New Blood: Red Vision

By Michael 'Majick' Chalk

(As always, my thanks to George Lucas and Lucasfilm for allowing me to play in this universe. I don't get any profit from this story, but I do get enjoyment out of writing it. If you enjoy reading it, let me know. Special thanks to Vickie Boyd for letting me use some of the characters and locations established in her Station Leave series.)

New Blood Squadron

Alpha/Lead - Deysha Johats - Human male, from Alderaan

XO/Omega - Aric Cheren - Human male

1 - Zander Berkal - Humanoid clone male, from Khomm

2 - Chinchenza - Noghri male, from Honoghr

3 - Tiel Payse - Sullustan female, from Sullust

4 - Cha Pion - Female Twi'lek, from Ryloth

5 - Carson Deniel - Human male, from Thyferra

6 - Alton Thanas - Human male, from Bakura

7 - Schwann Lay - Human female, from Corellia

8 - Aloi T'Harr - Twi'lek female, from Ryloth

9 - Nisha Destrophi - Human female, from Dantooine

10 - Kirssk Seyrak - Shistavanen male

11 - Tigris Fal - Bith female, from Clakdor VII

12 - Allens Fynner - Human male, from Corellia

13 - Barchelli Cotay - Rodian male, from Rodia

14 - Dael Y'Notens - Twi'lek male, from Ryloth

15 - Ibra Yoko - Human female, from Dantooine

16 - Anders Swali - Human male, from Toprawa

17 - Saar Taas - Gran male, from Kinyen

18 - Ta'a Capti - Human female, from Hapes cluster

19 - Enda Sherr - Human female, from Tattooine

20 - Doma P'Tay - Devaronian female, from Devaron

The first few weeks of pilot training passed slowly. The trainees of New Blood squadron -so named by the Bith musician, Tigris Fal- received instructions on flying all kinds of craft. In some cases, superior knowledge among the trainees meant they would conduct a mission, rather than Captain Johats or his XO, Aric Cheren.

One of these trainees was Alton Thanas, whose father had been in the Imperial Navy until he defected after the events of Endor and Bakura. Alton had grown up playing sims his father had brought home to him when on leave, and was far and away the best pilot of Imperial craft among the trainees.

Tiel Payse, meanwhile, was recognised as the premier pilot of the larger craft, from shuttles right up to bulk freighters. Her long experience as a smugger had given her time in every craft the squadron could think of.

Carson Deniel was the best pilot of X-Wings and other snubfighters. Trained by Bror Jace in the Thyferran Home Defence Corps, Deniel had benefited from the ex-Rogue's experience and skill, and regularly came out top in the sims run using New Republic craft.

One person refused to admit to being anything but the best, however. Zanter Berkal, the revolutionary from Khomm, was beginning to come back out of the shell his punishment duty had placed him in. He frequently argued with his squad mates, although after his defeat by Chinchenza, he never allowed the confrontations to become physical.

One exercise called for a commando scenario in one of Coruscant's slums. The scenario called for Thanas to lead seven of the trainees against a stronghold defended by the remaining twelve. To ensure a challenge, the former commandos, Finner and Taas, were assigned to defence duty.

"Berkal, take Dael and go left. Chinchenza, take Lay and head right. Go now!"

Thanas looked out to the right, and saw Chinchenza lead Schwann Lay down the right corridor, towards the suspected armoury. Looking left, he failed to see the other team, then jumped when he realised they were right beside him. Dael Y'Notens, one of he squadron's Twi'leks, had a pained look on his face.

"Berkal, you're still here. Why?" Thanas asked.

"With respect, sir," Berkal began, his distaste for Thanas evident in every word. "I disagree with your orders. We have a better chance of success if we all storm the armoury."

"You're disobeying orders," Thanas said, his voice flat, disbelieving.

"Yes, 'sir'. I believe you are wrong in your orders, and don't feel the need to obey them."

"Since when was it your choice what orders you follow, Berkal," Dael hissed at him.

"Since I realised I knew more than our so called commanding officer here," Berkal replied, jabbing a finger at Thanas as he looked at Dael.

"Put that finger to good use, Berkal," Thanas snapped. "Go shoot the others. I'll say it again. Go left…"

"Not… a… chance…" Berkal replied, poking Thanas to emphasise each word.

Thanas grabbed Berkal's wrist, and twisted it. Berkal hissed in pain, and swung his free arm at Thanas' head. The two moved together, landing solid blows on one another, when a voice cut through the noise they were making.

