxy. As he listened Marc made mental notes about the up coming mission and how he felt the squadron would do. Marc was surprised that half the squadron had been wiped out by what he had been told were very under trained and under equipped, clearly one of those was wrong. As the briefing went on Marc started to look around. there was a mix of excitement and grim determination on the faces of many of the other pilots.

'Not sure where lieutenant Jinnau is, but I guess we can cross that bridge when we come to it...' he thought. When he had first arrived aboard the Tyrant Marc had meet the others when he had first arrived. Most of them had been transferred aboard or were in the barracks when he stowed his personal effects away. He had been assigned lieutenant Nova Jinnau as his wing man although he had planned to meet her face to face, He had yet to speak with her one on one.

After a few more minutes the pilots were dismissed as the rest of the pilots filed out of the room, Marc stood and headed for the door. Time to earn my wage. he thought with a sigh as he headed off for the hangers.

As Charlie sat in the briefing, listening to the Captain, he couldn't help the grin on his face as they were told they were going to establish superiority. That meant dogfighting, and that was the kind of thing that could get him on the map. In the TIE corps, kills got you noticed, and once you were noticed you could start going places. Of course, Charlie had his eyes on a captaincy of his own vessel, not spending all his days as some adrenaline jockey pilot. The Captain dismissed them with the order to remember their training, and the vets filed out not long after. Raising his eyebrow at the brusque approach of one of his fellow pilots to meeting his wingmate, some pretty little brunette. Just as Charlie got up to cut in, however, his COM chirped and then he heard the voice of his fellow pilot issuing forth

"Marick this is Lieutenant Amos, I believe we're saddled together for the rodeo tonight." Charlie raised an eyebrow at that, and with a glance noted that Amos wasn't in the room. Ah yes, he was the one who had left the briefing halfway through, wasn't he? The Captain wouldn't like that, though if he did well enough in the field that may just get forgiven. Charlie didn't want to stay shackled to this guy though, after all being associated with some loose cannon could hinder his path to glory. He'd have to try and swap wingmates with someone after this flight, perhaps Lieutenant Jinnau would be willing to fly with him.

Shaking his head of these thoughts, Charlie keyed his COM and said easily "Amos huh? This is ell-tee Marick, but you can call me Charlie. We'll be watching each others' six on this flight to be sure, so lets keep each other alive eh? I'm heading to the hangar to look over my machine, but if you're interested in talking, let me know when I get there." Striding from the room with a light jaunt, he noted a few veterans remained near the room in a small clump, glaring as Charlie walked past. They sure didn't seem to care for the rookies, though if the rebels were only as effective as Charlie had heard then they'd be stuck with the new pilots for awhile. Reaching the hangar after a few minutes of taking elevators and corridors, Charlie strode to his fighter with a wide smile. Say what you will about flying a TIE, and Charlie had plenty to say, but these machines were downright majestic.

Looking it over, he noted maintenance finishing work on his fighter and moving to the next. That was good then, that meant it would be perfectly operational for the flight. Charlie quickly began looking it over himself, his experiences on ships his whole life meant pre-flight checks were no big deal. Sliding into the cockpit and powering it up, Charlie powered up his instrument panel and began checking systems. Sublight engines, green to go, armament read armed and ready, cockpit gyros were properly calibrated, life support was online, locator beacon was prepped and ready, and the ejection seat was armed. Charlie chuckled at that, an ejection seat in a vacuum fighter was a semi-hilarious concept, even if he knew it was more meant to be used by those pilots who were in atmo. His fighter was good to go, his suit had been checked earlier, and his wingman was..."Well, I guess two out of three good things is alright, and hey, maybe Amos won't be so bad..." The stray though struck Charlie as he chuckled again, powering the instrument panel back down.

If there was one thing Nova Jinnau hated about being female it was the god damn gynecological exams. The doctor droid is always so damn cold then there was it's personality. The stupid doctor droid made her miss the briefing. She quickly got in her flight suit and began running to her Tie. On the way she called Marc Rlyeh. "Sorry Marc. Stupid doctor droid insisted on doing my exam or I wouldn't be cleared for flight. On the way to hangar bay now. Meet you there, you'll have to catch me up on the briefing." She kept running to the hangar bay. Once she got there she immediately grabbed her helmet and began looking for her Tie.

Garik immediately frowned after her first question. Did he greet all girls like that? No, he didn't. He didn't typically greet anyone. In the back of his head, he already regretted his decision to say anything to her. For all he knew, one of them was going to get shot down in their first battle, making the whole conversation a waste of time. He should've just kept his head down and went on his way. But it was too late now, he thought, as she extended her hand. Slowly, he reached out and uncomfortably shook it until she stopped him, glaring at her eyes the entire time. It wasn't until the handshake was over that he replied to any of her questions. "Yes.. you're my wingman. And no. You're the first one I've spoken to."

