"Tym! Hey, wait up!" I stopped and turned around to see who'd called my name. A groggy shadow came bounding towards me, I knew that eventually my eyes would focus. "You alright?" the figure asked, still nothing yet. "Yeah, fine. My eyes just haven't adjusted to the brightness of the ships lights yet." "Oh yeah. The ground mission. What happened?" "Quite a bit?" I stopped and squinted at the figure. "Look, can I get back to you, I've gotta a lot of unpacking to do?" "Oh, yeah. Sure thing. Look, I'm sorry to keep you, I'll let you get settled back in." "Thanks." I remarked, walking off, but I still couldn't make out who it was I was talking too. "At least THEY know ME, that must be a good thing." I said to myself, and stumbled down the corridor to what looked vaguely like my door. "Whoa!" "Whoops, sorry! Wrong room?" I tried the next door?this time, no noise came from it. I moved over to where the bed should be and eventually found it, slumping down into the sheets and laying back. The darkness of the room helped a lot, and eventually my eyes focused on the ceiling plates. As I turned to look out my window at the stars, a face came into immediate view! "Jes?" and I stumbled backwards, falling out of bed, hitting the floor with a thump. "You OK, 'General'?" came a familiar voice. "Jayne?" The figure sat up. The light of the star behind her meant I couldn't see who I was talking too. It sounded like her, but, it wasn't. "Listen. I am a messenger for you from Staff Sargent Air. She's been remanded in custody, on board-ship, and is awaiting transfer to the central system." "On what charges?" I said getting up "Please, just listen. There's something at work here. I don't know what it is. Special forces entered our room and pulled her out of her bunk while she slept. We were both tranq'd, but we always keep the security recorder on at nights. Guess they didn't know as much as they thought." "Why?" I dared to question, now knowing it was Jayne's roommate. "Like I said, they were special forces. No one is giving an explanation, other than an arrest." The figure moved forward towards me, still obscured by the shadows. "Please be careful, Tym. There are conflicting forces at work here. I know nothing other than the evidence I give you now." "You want me to find her?" "The Imperials believed in backstabbing behaviour. If they could worm their way up command by killing or sleeping with the enemy, they'd do it. Knowledge and power was everything. I dread to think what Jayne found out." "?I'll do my best." I answered in a cold, grim voice. * * * * * The next morning came too soon. Fully recouped from the ground expedition I'd been on for the Grey-Alpha's, I set about writing some requests, to see what I could find out. Just as I was sending them, there was a knock at the door. "Hello?" the door slid back. "Sir, new orders from Hellfire Command. Commander Sunrider wants you in space ASAP." "Any particular mission profile?" The cadet looked at the orders screen on his datapad. "It would appear to be a quelling of an ambush. They need you to take out as many fighters as possible." "Huh?" I smiled, "I'll be in the briefing room." "Sir!" the cadet saluted and left, closing the door behind him. * * * * * "OK fellas, stay sharp on this one. When they jump in, we gonna want to be behind them?" "Sir, new Frigate and Corvette group baring six o'clock." "Good start." I commented to myself, "They get the jump on us!" I clicked the comms open. "The Prometheus will be in system soon, we'll make a run at that Corvette first, then take out the fighters. Keep your eyes peeled for the bombers, they'll be sure to launch them." "Understood, targeting the 'Snoop' with missiles only." Came the reply, as we all moved in on the target. "Two pull out, they've got you on?" but it was too late. The Corvette's lasers laced through the fragile TIE Interceptor hull and tore it apart. "Three, perform evasive manoeuvres, I'll make my run." "Copy that lead" and the remaining TIE looped around the Corvette, dancing around its laserfire. I came in on the underside, of the Corvette, and had just enough time to bring its hull strength right back to single figures. Throttling up, and switching to quad fire, I turned back at point-blank range and fired. The Snoop's hull buckled on my shot, and started to vent air from the back quarter. The lasers stopped firing at us, and the ship started to lease on her port side. Small fires sprouted from landing gantries, and eventually she blew. "Good shooting lead, but I've picked up a group of TIE's and Gunboats, entering the area." "I'm reforming with you, on?point five. We'll sneak around the back and take out the lead." "Understood." Changing the power config around, we both jetted off towards one of the newly entered Frigates. "General. It looks like they've set up an ambush on the Prometheus' entry vector." "Good eyes, three. I'll call in reinforcements. Come about, we're on top of them now." and we both turned to port to face the new threats of the TIE Fighters. Laserfire rocked both our ships, as we'd been out manoeuvred, by the Gunboats. "Where did they come from?" "Cut the chatter, three. Scatter, and try to take out as many as you can. Target the attacking fighters first, and then work your way down." In the moments that followed, we'd both taken a few hits, reducing our hull strength considerably, but we'd both managed to whittle away at their fighter compliment. The Prometheus made the jump, as did another ISD, but by losing Three, I was taking too many hits. On my final run at the bombers around the Destroyer, I opted for home. On the landing pad, I jumped down from my fighter, and looked frantically for a commanding officer. A lieutenant was walking from the cargo ramp, and I stormed towards him. "What the hell, was going on out there!" I demanded, throwing my fighter helmet to the floor, shattering it in two. "Sir, please?" "Where was the back up! Send us in alone against two Frigates, a Corvette and a hatfull of trigger-happy fighters! What are you people thinking of!" By this time, a couple of burley mechanics had jogged over the pull me back, but I shrugged them off. "Sir, PLEASE!" the Lieutenant continued. I walked round in circles, and the mechanics opted not to try and hold me back again. "?We've been done! The back-up teams couldn't jump in because of hyperdrive failures. We're estimating sabotage, but we've gotta lock everything down for a jump and get out of this system before the Prometheus blows." I'd calmed down, made an apology to the poor officer I'd picked on, and picked up my helmet - both pieces - and wondered off, dejected to the locker room. * * * * * "I just couldn't believe it, Jake! We were on an Ambush mission, and we get ambushed ourselves!" I spoke into the comm unit. "I know. It happens all the time. I think you lucked out this time. They were just lucky to have you." "Huh, two other pilots didn't think so." "Tym, you probably kept them both alive for as long as you possibly could, maybe even more so. But if the enemy was as trigger-happy as expected, then they were taken by surprise, and were panicking. You showed good discipline out there." "Thanks, mate. But right now I really do need to hear this. I have to file a couple of letters to a couple of huge mechanics and a flight Lieutenant on the Prometheus." "Ha ha." Jake laughed. "Anyway. I've pulled out all the stops on this one Tym." "I really appreciate this one, Jake. What have you got for me?" "Not much I'm afraid. I've sent the main details to your forwarded address, but otherwise, there are no computers on board the 'Odin' that registers a Staff Sargent Jayne Air. I've tried all spellings." I stopped to think. "Thank you General, I'll contact you soon." "No problem." And I clicked off the comm. I sat back and thought. What if command placed me there, in that firefight for a purpose? Would they be trying to get rid of me? That was my first impression on poor old Lieutenant Hansen, but it was also my gut feeling now. Switching on my viewer, I looked at the data Jayne's roommate had left me, and played the video footage. "Pause." I called to the computer. The image froze on the entry of the two masked strangers. "I don't know you." I pointed out on the screen, "But you?" I pointed to the second, "?I'm pretty sure I know who you are."