Ship
1/20
It had been a long, long time since she or any of the other pilots of the original Rogue Squadron had seen combat. The last major offensive they had taken part in were the twin invasions of Geonosis, and that had been years ago. Since then the only flying she'd done had been in peacetime, and sims could only do so much to substitute for actual starfighter combat. And that had been before the Rebellion had more or less disbanded, the insurgent group in tatters and maintaining only loose connections to one another through still-functioning private and encrypted comms. It was those secret channels she had made use of recently, calling on a few old faces to see who would show in the outskirts of what had once been Rebellion space.
There was no surprise when scant few answered, and [member="Thane Drexel"], former Benefactor of the Rebellion and Rogue 2, had been one of few to answer. Most recently the two had docked their fighters on the world of Lamaredd, the planet hovering just outside of what had once been familiar, friendly territory for the both of them. They had just been wandering through the city without much to do with their time, not much to do now that their responsibilities had effectively evaporated from the face of the galaxy. Her standing as Commander of the Starfighter Corps within the Alliance was all but meaningless now, but it was still a title she wore with pride, old Rebellion bomber jacket still worn proudly with the red starbird emblazoned across the back.
Then the alarm had been raised and the local fighter defense had been scrambled, and she knew that the days of stagnation were at an end. Putting a hand on Thane's shoulder she jerked her head in the direction of the spaceport where their fighters were docked, taking off at a dead sprint without waiting for a verbal response on his part. It had been a long while since she'd been this keyed up, and even longer since she'd been so excited about getting behind the stick again. Seasoned veteran though she may have been, all those who had once been her comrades knew she was capable of acting just like a child when it came to getting up in the air.
Her fingers tapped restlessly on her thighs as she waited for the ladder to descend from within the wing of the ship, and the speed at which she scrambled into the cockpit was unprecedented, the ladder once more retracting within the ship itself. There was no time to zip into her flightsuit, and so she settled for pulling the helmet over her head and clipping it into place, an interface materializing on the inside of the visor that she couldn't perceive thanks to her lack of eyes and physical sight. With robotic precision she ran through the pre-flight checks, flipping switches and pressing buttons without thought.
Slowly the lid of the cockpit lowered and hissed into place, pressure equalizing as she was finally given the green light. Pulling up on the yoke she took off, her pace measured until she was finally clear of the spaceport, taking off at breakneck speed towards the last reported coordinates of the enemy and local fighters.
"This is Rogue Leader. All wings report in." It felt good to be home.
[member="Avedia Lacroix"], [member="Kayrce"], [member="Visser Chernykh"], [member="Desmond C'artyom"], [member="Ardross"]