- Katarn Base -
one minute after contact was lost with Katarn Force
He had a stinker of a hand and little hope of recovering his bet. His neutral face didn't give any of it away or so he hoped. It would take a miracle to get him out of the current jam he was in and he knew it. Of course, Angels had a way of making miracles happen and this time was no different as a sudden alarm began blaring overhead.
"Angel Flight scramble," came the now familiar voice over the speaker. With their mostly human crew it took a while getting used to hear a female Sullustian voice making all of the big announcements but with close to a full day being spent on base they gradually got used to the change. With the Resistance it just came with the ever changing scenery of the various worlds they made supply runs to.
He threw his cards face down on the table. Angel Three took a quick peek at them and muttered a quick "I knew it" as she grabbed her helmet and made for the door. He couldn't keep a small smile from his lips as he grabbed his and followed suite.
Once outside they started jogging towards their A-wings, parked in the main landing field along with the T-70 X-wings that were kept around for base defense. Glancing around he saw personnel rushing to unload the transport that he normally called home but no base personnel were rushing to man the laser cannons that ringed the base. That meant that the base itself probably wasn't under attack.
He was in his cockpit strapping in when the call came over his comms from Excelsior. He used his elbow to tap the answer button as he secure his last strap and engaged the cockpit window closer.
"Mancuso here, go ahead."
"Lieutenant Mancuso, this is Captain Phoenix. We've recieved a priority message from D'Qar requesting the presence of all available starfighter squadrons. You'll be joining Hawkbat and Starstrider squadrons from Katarn Base. We'll be heading out on a rescue mission ourselves. Unless you recieve orders otherwise we'll meet back up on D'Qar after this is over," came the briefing from his leader.
"Roger that Capt. See you on the other star," Bart replied with a grunt. He changed channels as some of the T-70's nearby began lifting off.
"Okay guys check in. We'll be heading to D'Qar right away. Angel One, two lit and ready to go."
"Angel Two, I have two engines operating nominally," came the serious and professional voice of his most serious opponent in Sabaac.
"Angel Three, I have two hot ones ready to burn some Imps," responded the voice of their only female pilot, a gal that liked to have fun and be serious at the same time.
"Angel Four, everything's looking green," ironically came the voice of their greenest pilot, the young rookie assigned to their flight less then a month ago.
"Angel Flight scramble. Let's see if we can't dust the T-70's on our way to D'Qar," commanded Mancuso as his A-wing lifted off the ground and headed for the skies. Once he was high enough off the ground he opened the throttles wide up and was pushed back into his seat with mounting g's as the powerful Novaldex engines whined in the atmosphere.
By the time they'd reached the jump point the Angels had indeed passed the other two squadrons. Blowing them a kiss, Mancuso laughed as they engaged the hyperdrives and went on their way.
- D'Qar -
One Hour after contact was lost with Katarn Force
Mancuso whistled as he glanced around at the gathering of starfighters. The Resistance was really pulling out all of the stops with whatever was going on. Fuel and supply trucks abounded as they serviced all of the fighters, including Angel Flight's recently landed A-wings. He saw T-70 X-wings, T-65 X-wings, other A-wings, even some B-wings and others he didn't recognize off hand.
"Man, what do you think's going on?" asked Angel Three.
"Maybe we're going to attack Death Star 3.0," replied Angel Four.
"Man, don't even kind around with stuff like that," shot back Three.
"We won't know for certain until we're briefed. All of this speculation serves no useful purpose. Everyone seems to congregating in the main hangar. Perhaps we should head there as well," came the serious and soft voice of Two.
"Let's go Angels, this should be interesting," said Mancuso with a hint of excitement. The adrenaline was starting to hit him now as a spring developed in his step. He was really looking forward to whatever was coming.
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