"You two, in my office as soon as we get back to base. This exercise is terminated…"

"You both know the penalty for fighting during an exercise," Captain Johats began. "Explain to me why I shouldn't kick the two of you out of this squadron, right now."

"Sir," Thanas began. "We have difficulties, it is true, but I think they can be resolved."

"I agree, sir," Berkal answered.

"And do you have any explanation as to what you can do to pour oil on troubled waters?"

"Sir, we have a simple situation," offered Thanas. "We duel it out in simulated assaults on the commando range, and on the simulators. Random assignations, random teams. It's purely going to be a test for us, and the rest of the squadron gets some more training."

"Whichever result presents itself, we accept," Berkal added, with a glower at Thanas.

"And you think that will be enough to cool things off between the two of you?"

"Neither one of us wants to leave the squadron, sir," Thanas replied.

Johats stared at the two trainees, absentmindedly drumming his fingers on the desktop.

"Very well… Approved. I'll arrange the scenarios myself."

The first commando scenario ended quickly. Berkal's attacking force rebelled against his suicidal orders, and was wiped out. Johats chewed out the entire team. When the time came for Berkal to lead the defensive team, he had spent time studying commando tactics, and was better prepared. Thanas' team was wiped out in short order, never getting close to the defender's position.

This left the starfighter test, ten ships against ten. Johats had vetoed the idea of a random scenario, instead pitting the ships directly against each other, without the chance for other factors to come into play. The sims were programmed for an area of empty space, free from the influence of suns, stars, planets or any other potential hazards. Each trainee was given their choice of craft, and then they were put into random teams with either Thanas or Berkal.

The scenario began with the ships dropping out of hyperspace, facing each other across the void of space. Thanas' and Berkal's ships powered towards each other, Thanas in an A-Wing, Berkal in an X-Wing. Their targeting computers searched frantically for a lock on the other ship. Finally, at a kilometre apart, Berkal's R5 droid bleeped confirmation of a lock, and Berkal pulled the trigger, sending twin proton torpedoes searing off towards Berkal's ship.

Suddenly, a flash of white obscured Thanas vision. He blinked, thinking initially that a ship had exploded, blinding him. Then his droid beeped again, confirming two hits, although the torpedoes should have been far short of Berkal's ship. He focussed again on the whiteness, realising -belatedly, judging by the comm traffic- that it wasn't an explosion.

It was an Interdictor class Imperial Star Destroyer.

His droid beeped furiously, and he glanced at the readout. The ship was powering up its gravity well projectors, trapping the snubfighters where they were. They couldn't escape.

Thanas slapped at the emergency stop button, but nothing happened. From the comm traffic, that scenario was repeating itself squadron wide. He cursed.

"Thanas, this is Berkal. Do you read me?"

"Berkal, what do you want? We're all a little busy here."

Berkal let out a long sigh before replying.

"I am aware of this. It would appear the parameters of this scenario have changed. I suggest we work together to take down the Star Destroyer."

It didn't take Thanas long to work out the odds. To emphasise the fact, an A-Wing exploded off to his port side when it got in the way of a turbolaser blast.

"Agreed. You're One, you take lead."

"Affirmative. Berkal to all New Bloods: Thanas and I have agreed that this exercise has been aborted. We must work together to take down the Star Destroyer. Slave your firing control to mine, on the following frequency."

A firing code appeared on monitors squadron wide. It was punched into the computers of the remaining fighters, and then the pilots waited.

And waited.

"Transferring command to Thanas," came Berkal's voice. "The Imps just launched their TIE's. I'm hung up here."

Thanas' missile targeting system came alive, and he targeted the main superstructure of the Destroyer, jutting up to the rear of the vessel. He fired, and was gratified to see almost thirty other torpedoes streaking after his as they sailed towards the enemy ship.

Then he turned his attention to the Destroyer's two dozen complement of TIE's. As reports began to come in of severe damage to the Interdictor, Thanas dropped his targeting bracket over the first TIE. He fired, and a pair of ruby red laser bolts streaked rapidly across space, and boiled away the top of the TIE's cockpit. Venting atmosphere, the TIE was dead, and Thanas followed up with another blast into the engines to be sure. The ion engines exploded, shredding the TIE into shrapnel.

