Broken Wings, Unconquered Spirits [GA Pilots]

[Ayden Cater]

In Orbit
Aboard the Indomitable

The attitude around the Galactic Alliance base on Sullust was somewhat subdued. Lujo had been the first major attempt at a military campaign against the One Sith. Some were disappointed that they had lost, those who felt as if they could have done much more. Resources were still a bit thin, and they had committed as much as they could to the offensive. Still, there was a bright side to things.

For all the power that the One Sith had, Lujo had not been an overwhelming rout. They had defeated the One Sith fleet in orbit and secured orbital dominance. Their forces on the ground had fought a hard conflict, one that had ground largely to a standstill. It was only the knowledge that the One Sith had more resources to pool into a protracted conflict that had led to the call to withdraw from the battlefield and retreat. Taken in as a single conflict with no outside support, Lujo had been a draw. That was more than could be said for most conflicts where the One Sith were at play. While they had not secured the planet, it had shown that the Alliance had the strength to oppose the One Sith, and that meant that many others had high spirits.

After any major military offense, it was normal procedure to do a debriefing and analyze where things went right and where things went wrong. So Supreme Commander Nemo Ven, a Mon Calamarian veteran and former Admiral from the Republic, had called for a series of debriefings to better shape future Alliance tactics and strategies. The first of such debriefings called for was for the pilots. In a small briefing room on the venerable Indomitable, namesake of the Indomitable line of Star Defenders, the squadron leaders and from every participating squadron and their chosen seconds were ordered to be assembled. The officer in charge of the meeting was not yet present, as there was still time before the debriefing was scheduled. However, pilots were already showing up and beginning to discuss their thoughts on the Lujo conflict.

[member="Dax Ragnar"] | [member="Harmon Taldan"] | [member="Loske Matson"] | [member="Mira Rekali"]

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Strings of ohmygodohmygodohmygod’s in a single breath had been all that elapsed after Loske received the call from the Admiral. Probably a series of five.

The recent Republic Air Force graduate hadn’t been on Lujo - and that’s what this call was about. She’d been graduating. However, that was a minor hiccup. The rest of it was being part of a discussion that would help shape the future of The Alliance’s squadrons and their contribution to the overall effort to vanquish The Sith. This was not something to miss.

The time had been very clear, but Loske had still arrived ten minutes early, skulking about the door waiting for the official ‘Okay, come in’. She couldn’t help her eagerness; but she didn’t want to mask it either. The Alliance needed encouragement and support, and she was there to give it!

There were already conversations going on, and light eyes scanned the room for familiar faces that she could cling to. She had been focusing heavily on the Vanguard Campaign lately, and as such, not been attached to a single squadron like she had in school. Knowing what to do with herself in times like these were the greatest qualm she ran into. Which was…okay. She was still here. She was still an elite in the mind’s eye.

[member="Dax Ragnar"] | [member="Mira Rekali"] | [member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Harmon Taldan"]

 

[Harmon Taldan]

Harm stepped into the briefing room on the Indomitable and looked around for a moment. There were a couple of pilots present, but none he knew. He'd been called to the briefing in his new role as a Captain in the Alliance military, as a pilot. It was what he had been originally trained to do, back in the Corps. He hadn't spent much time in the Alliance as a pilot, but it certainly felt good to be wearing pilots wings again, and a uniform.

As was only fitting, his uniform was crisp and clean, his cover was tucked into the waistband at the small of his back.

He hadn't been at Lujo in the role of a pilot, he had been on the ground fighting. He still remembered quite vividly the creature he had fought. It had not shrugged off the maser blasts, but it was a close thing. Neither he nor the creature had walked away from that day victorious, though Harm had definitely learned some valuable lessons. Then he had gone on a hunt for some large treasure, but had gotten roflstomped by sith along the way. He needed to advance his melee game, but in the mean time he could support the Alliance as a pilot, so he would. His melee game would come along, as he'd been training under the tutelage of [member="mira rekali"].