Looking around, Garik realized that the two were the only ones remaining, and began to leave as well. Aruptly, he stopped in the doorway when he had a moment of sudden clarity. Training was over. Unlike his simulations, if he died out in space, he was going to die for real. For a brief moment, his composure broke, and fear washed over his face. In his moment of weakness, he turned towards Cora. Quietly, he told her. "Hey Lieutenant.. when we're out there.. just.. I'll watch your back. You watch mine. Deal?"

---

Tion Cluster, Outer Rim Territories
Clariv, Sector Caluula
Operation: Strike Fear (0 BBY)
2/205th Imperial Fighter Group

"This is Aurek Leader! Six rebel fighters just-" Captain Kael cried out before his transmission was cut short. He had split the squadron into three flights, keeping them spread thin as they scouted the Tyrant's path to Clariv, home of the rebel base. Far from any help the Star Destroyer could send, which was staged just outside the system, the Captain and his flight had been caught totally off guard when a group of T-65 X-Wings jumped out of hyperspace in front of him and attacked. In short order, Kael was vaporized, and three surviving members of his flight scattered. Desperately, they called for help.

"Aurek Five, I'm on the way." Garik gritted his teeth as he spun his TIE fighter around and raced towards the fight. On his scopes, he saw Aurek Two and Three were playing a deadly game of cat and mouse with three of the rebel fighters. One second they were the hunter, and the next they were the prey. Aurek Four on the other hand was being closely followed behind by one dogged X-Wing and had already been hit once.

"Blast it!" Garik accidentally blew past the fifth and sixth X-Wing, which had slipped away from the dogfight. Narrowly he survived their laser fire when they passed, and both he and one of the rebel pilots made hard turns to get a bead on each other. Ultimately, Garik was able to outmaneuver the rebel, and started to lock onto him with his targeting computer when he received a warning. He had forgotten about the second X-Wing, which was now tailing him and would soon have him locked as well. Anger swelling up inside of him, Garik forced himself to stay on target and keyed his commlink, "Tarneia where the hell are you?"

Cora nodded at Garik’s last words, smiling faintly to him. She had a habit of those kinds of smiles. Inherited, she always said. But seconds earlier, there had been a certain… aura, escaping him, a sense of seriousness, perhaps reality hitting him? It spread like wildfire, at least. Perhaps it wasn’t even that, but the whole scenario caused her to take in a deep breath. Block it out, then. She thought to herself. Nonetheless, Garik didn’t need to sense nervousness from her. It wouldn’t benefit anyone.

“Don’t worry. I’ll less than a bantha away.” She nodded, as Garik took his leave. Cora soon followed the direction he had headed, out towards the hangar. With a quick swipe, she opened up the datapad, running through the mission details. Luckily for her, it was the cockpit of a lovely bomber that awaited her. Many considered them bulkier, easy targets and whatnot. Surely they were right, to a degree at least. But she adored them. Cora ran her hand across the glass of the cockpit in a gentle manner, before carefully leaning her head against it. She let her mind go, cleared everything out. Finally, she knocked twice on it for good luck, smiling to herself.
“I’ll take care of you, don’t you worry.” She nudged the TIE bomber.

---

"This is Aurek Leader! Six rebel fighters just-" A quick surge of adrenaline ran through Cora as she guided her ship past a small asteroid. The rebels had come out of the blue, already gunning away at all the targets they could get. Captain Kael was gone shortly after the fighting initiated, and Cora was now desperately trying to get an overview of the situation. Her gaze stopped at the sight of her wingman Garik chasing two X-wings. The blaster fire surrounded the ships in what was almost a beautiful symphony.

An X-wing quickly began tailing Lieutenant Antosha with a dangerous pace. The young pilot flicked her stick towards his location, in an attempt to catch up. Her path was filled with rocks and debris flying everywhere. One scratched the wing, but nothing the computer decided to complain about.

“I’m coming! Jus-… F-“ Cora interrupted the chatter, as the remains of Aurek Leader flew dangerously close past her. “I see him! Almost got a lock, but if you jolt him to the left on my mark, I’ll hit him dead on!” She was almost sure. Her precision had never failed her in training, but this was far from training. If that X-wing managed to get a proper lock, there was no restart. And at that thought, Cora took in a deep breath. She loaded up a concussion missile and flicked the cover of the control stick. Without hesitation, she prepared the lock.

