The debriefing room looks no different to any others the pilots had attended before.  It was festooned with the flags of the two fighter squadrons already assigned to the Indefatigable.  The viewing screen at the front was replaying the simulation Grey Squadron had just recently completed.

At the front of the room, Captain Jax and a human male wearing the rank insignia of a Commander were discussing the views on the board whilst consulting datapads.  They made no attempt to acknowledge any of the pilots as they entered the room.

Once they had all filed in the doors were closed and the lights dimmed.

The commander was not a physically imposing man.  Standing aprroximately 175cm in height and looking a little underweight, he wore his uniform like he was born in one.  His hair, raven black was cut to regulation length with the sides and back shaved, which many pilots found more comfortable when wearing helmets for a long time.  He looked like a man born to fly.  His eyes briefly met with each person in the room, as if assessing each one like a ship on his scope.  With a slight nod of his head he took in the next person.

Finally he spoke, his voice having a strong Corellian accent.  To the trained ear he sounded exactly like the Captain of the Deepstar and Green 1 from the simulation.

"Ladies and Gentlemen I am not one for grandiose speeches so I will get to the point.  My name is Commander Mark Sheppard and I am the commanding officer of Black Talon Squadron, a new unit I am creating from scratch to serve as a group of pilot-commandos.  For those of you accepted you will find this unlike other squadrons.  You will likely spend more time on the ground than in the air.  This resistance to the Galactic Empire is in its infancy and the need for covert strikes, raids and intelligence is greater than our need to engage in space combat with a numerically and technologically superior foe."

"Now I have read all your dossiers and I'm sure you've spoken with each other so lets get down to business.  I have reviewed the simulation I set for you so rather than ask you pointless questions I know the answers to, I want your opinions, thoughts and comments.  What did you find?  What was the purpose of this exercise and how would you do it differently next time."

"I want all your thoughts.  I'm looking for creative minds and adaptive people, not fighter jocks.  I can get those anywhere."

Neeva strutted into the room in a standard uniform: tight in all the wrong places, it only managed to accentuate her shapely figure.  She help the commander's eye with a casual smile on her face before he turned his attention to the next pilot.

Neeva took a seat where she'd be able to get the best view of her fellow squadmates.  When Zenna arrived, she waved the pilot over to sit near her.  She mutter something under her breath to Zenna as the other female pilot sat down. 


When the commander concluded his words and asked for suggestions, Neeva's eyes darted about, taking in the reactions of her squadmates.  She seemed more interested in who would reply than in addressing the Commander's questions.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:52, Fri 10 Mar 2006.

Zenna walked into the briefing room. She had changed out of her flight suit and was not dressed in uniform. Instead she was dressed in dark pants and a dark blue long-sleeve shirt. A black 3/4 length sleeve-less jacket was cinched at her waist. Her black hair was cropped short but still managed to touch her shoulder.

The young woman returned the Twi'lek's gesture and took the seat to her right. "I can read you just fine." She replied to Neeva's comment as she looked at her headtails.

Zenna began a silent count right after the Commander asked his question.

Twenty ..., Three, Two, One, ... Zenna looked over her shoulder at the rest of the squadron briefly before she finally spoke up.

Sir. My thought was that this simulation was more like a personality test. You threw ten pilots into a given situation without clear chain of command and you sat back to see what would happen. Personally, I think the actual outcome of the sim was secondary to seeing how the various personalities would react."

She looked to the Captain, before her attention returned to the Commander. "You've read our dossiers, but that doesn't give you a clear impression of our personalities and how we'd react to your test."

"There are a few things that I would have done differently at the beginning of the sim."

"One - Designate a chain of command.
Two - Ordered all fighters to focus on the Tie fighters surrounding our frigates.
Three - As soon as the frigates were clear, I would have split the squadron into two groups. One to assist the Y-Wings and the second to engage the first group of Tie Bombers. It would be at this time that I would have asked" Zenna made sure to stated it as a request, unlike the order she gave for the Deepstar to move to cover the Sarah by directly moving into the path of the torpedos. "the captain of the Deepstar to dock to the Sarah and transfer passengers."

"If we could transfer the passengers safely and quickly, we could have jumped out of the system before the Blood Angel closed into weapons range."

The young woman turned to the others seated in the room. "They did a great job as it is. I wasn't part of it since I got shot out of my fighter. But I would have avoided a direct assault on the Blood Angel, if possible.