Berkal was having less luck. He'd picked up a trailing TIE, and nothing he could do would shake it. He'd taken a huge risk by flying in front of the incoming barrage of torpedoes, inserting himself between the missiles and the Destroyer. The TIE had followed him almost carelessly, weaving languidly between the explosions.

Now the TIE's twin lasers were beginning to impact on his ship's shields. Only the fact that the A-Wing was so manoeuvrable was keeping him alive.

Carson Deniel was looking around frantically for Thanas, his usual wingman. With the dissolution of the initial scenario, the call had gone out for standard wing pairings. Deniel knew Thanas was a clever, experienced pilot. That he couldn't see him meant he was probably in trouble.

"He should be barrel rolling through the middle of this furball," he thought. "He should have made ace off of this in a snap. These pilots just seem to suck."

Then he saw him.

He was flying right at an A-Wing identified as Berkal's.

And he was firing torpedoes.

Thanas had the enemy in his sights. He selected the dumb fire option on his torpedoes, bypassing the targeting computer, and aiming by sight. Berkal's A-Wing came into his sights, and he pulled the trigger.

Berkal saw the X-Wing coming towards him, and recognised it as being Thanas' ship. Then he saw the twin flash of torpedoes, and he understood.

As he triggered the torpedoes, Thanas keyed his comm unit.

"Dive, Berkal, dive now!"

Berkal sent his A-Wing into a sharp dive, and the torpedoes streaked through his engine exhausts. The TIE pilot reacted as well, but for him it was too late. The torpedoes tore through his viewport, before exploding in his cockpit.

Thanas looked away before the torpedoes hit, and pulled his X-Wing into a sharp climb. He saw the dot of the TIE vanish from the radar screen, leaving a cluster of friendly dots, and the single large dot of the Interdictor.

Thanas caught a flash of blue in the corner of his eye, and tried to yank his ship over to one side, but the climb he'd put it in negated the act. He felt the ship shake as he was hit by an ion bolt from the Interdictor. Everything around him died as the electronics shorted out. His engines cut out, his joystick went limp in his hands, and his comm unit went silent. He swore as his momentum carried him up and away from the battle.

Deniel saw the ion bolt hit Thanas, but he had more pressing concerns. So far, the Interdictor had been passive; simply allowing the TIE's to do its fighting. Now it had repaired the damage to its shields form the earlier torpedo attack, and with all of its TIE fighters dead, it was clearly under the control of an angry commander.

The Interdictor's turbolasers and ion cannons poured great swathes of energy outwards at the New Bloods. Torpedo launchers tacked on the snubfighters, trying for a lock on the smaller ships. Berkal's voice came over the comm again.

"Slave your targeting systems to me again. We're going to take this ship down."

The remaining New Blood's transferred control of their torpedo launchers to Berkal. He targeted the command superstructure of the Interdictor again, and when he got a target lock, squeezed on the trigger. His torpedoes streaked away from the bow of his ship, and he instantly threw his A-Wing into a complex series of twists and loops.

As Berkal strived to avoid the Interdictor's gunners, each of the other New Blood's fired, adding their torpedoes to his. The missiles rushed through space, impacting on the Interdictor's shields, collapsing them. The weapons slowly sputtered to a halt as well, leaving the battleship open to attack.

"Shields are down," reported Doma P'Tay. "Beginning my run."

"I'm your wing," replied Enda Sherr, her wingman.

"Wait for everyone else, damn it!" Berkal snarled into the comm. "It'll take for ever to kill that thing if we only go for a bit at a time. That's not going to make me look too good.

"New Bloods," he continued. "Form up for assault on the Interdictor. Fire at will, target the control area if you can."

A chorus of acknowledgements filtered through the comm, and Berkal smiled. With Thanas out of the way, he would really impress when this Destroyer went down.

Thanas' X-Wing had slowed to a crawl as it lost momentum. Behind him, he could see the flashes of the battle, and even a toothpick sized sliver of white that had to be the Interdictor. He swore, and yanked open the panel that covered the manual restart lever. The metal bar swung out into the open, and he pressed it down with his foot. He began to pump it, slamming it down hard, trying to produce a spark big enough to restart the X-Wing.

Finally, the generator caught, and his ship began to come back online. As the tac screens began to flicker, Thanas caught sight of something he didn't want to see. The remaining New Bloods were flying in formation towards the Interdictor.

"Surely they can see that's suicide?" he gasped. "That ship will pick them off like stormies in a tarpit! Weave, damn it!"

