Author:
Rogue
Rogue was seated in the SSD along with five other pilots, all had once served together in Red Squadron and survived the Battle of Endor. It wasn't often that the group had managed to get together in sufficient numbers and talk about the old days. Sitting at the table with Rogue was his fellow squadmate, Spectre five, Gremlin, next to her was Sabre nine, Shadow, then Buccaneer's two and six, Gnoizic and Angel, finally Rogue nine, Lock. The group had been sitting together for over an hour now, reliving old missions and remembering fallen friends and comrades.
The laughter was loud and others in the SSD were looking up from their respective tables and booths and towards the table making all the noise. Angel was laughing so hard that tears were rolling down her cheeks, Shadow's laugh became a gutteral snort which made the others laugh more. Lock waited for everyone to finish laughing more or less before carrying on speaking. "Well, what else could I do, I simply saluted, told them that the stain should wash out eventually and then got the hell out of there!" There was more laughing and this time even Lock joined in after he'd finished telling his tale.
The pilot's settled back down once more, Gremlin used her elbow and nudged Rogue's arm, "Rogue, tell us again about the card game you and Grizz had."
Rogue leaned back slightly. "Which one? We had a few."
A smile spread across Gremlin's face. "Blue."
"Kriff!" Rogue exclaimed before laughing. "That card game!" Rogue took a sip of his Lomin Ale before speaking. "So, Grizz and I were pretty tight, we were in the same flight group and I was his wingman, so we used to spend a lot of time hanging out when we weren't flying as well. One of the things we would do in our downtime was to play Sabacc, one of the Crew Chief's ran a regular game, decent stakes and her rule of no rank at the table meant it was open to all who wanted in. Anyway, we were playing Kessel Sabacc this time, with full shifts and variations in effect, there was just Grizz, the Chief and myself left in the game and somehow credits were no longer wagered, the currency had switched to dares. It had started off with the Chief suggesting that whoever got the worst hand would have to spend the day on the flight deck in their dress uniform pretending to be a protocol droid, Grizz had immediately raised the stakes and raised it to the looser being on the flight deck in just their underwear and having to perform an exotic dance for the on duty ground crew, I think he had a thing for the Crew Chief, the two of them were always making suggestive comments at each other. Anyway after a few more raised bets between us, with the stakes becoming directing a launch while naked apart from boots, rank insignia and flight wands, I added the final raise, all body hair must be dyed bright blue."
"I remember!" Exclaimed Gnoizic. "Damn, I almost botched my landing when I was met with that sight."
"Following the wrong flight wand." Lock chimed in before Rogue could continue. Everyone, including Gnoizic, laughed at this.
Rogue took another quick sip of his drink before continuing. "Anyway, things were looking pretty good for me, my hand was low and I'd just picked up as well, however, the fates seemed to be against me that day as a random shift and reverse happened, making me get rid and then pick up a new card, from having something, I'd gone to having a terrible hand, a pair of four's. I managed to keep my face neutral. The other two drew their cards and then it was time to show. I placed my pair of four's down straight away, Grizz had a smile on his face as he put down a pair of one's, the Chief swore making Grizz's smile even wider until she put down a pair of three's, her exact words to me, were, 'Read 'em and weep fly boy'." The group laughed. "The next day I came down to the flight deck in a robe, the robe had a hood which I had pulled over my head and low so no one could really see my face. I walked over to Chief and took the pair of wands she had in her hand and then walked out to the flight line. When I got there I shrugged off the robe revealing all of my hair including my body hair dyed bright blue. No clothing at all apart from my flight boots and my rank tab, which I'd stuck to my left breast using something that bloody hurt when I took it off later. I was a good sport, and stayed there for the whole landing and take off process. It took me a week to get the blue out of all my hair."
The group was laughing again, as Rogue took a swig and drained the remains of his Lomin Ale.
"I still have flashbacks to that day." Shadow said grimacing.
Rogue laughed. "You're not the only one, believe me!"
Iggy came over to the table bringing fresh drinks for all the pilots sitting there, and placed them in front of each pilot before heading off back to the bar.
"Here's to Red five, Grizz Frix." Rogue said as he picked up his mug of ale.
Rogue and the others raised their drinks and as one all said, "Grizz."
Gremlin kept her glass raised. "Here's to all the others that have gone too soon."
Before anyone else could say anything, Angel spoke up. "To all that flew with Red Squadron."
Everyone raised their glasses high up. "Red Squadron."