Xil sat upright in his chair, with a slight lean to the left.  His eyes look blank, like he is either absent minded or deep in thought...or like he just doesn't care.  When he speaks, he is forceful and to the point.  "We learned that teamwork is important to success.  When we started we had problems, but we started doing better once we started cooperating."

Cyril had been the last to arrive, and on purpose. He had sought out the Commander and the Captain, but managed to only track the latter. It had been a pleasant surprise to see how masterfully the Captain had managed to make herself blend into the crowd at the mess hall, considering her rank. I had the added benefit of hearing most of the exchanges at the Mess Hall for himself.

For a moment, Cyril considered the possibility that Captain Zyra Jax might just be... from the same 'department' as he was. In fact, he wasn't even sure if the Captain simply did not notice him shadowing her, or pretended not to notice, for whatever reasons. He had to admit, very few people had the ability to make him doubt himself and his skills, and the Captain had just become one of those few. There was just one word to describe such people: dangerous.

Entering into the room last gave Cyril a few benefits. One, few of the others would have noticed him at all, if any, as they would be too busy looking at the Commander and the Captain up front. Two, he could sit at the back, alone, and be able to observe, undistracted, what the others would say. Cyril already knew what he wanted to say, but it would be interesting to find out just what the others thought, which may just give him more information to dwell on before actually speaking up.

Cyril merely nodded in slight agreement when Grey 6 and Exilim spoke first. The Commander's tone of voice when he asked for opinions hinted that the thoughts of those two, although relevant, were not the kind of opinions he was looking for.

"Vastly insufficient," is all Cyril could think after hearing them, looking intently at the Commander's face for any reactions.

Christian sat by Zenna quietly, listening to the discussion.  He listened to Zenna with interest.  This is a smart woman he thought.

"You said that we were designed for piloting and a commando team.  Each of us here has our own strengths and weaknesses.  Like Zenna said, This test could have been to test our personality..but I think it was also to test our ability to adapt each of our skills, to see what we can do."

"It was to see what we can do on our toes."

He looks around the table.  "I think this was as much a test for us to find out about each other as it was for you to find out about us."

Zenna leaned forward.  "So what do you think we found Flight Officer Grimm?  How did you react on your toes?  How did you adapt your skills to the situation?  I overheard Flight Officer Bedix's evaluation of your skills.  I'd like to hear yours."

Christian scratched the side of his head, and looked at her.  "I don't know what the others realised about themselves, but I realised that my aerial tactics is not as good as I hoped.  I am a soldier, and used to adapting with certain weapons and suituations on the ground.  I was trained in martial arts, so when we have no blasters, we still have our hands as weapons."

"I admit that transfering such tactics isn't as easy as I thought, and that new tactics for piloting will be needed..a skill I hope to learn to better myself."

Christian let out a little sigh, then continues. "As for today, I am aware now that I was reckless, acting with haste.  I am also aware that one action aided the GREEN wing, and in return, they were open to my suggestions."

"In a combat suituation, on the ground at least, I was taught to never leave a man down..in ships it seems harder.  If this had have been a real excercise, we would have lost team mates..something I try not to do."

Christian looks again at Captain Zyra.  "In short, Captain, this suituation was not my expertiese, and thus I used my judgement..my instincts.  This, i realised, wasn't enough.  I need tactical knowledge on such things.."

He looks at the others.  "..something I think we all do, to ensure our tactics in the future are in sync."

"Grimm," Cyril mentally recited. "At least we have something in common. He's probably the kind of guy I'd want watching my back in a blaster fight. Have to keep that in mind."

Nirro entered the room and looked around, He chose a seat near to Zenna and Neeva and smiled at the women as he sat. Nirro listened to the others' statements and waited for a turn to speak. After Christian spoke Nirro stood up.

Commander, I feel that not giving us a specific chain of command made it much more difficult for us to complete our goal. I also believe that that was your intention, to see how we worked as a team with little or no knowledge of each other or each others skill. As you can see, at first, we were dropping like flies until we started working together and a chain of command began to develop.

I beleive that we did well under the circumstances and the fact that we made it out with roughly 50% of the squad still in their fighters, and only one pilot outright "dead" is due to the tactics that were devised by Grey 8 with help from a few others. I feel if everyone had gone along with the plan we might have gotten rid of the Blood Angel faster. But one pilot went on their own. This pilot also had the only full magazine of missiles.