Harm moved over to a seat in the front row, sat back into the light cushioning, and waited.

[member="Loske Matson"] | [member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="dax ragnar"]

 

[Connor Harrison]

Now, apparently, Dax Ragnar was a Captain. Captain Ragnar. Who’d have thought? While he still flew solo and not part of a squadron within the Alliance, perhaps his efforts at Lujo, Karfeddion and escorting the Jedi Olivia Durant across Fondor had all been noted. Not bad work.

His salvaged and repaired T-70 was docked, new blue and ivory paint adorned the ship as it sat in the hangar bay of the mighty Indomitable. He’d seen the ship from his own during space runs, but never this close. It was an exceptional design, and he was only in a small area of such a huge vessel. With orders to report to the designated ship, for a designated room at a designated time for a briefing, he gave himself enough time.

With his dark orange flight suit, Dax was conscious about the K-9 blaster by his side. He’d never used it much, he’d had no reason too, but he felt strange walking around with a weapon rather than flying and firing IN one.

As he was left at the open doors to the comfortable room by his escort who swiftly returned to pick up further guests arriving, Dax plastered on a neutral, diffusing small smile as he walked in and hung back, choosing an aisle seat towards the rear rows. He stretched his legs out, one over the other, and laced his hands together and looked around, taking in faces and voices and various Alliance propaganda along the walls.

[member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Loske Matson"] | [member="Harmon Taldan"] | [member="Mira Rekali"]

 

[Long Gone]

Mira sat on the edge of the Starfury, her left knee against her chest whilst her right dangled off the edge. Her hands clasped together over her left knee as she stared out into the hanger. There was so much work to be done – upgrades, tinkering, the works. She was a bit frustrated with the outcome of the performance of the Starfury at the battle of Chazwa – despite being against overwhelming odds and coming out ontop with twenty confirmed kills.

Chazwa was a mess where Mira lost two good pilots to the Republic’s stupidity. Now, she had to examine the equipment they were using and ensure that it was up to par and if not – push the engineering boundaries to make it better. That’s what it was all about right? Incom Corporation and [member="Alyesa Organa"] had pushed the envelope when they developed the Starfury – why couldn’t that be applied to the other XJ series.
She was pretty sure it could but for now she had to focus on her own fighter.

The Starfury was behind on maintenance and upkeep – part Pixel’s fault and part her own. Mira dropped her other leg off the edge and jumped down off the nose of the Starfighter before motioning to the blue and white BB unit. “Let’s do you ball of junk – we got work to do…”

The droid let out a mechanical tweet that scaled on the top of rude before rolling past her, brushing her legs roughly. Mira let out a soft yelp and stumbled backwards a bit before catching herself against a stack of containers. “Hey! I was just kidding!”

[member="Dax Ragnar"] | [member="Harmon Taldan"] | [member="Loske Matson"] | [member="Ayden Cater"]

 

[Ayden Cater]

[member="Dax Ragnar"] | [member="Harmon Taldan"] | [member="Loske Matson"] | [member="Mira Rekali"]

As the last pilot darted into the room and threw themselves into a seat, the door open and two military police officers stepped through and took positions on either side of the door. One of them called out, "Admiral on deck!" Both snapped crisp salutes as the Mon Calamari officer strode into the room with a pair of aides. The pilots in the room all stood immediately and snapped salutes, or ran the risk of being called out by one of the MPs. But Admiral Nemo Ven wasn't a man to stand atop ceremony for long and quickly raised a rubbery hand to dismiss the pilots and let them return to their seats. They had more important business to discuss than stroke his ego.

"Let's get started." Behind him, the wall suddenly melted away, revealing a large projector which created a three dimensional map of the Lujo system. "The battle in orbit was the only one where we achieve clear dominance. Captain Ragnar led the efforts of our squadrons. His commendable efforts helped secure a path for our transports. Without them, our retreat from the planet would have taken considerably longer and cost us many more lives." There was a scattering of applause before attention went back to the debriefing. "Our fighters did an excellent job at screening the enemy ships, but there is always room for improvement. We were fortunate to catch the One Sith by surprise. This gave us the time we needed to launch all of our fighters. If they had been expecting us, things might have turned out very different."