Berkal smirked as the New Bloods ships gathered around him. He nodded to himself, recognising the Three Diamonds parade formation. Taking down the defenceless Interdictor would be simple with this kind of massed power at his disposal.

Johats, commanding the Imperial forces for this exercise, tried to work out Bekal's logic. He'd stopped firing, yes, but that didn't mean the Interdictor was defenceless. He'd been trying to lure one or two of the trainees in closer. But to get all of them? A rich prize indeed, and a definite lesson for his trainees.

Thanas swore again, and again, as his engines failed to catch. Without the power from them, he couldn't raise communications with the other members of the squadron. He looked at the radar screen again, showing three diamonds moving towards the motionless Interdictor.

"Begin targeting the snubfighters," Johats ordered Cheren, who was working the Interdictor's fire control for the sim. "Don't get a lock until they're past the point of return…"

"Begin trying for locks on the Interdictor. It shouldn't be too hard…" Berkal said, his lips twisting into a feral sneer.

The engines finally ignited, and Thanas steered his X-Wing around to face the battle. As his comm flickered back online, he began to shout into it.

"Acquire locks… Now!" Johats said, quietly.

"Accelerate to attack speed. Ignore those locks. They're trying to spook us," Berkal ordered.

"Break off!" Thanas yelled. "Break off! It's a trap!"

Torpedoes, laser blasts, and ion bolts streaked away from the Interdictor, tearing into the parade perfect formation that New Blood squadron had assumed.

"Switch to ion cannon. I want some of them alive to know they've been beaten," Johats said. Better an embarrassment now…

Two X-Wings, those of Sherr and P'Tay had managed to break away. The other ships had taken a hellacious pounding. Only Berkal was left under power, with Ibra Yoko and Kirrsk Seyrak still mostly intact.

The rest of New Blood squadron was gone. Just gone.

The Interdictor's shields flickered back into life, their strength gradually increasing.

"New Blood, break and acquire missile locks. Fire when ready," Thanas ordered, his laser cannons cycling furiously as he sprayed the Interdictor with energy bolts.

Sherr and P'Tay complied, targeting the ship, and firing torpedoes as soon as they had locks. Berkal didn't move, his ship not deviating from its course towards the Interdictor's bridge.

"Berkal, you hear me?" Thanas called.

Berkal's A-Wing began to fire lasers into the Interdictor's shields. Missiles were dumb fired, impacting scant metres in front of the ship's bridge. Readings on the shields strength began to level out, before slowly dropping as Berkal's assault took its toll.

Berkal's ship began to move forward, rapidly accelerating. Thanas recognised that Berkal had diverted power from weapons to engines, greatly increasing the ship's top speed.

Too late, he realised Berkal was still aimed at the Interdictor's bridge.

Berkal had seen it all. His clumsy tactics, in real life, would have killed his team. Searching for personal glory, he'd found ignominy. He only had once choice left.

As the ship sped forward, he emptied his weapons into the Interdictor's shields. Then he shut his eyes.

The A-Wing bloomed orange red fire as it impacted. The Interdictor's shields flashed once, then collapsed, leaving the huge ship open to attack.

Thanas, P'Tay and Sherr dropped their crosshairs over the Interdictor's bridge, and fired.

"So, you're done with the me-against-the-galaxy spiel?" Thanas asked Berkal, hours later.

"For now. I understand what I failed to grasp earlier. For a pilot to do well, the squadron must do well."

"Good… What are you drinking?"

"Are you going to do it now?" Deniel asked.

"Do what?" Anders Swali replied, absentmindedly, looking around.

"Look, Yoko is over there. Just go over and ask her."

"What?" Anders looked round, surprised "Carson, what are you talking about?"

"Anders, I've seen the way you look at her."

"Yoko? There's nothing there. You've plotted the wrong course, my friend."

Kirrsk Seyrak looked up from his seat with a grin.

"I don't think he has. You obviously like her."

"Not in that way, don't… I don't know anything about her!"

"Ah…" Carson said, with a smile.

"I swear, you have the filthiest mind."

"Guilty," Carson replied with a smile. "Now, you going to admit to liking her?"

"Look, I'm not after her in that way. She's my wingmate. I want to get to know her, sure, but she keeps herself locked down. I want to find out why. That's all!"

"Well, I knew that."

"You did?"