Now don't get me wrong I am not blaming this pilot for anything he apparently had a plan and maybe it was a good one but If he had fired with the rest of the team the possibility remains that we could have seriously damaged the blood angel with our opening salvo

With his piece said Nirron sat back down.

"I think it was too easy.  Yes, I died...but I should have died long before I did.  Any single TIE pilot whom I trained with would have destroyed at least half our pilots.  At least, it was too easy at first...then it got harder.

"The squadron realized that we needed to work together to win.  No chain of command was given to us; we created one, and divided ourselves into two separate flights.  We ruled the skies, and we were about to win.  Then it got harder again.

"Things went wrong.  Missiles barely scratched the Blood Angel when they should have destroyed it.  Why?  We don't learn from mistakes we don't make.  We would have walked away from the simulator feeling cocky; we would have been blown to space dust in our first real dogfight.  They say it's a curse to win the first battle of a war.  Now we know why.

"We now each have a chance to recognize our personal weaknesses and fix them.  We have a chance to work together and build a perfect team.  Had we completed the simulator with no losses, we wouldn't have this chance; we'd consider ourselves invincible, and we'd all die.

"If anyone will need to count on me to watch their backs in a dogfight, I for one will need to spend less time with my...toys...and more with my squadmates and the simulator."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:53, Fri 10 Mar 2006.

Nirro nodded after Jaime's speech. Never thought of it that way Nirro looks over at Neeva to see what her reaction is. She usually has good opinions about everything.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:35, Fri 10 Mar 2006.

"'I am not blaming you' usually means you are," Cyril recited to himself. "I wonder how many of them remember, or even merely realize, what my intentions were."

With a slight glance towards Grey 6, Cyril thinks, "She never even bothered to respond to my outburst and explanation. Come to think of it, she seems to shrink whenever someone who even sounds like an authority starts talking to her. Hmm..."



"There may just be hope for you yet, Webb. Hopefully you've learned that lesson well, because the next time you die, it won't be in a sim."

Neeva caught Nirro's gaze.  She decided to oblige him.

The Twi'lek spoke up, her tone polite and professional, addressing the commander.  "Commander, we've heard a lot of excellent comments so far.  Zenna is correct in assuming that the SIM was about more than battle tactics.  We learned a lot about each other, and some of us learned a bit about ourselves.  Zenna's proposed tactics are sound."

Neeva turned her gaze to Exilim.  "Exilim's attention to the relationship between our teamwork and our success is dead on the mark."

The Twi'lek then turned to Christian.  "Christian speaks for many of us when he confesses that he has much yet to learn about tactics."

The Twi'lek turned to catch Ashlyn's eyes, although he had yet to speak.  "Back in the mess hall, Ashlyn was saying that we were too cocky, we acted as if Ties were no more than an annoyance.  He was right on the mark as well."

The Twi'lek turned back to Nirro.  "Nirro and the others are right about the inefficiency caused by our lack of a chain of command.  Obviously you did that to us on purpose, because no SIM would be a true SIM without a chain of command down to the last two pilots.  I assume you did that because you are looking for leaders.  A dirty trick, but understandable given your circumstances."

"Nirro is also right about Grey Eight's misguided target priorities.  But to be fair, Grey Eight wasn't the only pilot who failed to grasp the mission objective and correctly prioritize targets.  Our mission objective was clear.  We should have all hit the four Ties on the Sarah until they were gone.  It was a major setback when the Sarah was destroyed.  So, Ashlyn's first call was a bad one; and because we had no chain of command, and many of us were a bit cocky and inexperienced, we followed the first orders given, while others of us began offering equally misguided orders."

Neeva then turned to Jamie.  "Jamie is accurate in his observation that the SIM was too easy at some points and suddenly too hard at other times.  Zees with stock triple blasters are no match for Imperial Tie Fighters, regardless of the training of their pilots.  Many more of us should have been toasted.  Maybe we were lucky, maybe you played with the SIM."

Neeva's gaze returned to the Commander.  "So, putting it all together, here's what we've got.  First, we had too many leaders giving too many ill considered orders.  Second, we failed to prioritize our targets based on the mission objectives.  Specifically, some of us wanted to save the Ys, some of us wanted to take on capital ships.  Few of us wanted to protect the transports and get them home.  Our priorities should have been: protect the Sarah, then stop the bombers, then save the Ys, then transfer passengers and stall the frigate, or something pretty close to that."

