SW FICTION: Reflections

AUTHOR'S NOTE:
03/26/06: I'm not sure when this was actually written but it was posted to fanfiction.net on June 28th, 2003. It was the first fan-fiction I wrote (not that I've written that many since, but...). I still think it's good, but perhaps that's because it's the first :)

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Unfortunately I do not own Star Wars, either the name or the universe. That privilege belongs to Lucas. I intend to make no money or anything of that sort, like I even could. Writing and posting this story is purely for my own enjoyment and, I hope, for the enjoyment of others.

Now, on to my own comments. I have to say this for my own sake. Yes I know about green squadron but I chose to ignore my previous knowledge for this story because I needed a squadron name and I liked that one. I am also aware that the story is kind of corny in some parts (especially the last few sentences), but I couldn't think of how to write a better ending at the time. I probably shouldn't be saying any of this and just let you deal with it on your own but... oh well.

Reviews are, of course, welcome. I would like to write much more and need all the help I can get :) Especially when it comes to technical stuff. I never did get off the training levels of the X-Wing game. I'll have to read the X-Wing books again to refresh my memory on how to fly...

Now, to the story...


Reflections

As far as I could tell, I had been floating there, conscious, for hours before they came and pulled me out. The fact that I could barely remember who I was didn't bother me too much; I was too relieved to be out of the Bacta. When memory finally returned, first just trickling in and then in an unwelcome flood, I was able to at least ask the medic how the rest of my people were.

"They're fine, the last one came out of the Bacta a day ago," the sandy haired medic said. Brian, I remembered his name was.

"Just for good measure I'd like to ask you some questions." Brian said.

"Okay." I replied

"What is your name and rank?" Simple question. I still hesitated.

"Commander Cathren Collins." I said.

"How old are you Commander?"

"21"

"Good. You're going to have to stay here a little while longer, so why don't you just lie down and rest." He said and left. Why was it Medics were always in a hurry?

Lying down on the bed they offered me I began to review the events that had brought me here. People came and went, many of them giving me a better picture of what had transpired.

My squadron, Green Squadron by name, had set off from the _Freedom_ (our base) on a routine run on an unarmed Imperial convoy. It had started out fairly well. Our twelve x-wings jumped out of hyperspace right on target. The y-wings, on lone to us from Champion Squadron, disabled the freighter in minuets. Just when I was about to give the command to jump back into Hyperspace (with the Freighter, of course), two more freighters jumped into the system. Rather than risk the loss of people and equipment, I gave the order that as soon as they were clear, they were to make the jump. We never got the chance. Coming out of nowhere, the Ties were on us before we realized what had happened.

Putting my x-wing in a tight loop to the right, I tried to lose the Tie that had somehow come up behind me.

"On my mark three, dive to the left." My cockpit com squawked. To my right I saw an explosion that could only have been the Tie that had been following Green Three.

"Nice Job Six." I said.

A torrent of laser fire hitting my back shields snapped me back to my own problem. Putting all power to the back shields, I sidestepped my x-wing to the left. Completing the maneuver I cut all power to the engines and put on the reverse thrust. The result? My x-wing stopped dead in space. Laser fire bombarded my shields, but they held and just as I expected, the Tie, going to fast, overshot me. Getting my x-wing back to normal speed I came up in back of the Tie and with practiced ease, centered the cross-hairs on the ball cockpit and fired. The explosion was more spectacular than I could have hoped for.

"Nice Shot." The teasing voice of Green Five, my older brother, said.

Currently clear, I took the opportunity to assess the situation. My pilots were handling themselves well. Out of the original 24 Ties only 10 remained and from what I could see we had only lost one pilot. Puling up the file I saw that it was Ceren Kess, one of the new pilots and it was with great relief that I saw he was able to eject.

As I put my x-wing on a course that would take me back to the main battle, I saw another of my pilots go down (also ejected). Maybe it was because of my focusing on the battle ahead that I didn't notice the Tie had slipped behind me (I realized later that my R2 did not warn me). Situational Awareness is what they say keeps a pilot alive. In my case, its momentary laps nearly got me killed. Before I knew what was happening my shields had fallen and my x-wing was starting to fall apart.

I still don't remember ejecting, but my whole squadron says I did. So I will just have to take their word for it.

One of my pilots sent a distress signal to the _Freedom_, as I was told later. The _Freedom_ came, it seems, and retrieved all of its floating pilots, faithfully making sure that we were well taken care of.

Funny as it seems, I actually enjoy what I do. To me freedom is worth spending a few days in a Bacta tank and yes, even worth paying for with my life.

-THE END-