Private Before the Sky Turns Black

[Kelly T. Perris]

R E C O N N E C T I O N
In the weeks preceding Ultimatum
Aiden Rennek

When Perris found out that one of his most recent wingers - Briana Sal-Soren - was in a relationship with one of the good ol’ guys from back home, a good friend that he’d lost track of over the years of his training and the final phase of the last war, it wasn’t even a question of whether he would want to reach out and catch up, or not.

But when she gave him the contact details for Aiden Rennek, and he’d found a moment to shoot off a message to the man in advance of his short personal leave, it wasn’t easy to put down words.

Now, there wasn’t much that made Kelly nervous, not when he felt plenty at home jumping readily into the fire… but when it came to sending that first message he’d sent to Aiden in years, his mind had gone blank. It had always been a fact that their paths would diverge - both he and Aiden had known early on, and with solid conviction, where they were going in their lives; dyed-in-the-wool military kids, the both of them - but it wasn’t expected that they’d drift apart to the point of losing touch completely.

What was he supposed to say? Talking to girls felt so much easier than this… but soon enough, the Captain had settled for simple. He had to start somewhere.

< Hey, Rennek. It's Perris. Long time.

I got some leave coming up, gonna see the folks ‘fore things go to hell.

Figure we have a few beers, catch up while I’m dirtside.

LMK. >

He had no way of knowing if he should expect a response, no bead on how much the Marine might’ve changed if at all, nor if their schedules would line up, but when his comm eventually buzzed with a reply, each message thereafter got just a little easier, and in short order, a meeting was set.

JAGGALOR CLUB BAR ★ CORONET CITY OUTSKIRTS ★ CORELLIA
1.5 weeks later​

Setting foot in the Jag - a drinking establishment just outside of Fort Bastion, frequented by base personnel and civilians in the outer municipality of Coronet City that bordered the base - wasn’t as much of a case of temporal whiplash as Kelly thought it might be, what with it looking like the locale had gotten an internal and external facelift, but the vague whiff of nostalgia was there, anyway.

The atmosphere was near the same as when he had his first legal drink, back in the days when he’d been facing down his nerves ahead of the impending day that he was shipping out to Anaxes for flight school. Now, he wasn’t quite sure he recognized the boy he’d been in those hazy memories. War did that, so did loss, and so could being thrust into positions of authority. That last fact still felt off, like a uniform that didn’t quite fit well enough. The new Revenant hadn’t yet been put through its paces in the fires of live combat, and that was the glue that would bind them; he knew it from hard experience. Only that could give him what truly made his pilots tick, and that glow on the horizon was no sunrise. That was why he was here on Corellia in the first place.

Looking around the place, the Ace soon spotted the Marine at one end of the main bar, squinting for a moment for nearly not recognizing the guy, then made his way over.

“Eyy,” he greeted, clapping an amicable pat down on the Marine’s shoulder when he reached the bar, sporting half a grin and a tone of feigned insult, “you start without me?”

 

[Aiden Rennek]

​

Perris?

That was a name he hadn't heard in a while, but the moment Aiden received a message from him, he felt a little bad. After they had both decided to join different branches in the military, they knew that they weren't going to see each other much anymore. But he had wanted to make the effort to at least stay in touch and update each other on how things were going. But between the ambush on Selvaris that killed most of his men, and all the hell he went through after that... he had forgotten.

Luckily, it seemed he was given a chance to correct his mistake.

<Hey Perris, it has been too long but that sounds like a great idea.>

<Meet me at the old place? You know which one.>

<See you soon.>

​

Well, this placed looked a bit different.

Aiden glanced around after sitting down in his stool and almost didn't recognize it anymore. The atmosphere was very much the same though, so even after years of not visiting, he still felt at home. With a grin on his face, he ordered two beers from the bartender, and spent his time waiting just enjoying his drink. Occasionally, he caught glances from other people inside, but he wasn't here to socialize with people.

He wanted to reconnect with an old friend.

"Eyy,"

Aiden grinned and turned in his stool to meet the familiar voice. A hand came up to clasp down on Kelly's. before he patted the back of his shoulder. "Good to see you again, man, and I wouldn't dare." He gently nudged a cold beer towards his old pal and raised his own for a toast.

"How long has it been? At least five years, hm? How are things at the squadron?"

Kelly T. Perris ​

 

[Kelly T. Perris]

R E C O N N E C T I O N
JAGGALOR CLUB BAR ★ CORONET CITY OUTSKIRTS ★ CORELLIA
In the weeks preceding Ultimatum
Aiden Rennek

Kelly sat himself down on a stool next to his old friend, “Good,” he replied to the assurance that Aiden hadn’t started without him, “great to see you, too.” He pulled the cold glass of beer the rest of the way towards himself with a hand around its body, and raised the glass, clinking it against Aiden’s in a toast.

"How long has it been? At least five years, hm?"

Kelly nodded, gulping down a long pull from his beer, and gave a light gasp of refreshment, “About that long, yeah,” he confirmed thereafter, while setting the glass back on its coaster for the moment. He hadn’t had a drink since celebrating with his squadron in the sands of Spira.

"How are things at the squadron?"

He leaned into the bar counter, one forearm perpendicular to himself, the other elbow planted on the surface as he idly scratched his jaw, “Well,” he started, “only two of us from the old squadron in the new one,” a thought that skirted near how much of the prior Revenant had been whittled away in the last war, “the rest are new as of Revenant’s reformation. Weird mix, not all military derived - they gave us a toaster, a spook, and a Jedi, to name a few.”

At the very least, only one pilot on the current roster so far was at all close to green. The rest had a good amount of experience in the cockpit of a starfighter.

“Not only that, but the brass made us go through Janara Three’s SERE program from the outset, something about... being the most likely to end up deep behind enemy lines if we're shot down?” he gave a light snort as if to say 'fat chance of that happening', and wrapped a hand around his glass again, his mouth becoming a momentary line as he continued on, "They sent fuckin' Pathfinders after us, man."

 

[Aiden Rennek]

​

Aiden raised his own glass up for a toast and took a sip, before he turned in his stool to listen to his buddy. They had gone their separate ways when they entered different branches within the GADF, and he hadn't actually really caught up on how things were for him. All he knew was that Kelly had joined Revenant Squadron, one of the most, if not the most elite squadron the Alliance could throw at their enemies.

Many of them could rival Jedi pilots, and without that weird space magic on their side, it was quite the feat. He had seen just how much the Force could do first hand from observing Briana, and never again would he underestimate it. Not after it had been turned against him as well.

From what Kelly was telling him, he could see why they were so good, too.

"Sounds like they put you guys through hell, but has it paid off?" He asked before downing a larger sip. "I mean, you guys were all solid pilots, of course, but how do you feel about going up against the Mandalorians? I know we're not officially at war and all, but... we all know it's coming."

"I don't need the Force to feel that."

Kelly T. Perris ​