"So, I suppose Zenna got it right from the beginning: all I've done is repeat the tactics she laid out."

"But I'll add one more point if I may: I think we should have been prepared to lose.  We should have had an exit strategy: a clear plan of when to leave based on losses, a plan to optimize potential losses and prevent total loss.  My impression is that every pilot was prepared to lose everything rather than risk losing the Sarah, despite our mission objective."

Having concluded, Neeva turned her eyes on Cyril.

The COmmander listened to each persons comments without interruption or response.  Once Neeva finished his long speech he waved the pilots back into their seats.

"Thank you all for your cander.  That is all I need to know.  As of know the Captain and I will be finalising our thoughts and preparing a crew roster.  I should warn you all again that this group is highly experimental and covert.  Joining the Talons could just torpedo your career.  Then again you might be the one who gets close enough to stick a vibroblade in Palpatine's guts."

"All people who wish to remain in the squadron send me a message on the ship's internal mail by 1300 hours sharp.  No comment will be made if you choose not to stay, nor will it affect your permanent records.  For those of you who to choose to stay, we will reconvene this afternoon at 1600 hours."

"Atten. . .shun!  Dismissed."

The Commander leaves the room.




OOC:  Okay guys this is the mission 'end point'.  So the GM will be posting XP as soon as he can (if he can tear himself away from sipping champagne on his cruise!).  Please send a PM to me or the GM signalling your intentions to stay with the game or transfer to another game in the community.  You will receive the same XP either way.  For those who leave, its been a pleasure simming with you.  From now on. . .its real!

Cyril Hyquin merely smiles at the Twilek when she turns to him. She had probably figured out his designation after identifying each person from their conversation in the Mess Hall. In any case, she had forced him to take his turn, and was ready to speak up when the Commander shut them all up. Either the Commander had intentionally stopped Cyril from giving himself away, or it was, again, his good fortune. In either case, he had been saved.

Cyril takes the opportunity to exit the briefing room first, quickly locating one of the many computer terminals that lined the corridors of the frigate. He types up the required form and sends it to the Commander, then decides to take a leisurely tour of the ship after he logs out of the system. He had volunteered for this assignment, so the least he could do was find out everything he can about his new headquarters. Maybe a trip to the hanger was in order, or he could log on to the simulater again for more practice.

"Ah, well," Cyril thought with a grin. "I'll just walk around and see where I end up."

Xil stands and leaves the briefing hall.

Christian stands to attention, and salutes the captain and commander with respect and poise of a seasoned soldier.

Upon their departure, he looks around, wondering who will stay and who will go.  Christian allows himself a small smile as he leaves the room.  This could prove to be interesting

Sometime after changing into more comfortable clothes, Jamie bumped into Cyril in a public corridor.
"Hey!  How's it going?  You never said anything at the debriefing...what were your thoughts on the sim?"
I wonder if he'll be staying...

Cyril was pleasantly surprised to meet Officer Webb along the corridors.

"Ei!" he replied in a cheerful tone. "What a pleasant surprise!"

"Well, to be honest, I was going to speak up, but the Commander waved us all out of the room before I could even open my mouth! Besides, it was kind of interesting how some members of the squadron practically pinned the blame on me."

Cyril chuckled a bit before continuing, "In any case, none of you would've probably liked what I was going to say, anyway. You see..."

"Once I stepped into that briefing room and heard the Commander's little introduction, I realized that even if the remaining pilots were successfully able to complete the simulated mission objectives, we'd actually failed to achieve a much bigger purpose - the reason why all of us were brought to this ship."

Cyril grins at Jamie, and tells him, "Try to put these pieces together yourself, and see if you come up with the same conclusion I did:

1) As resistance groups often go, our side has much less resources and personnel compared to the other side.
2) This ship is a Nebulon-B Frigate, like the one in the sim.
3) There are two squadrons already stationed on the ship.
4) We lost a total of four Z's and a Y during our time in the sim.
5) We ordered the Sarah abandoned.
6) By transferring crew and passengers to the Deepstar, the ship was forced to reroute.

That's it. Well?"

Hopefully, the other Flight Officer was willing to take a crack at this little puzzle to pass the time, and that his experience in the sim had given him enough insight to actually solve it.