"Sure. She knocked me back a couple of weeks back," Carson admitted. "Must be some deep seated intimacy problem there…"

Deniel was sent flying by Swali, who swung a hard elbow into his jaw. Anders jumped on top of his fallen room-mate, and pointed a finger directly in his face.

"Listen to me, roomy," he spat. "Whatever her story is, you stay well enough out of it. She does not need some C grade Casanova letching over her every step she takes."

He stood, rapidly, and stalked out of the lounge.

Seyrak, who stayed silent, helped Carson to his feet.

"Honestly," Carson began, spitting blood onto the floor. "I'm at least a B-grade Casanova."

Ta'a Capti found Anders in the observation lounge, looking up into Coruscant's night sky.

"Anders?" she said, quietly.

"Ta'a… I'm not really in the mood to talk."

"I've found that when someone says that, what they mean is 'I'm in the mood to talk, but what I have to say is going to embarrass me.'"

"Oh, sure, that's what I mean… How'd you know that?"

She sighed.

"I'm the daughter of a minor noble back home. Since I was fifteen, I've been running around doing diplomatic duties. Sometimes diplomacy is knowing who wants to talk, and what they want to talk about."

"And what do I want to talk about?"

"You're worried, about someone rather than something. The signals you give off aren't too clear, but I'd guess it was your wingmate."

"I'm not interested in her, ok?"

"I know this. I've been watching everyone, and your interest in Ibra is purely friendly."

"Thank you."

"What is it about her that worries you?" Ta'a asked.

"Everyone else, hell, even Berkal now, has opened up to the rest of the squadron? What do we know about Ibra? Se used to be an athlete, then she dropped off the face of the galaxy for eighteen months. Now she's here. She could be a loose cannon, she could be an Imperial agent…" he tailed off.

"Everyone opens up to strangers at their own rate. Besides, she does talk to people. I see her talking to Enda sometimes."

"Does she? I suppose that's something. It's just, well…"

"As her wingmate, you feel she should talk to you?"

"Yeah… We didn't get off to the best of starts…. Maybe that's why."

"What happened?"

Anders began to tell Ta'a about his first meeting with Ibra, in the spaceport.

Enda Sherr, squadron medic, walked over to where Ibra Yoko stood, leaning against the bar.

"Are you okay?" she asked, feeling a little silly for asking.

"Super. I've only been here for a few weeks, and already the guys are fighting over me. That can't be a good thing."

"They're both pretty cute…" Enda began, but Ibra cut her off.

"I know you mean that as a joke, but… I just can't afford to get into any form of relationship. You know how things are. At any time, I could…"

"Landing alert. Landing alert. The base has visitors. The base has visitors," came the call over the address system. The squadron looked up at it, curiously. "A YT-800 light freighter has docked here at the base" -Nisha Destrophi, the Dantooine female stiffened at the news- "Its owner is Haarken Chaymore, and he carries a fine line in entertainment holos, attractive gifts, and high sugar foodstuffs." With the announcement, Destrophi relaxed, looking round to see if anyone had noticed.

She was glad to see no one had.

Around her, the squadron stood, and moved out towards the landing bay. Destrophi moved with them, as eager as the others were to spend her credits. She didn't notice Allens Fynner watch her for a second, before he too joined the rush for the new ship.

The next morning dawned bright and early over Coruscant. Johats and Cheren walked into the lecture theatre expecting to find half a squadron still missing, with the early arrivals looking tired and listless.

Instead, they were delighted to see, the entire squadron was there early, laughing, joking, and looking decidedly upbeat.

Even Berkal now looked to be part of the group, though still on the fringes.

Johats looked around at the squadron, and smiled. He stepped up to the podium, and cleared his throat.

"Right," he began. "This'll be the last lecture here on Coruscant for a while. Tomorrow," he continued. "We fly to our next training base. Aric will tell you about it."

"Station 421 is, I suppose, my legacy. It's where I trained up Blue Squadron, the precursor to today's Rogue Squadron. Among the member's of Blue Squadron were such luminaries as Wes Janson," he paused. "And Wedge Antilles.

"While we probably won't be able to train you up to their standards, just yet-"

"Doesn't mean we won't try," Johats remarked.

"Exactly. We do aim for you to leave here equally well trained in intrusion as you are in piloting."

"Right, then… Before that, we get to learn about Gravimetrics. Now then…"

To the accompaniment of groans, Johats turned to the holo projector.

To be continued…

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