“On my mark! One.. Two.. Mark!” Cora close to shouted over the radio, to her wingman. There wasn’t any time to waste, and so she pressed the button. The missile was released from the TIE/sa bomber, heading straight towards the target. If only Garik managed to lure the tailing ship to the left, it would be a clean shot. But there were so many variables in space.

As Marc prepped his TIE his com came to life "Sorry Marc. Stupid doctor droid insisted on doing my exam or I wouldn't be cleared for flight. On the way to hangar bay now. Meet you there, you'll have to catch me up on the briefing." with a chuckle he responded "Copy that, Didn't miss much standard orbital superiority ...Hurry up though the captain doesn't like it when pilots aren't on time, even with an excuse" He said as he ran through the final few steps of his start up procedure. Well here we go... he thought as his thoughts drifted to his daughter. Feels like forever since I held you in my arms...I miss you sweet heart he thought. Slowly he started to think of the last time he had seen his family. It was the day he was ordered to report for duty. who would have thought he would end up as an elite TIE pilot. Back then he was destined for some nowhere posting, killed off by pirates raiding whatever corvette ship he served on. Thankfully by luck and alot of hard work he was accepted into the Starfighter corp Angela...At least i know you are living well. he thought as he looked forward to reading the message he had received only moments before he had boarded his fighter.

---

As Marc flew alongside his wing in the back of the formation man his Com roared to life"This is Aurek Leader! Six rebel fighters just-" The Captains voice was suddenly cut off as he noticed several shots impact the captains Fighter and suddenly exploded as a group of X-wing fighters jumped into the area and engaged the Imperial forces. With the sudden attack The other Imperial pilots scrambled and moved to engage the enemy. "This is Aurek four engaging, Jinnau you with me? I'm gonna need help" he said as he split off and started chasing an X wing. The X-wing pilot had to be inexperienced as the pilot didn't notice Marc until he had opened fire. while most of the shots were dissipated on impact on with the deflector shield one round scorched the upper right wing. Great... well this got tougher... he thought bitterly as the X-wing pilot began trying to Shake Marc. As Marc dogged the pilot, he realized it was a matter of time before The pilot's wing man came and helped him.

Nova rushed to her Tie, a Tie/IN interceptor. She rushed her pre-flight checks, everything was good to go. She blasted out of there at top speed, scarring the crap out of the people on the flight deck. "Marc in my Tie and ready to obliterate some Rebel scum. Nova found Marc chasing a X-Wing, she also noticed a X-Wing coming up behind him. She pushed her Tie to it's limit to catch up. When she was in firing range she fired all her laser canons at it. "Got your back Marc. That X-Wing ain't shooting you down. Can't lose my wingman in our first fight." She kept an eye on her sensors to make sure nothing got behind her. She loved fighting in space every direction was up, down, left, and right at the exact same time.

"I didn't want to be a pilot." Charlie thought to himself as he jerked his fighter out of the path of an X-wing's laser cannons. "I just wanted to have a command, hopefully a Star Destroyer but anything would've been fine. TIE Corps though? That was the last thing I wanted." Another errant thought flew through Charlie's mind as he pulled his fighter in a loop, an X-wing briefly appearing in his target window before the rebel pilot wised up and cleared his firing line. Charlie banked his fighter into a turn right after the fighter, an easy grin as he saw the fighter coming into his field of view, though this time the other pilot didn't jink out of the way. As his computer caught a solution, Charlie pondered "Why isn't he clearing the fire line? Sure I could keep on him from this angle but you'd think he'd at least try, come to think of it what kind of shitty wingman leaves his pal be-...SHIT!"

As Charlie depressed the firing stud, his lasers blasting the fighter in the rear, he realized he'd been had. His sensors pinged, warning him of a contact coming in on his six. Charlie was forced to begin jinking around, trying to keep the rebel's shots off target. Charlie's own shots had damaged the other fighter, a few going wide, but Charlie had the presence of mind to keep firing as he evaded. He was able to twitch the fighter on target for a split second, a few shots finishing the X-wing in a blast of fire. However, the other fighter was still on his six, and Charlie could only evade for so long. "Aurek Six, Amos I need an assist, I've got one on my tail and I can't shake him."

Nova finished off the X-Wing trying to kill Marc. The explosion was like music to her ears. She shifted her fighter to the right and started going after another one. This one clearly had already recieved damaged in this fight. It felt like a little bit like cheating, but it was her duty so she shot it down anyway. She barrel rolled for the hell of it. She circled back to check on Marc and found no rebel scum on his six. So she went after another X-Wing.