For the next thirty minutes, the Admiral discussed the tactics used by the Alliance and One Sith forces, highlighting engagements that went in favor of the Alliance and ones that went poorly for it. It was apparent that one factor of the Alliance's success lay in the speed of their response. The One Sith forces in orbit did not have time to marshal a coordinated defense, and it cost them. But not all battles would be so fortuitous. There would be times when the enemy would get advanced notice of an imminent attack and would be ready for them. It would be dangerous to rely on the same tactics again and again, so special attention needed to be made towards developing new strategies. "One area that we are working on is the development of a new carrier ship, one that will be able to launch multiple squadrons at once. This rapid deployment will help ensure that even when the enemy is waiting for us, our fighters can launch quickly and get into formation faster."

The Admiral terminated the projector and turned back to the pilots. "I'd like to hear from you ideas to help the Alliance achieve theater superiority in future conflicts. What is it you think we can do better?" One of the more endearing qualities of the Mon Calamari officer, and what lead to so many to respect him, was his forward thinking and constant engagement of the lower ranks. He understood that victory was not won by the efforts of a single man, but the many working together.

 

[Harmon Taldan]

Harm listened carefully through the discussion on the tactics used at Lujo. He hadn't been part of the fighter element there, and his ground battle hadn't been very conclusive. He was determined to rectify both. He was training with Mira Rekali to better his melee game, and he was going to be logging more flight time with the Alliance.

"I'd like to hear from you ideas to help the Alliance achieve theater superiority in future conflicts. What is it you think we can do better?"

Harm raised his hand, then cleared his throat before speaking when the Admiral nodded for him to speak.

"Well, it seems that our training regimen is paying off dividends. What we need is more pilots to go through. What if we recruited among both our protected planets, and planets that are either near our influence or near the OS influence? We could have individual or groups of pilots go out, drum up what recruits they can from a series of planets, then run them through training ourselves, then we have a flight, squadron, or wing all ready to deploy together." He could have flushed out the idea then and there, but he wanted to see if the others thought the idea had merit.



[member="Dax Ragnar"] | [member="ayden cater"] | [member="Loske Matson"] | [member="Mira Rekali"]

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Loske was all fine and dandy with respect. Snapping to attention, salute, yadda yadda but she wasn't as graceful at the demonstration as many of the others in uniform. Still, the side of her hand still met her forehead well enough to be dismissed.

When she collapsed back into her seat she wasn't the first to speak, for once. She had not been a pilot on Lujo, she'd still been wandering about like a doe-eyed sheep without a shepherd on Narshaddaa. For some reason she was not privy to - she blamed it as an expulsion from her Republic squadron (False. It was the scientists attempt at disposal. The ultimate survival test for their test-tube project).

Someone she did not recognize (which was common), [member="Harmon Taldan"], raised his voice before any of the other species. He spoke of cross-functionality recruitment. Which was great and dandy theoretically, his idea was solid. If there was enough motive and unity amidst the pilots. A single sentence from the Admiral hummed haphazardly in the back of her mind though... This gave us the time we needed to launch all of our fighters. All of their fighters. If things had gone south, that would have been a lot of lives to expend.

All of their fighters.

Adding more would be a dangerous solution --- good, good sourcing, and she wouldn't mind training with some new persons; but the idea of throwing people into more people (The One Sith were MASSIVE) made her unusually quiet.

A hand raised, and dropped upon recognition, slipping between her legs and pressing the back of her hands together in her lap while an almost sheepish question aired: "Is there a way we can know our enemy better? I'm thinking of the old saying - Instead of working harder, we work smarter. Do we know all we can about the weaknesses of their vessels- and what we're up against out there?"


[member="Ayden Cater"] | [member="Dax Ragnar"] | [member="Mira Rekali"]