– Excerpts from Juru Ilatel's personal diary –

Well, at least I got to shoot something again today. Problem is, I'm not sure I enjoyed all of it… and what does that mean?

Finally, our first “real” mission as a company; apparently Bimmisaari housed a rebel attack group that was causing trouble for the local forces. Our job: gather intel about the rebels and then eliminate them.

Somehow the only 3 non-humans managed to draw the short straws to be squad leaders… I'm sure this won't cause any more sour jaquiras with the humans. Too bad for them, orders are orders, and I have a feeling Major Brenna doesn't care for anyone disobeying them. (Otherwise I'd duck out of squad leader duty myself… I mean, really? Can't I just be in charge of a turbolaser cannon and do my own thing? Why have me lead a bunch of sullen humans?) Still, I quietly suggested to Andretti & Rabee that they watch their sixes for more than rebels…

…and what does that young fool do but base his squad choices on the prettiest women? Quichay kuna, he'll be lucky to live long enough to grow out of it…

Well, not my worry now, time to suit up and take charge of Tilt, Gadget & Pinpoint. At least that brash Inferno ended up elsewhere. Nonetheless, it was just a matter of moments before the first cracks of insolence began to creep forth. I decided to try and flush out some rebel activity by making them panic at the sight of some Imperial force, and ordered my squad to form up for sensor sweeping while firing at empty jungle at the edges of a city; Tilt apparently thought he'd do better on his own, breaking formation and causing columns of smoke to rise several klicks from the rest of our location. That khunu is going to get one of us killed yet, I just know it… I'll just have to stay alert enough to make sure it's not me, I suppose.

Apparently the plan still worked though, to some extent: we caught the tail end of a comm saying “…ials are here…”, followed a few moments later by “keep your heads down!” Hopefully I've chosen the right destiny here though and caused the rebels to act rashly, and not caused them to go to ground beyond our ability to root them out.

Ah, destiny IS kind… right as we started to climb higher to do longer-range sweeps, blips on the horizon! A rebel greeting party, perhaps? 4 Z-95s… frell, a bit more than I care to match up against this squad in these glorified soupcans. Still, glory to the Empire, blah blah just hope I survive. (Side note: why can't they rig drink dispensers into these helmets? A little Corellian whiskey would add a nice fighting edge).

And a pleasant surprise to start: I quickly lined up the lead Z95 in my sights and unleashed Imperial “might” (remember: TIE fighter, sigh) against them, and my wingmen actually got their heads together enough to follow my lead immediately. The beauty of blossoming starfighter shrapnel… there are still SOME perks to this job I suppose.

Frack! Let reflection, more evasion Juru… that shot did some real damage, can't afford another! Luckily the next one missed, and Tilt seems to have nearly destroyed his own attacker. Not so lucky the next couple of shots though… I rolled out of the way of one blast and Gadget was right behind, screaming “my face is on fire!” as his fire-consumed ejection seat drifted through the sky. Tilt was next to go, and as soon as he did the remaining 2 Z95s fled in the chaos for reasons unknown. I was about to order a chase when the Major came on, ordering us to form up at Andretti & Rabee's location. Apparently they'd found a prisoner who talked and gave away the location of the rebel base. A quick glance at the dimishing Z95s and a shrug of my shoulder, and we're on our way. As I said, orders are orders, taking out those last 2 is not today's destiny.

This warehouse is the headquarters of a rebel cell? Dilapidated, ill-used, and half-collapsed… if this is typical, it seems the Empire has little to fear. Still, I've fought enough to know it's the cornered dog that fights hardest.

No other way in though; Andretti's group & mine (Slim joined Pinpoint & I, after much grumbling) scouted around before returning to the padlocked front door that Rabee made short work of.

These two Z95s parked inside look quite familiar! Perhaps destiny is not what I thought it was for today after all. Sneaking through jumbled corridors, and now voices on the other side of a door. I waited for Andretti's group to join up, then Slim pushed the door in and we quickly fanned into the room, blasters drawn.

Burnt, maimed, fevered… so much for a resistance. Even the medical droid attending the 7 “rebels” has seen better days. A blaster fire and a stifled scream caused me to whip around… Andretti had shot one of the now-prisoners in the leg, demanding information! Everyone in the room (including our own squadmates) looked at Andretti oddly… myself included. I have a bad feeling about this kid messing up my retirement plans…

Rabee's turn to find something, so we left Slim & Vortex to handle the prisoners while we went to provide backup. A quick peek through the fluttering curtains: two pilots and some leather-clad man at a radio. After motioning my intent to the others, I kicked open the door and shot Mr. Leather, blasting the controls out of his hand to prevent him alerting anyone else. Andretti hit one of the pilots, who slumped over as Andretti cackled “Hands in the air and no one else gets hurt!” Given the look on his face, I don't blame them for the hasty surrender. And based on the descriptions Rabee got, it seems Mr. Leather is actually Rix, the leader of this cell. The furtive glances of the remaining captives at him as Slim & Vortex brought them to our location confirmed it.

Then, one last order from the Major: leave no trace, leave no prisoners alive. An apologetic shrug later and the remaining pilot was down - orders, right? Andretti almost-too-gleefully took care of Rix (seriously, I'm a little worried about that kid's stability!), and the rest of our squad opened fire on the prisoners… well, mostly. I don't know if it's my imagination, but Rabee seemed to wait a heartbeat too long before missing the kill shot on his target. First time using a more personal touch on the gun maybe? Can't say I completely blame him, I'm not particularly thrilled with or used to it myself, much easier when you see plastisteel shrapnel instead of bone fragments.

The “cleanup” was quickly over though, and now back to the frigate. A mission well done, though the Major seems less-than-thrilled about my two downed wingmen. I'd like to see her do better with a handful of tincans against heavier-armed opponents though… especially when one of those tincans is half-empty and off on its own shelf. Anyhow, sounds like the cleanup stormtrooper crew found a bunch of slaves in the warehouse – less rebel cell, and more slaver group it sounds. That'll clear up any feelings of remorse…

What won't likely clear up anytime soon is Gadget & Tilt's feelings towards me. Guess I won't be getting any May-December romances from either of them… so sad for me. Pfft. They should count themselves lucky to still be alive; squads take hits, that's just how it is.