Sallin had arrived a few days ago; his transport had been delayed outside of Sullust with an anomalous hyperspace reading or some such.  He was glad that Captain Pikus hadn't been more angry, - he knows he would have been.  He unlocked and opened the door to the briefing room - soon he'd have his crew.  He hoped they were at least decent, and that a few knew what they were doing.  All so new...  Well, except for Lt. Sate Rourke.  That man was old.  His smile thinned as he thought about Rourke's record.  Experience counts.

He was more than two hours early, and after arranging the chairs to his liking - three neat rows of four - he stood at the window, looking at his ship, K-277, ISS Myrmidon.  He liked what he saw...
...though just to starboard of the Myrmidon, and just out of sight, was K-919, The Magnificent, and it was much newer.  The only emotion that could have been seen, had anyone been there, were the muscles in his lower jaw as he clenched his teeth...

Yahn Kahrnon arrived in the prescribed dress, his uniform passable yet unexceptionable and straining just a little around the chest and crotch. He was a bigger man by nature and his mother had fed him to the gills over his leave.

Surprised to be the first one in, he acknowledged Squadron Leader Sallin as per protocol and nodded. "Morning sir." He greeted him softly and elected to a tale a seat at the front, furthest to the left.

Only after he was seated did he glanced around the room, sort of taking it all in.

Sallin spun, slightly surprised, returned the salute, maybe a little to swiftly, maybe a little too precisely...

"Yes, I suppose it is 'mornin time' at least somewhere.  You must be...Kahrnon.  First one.
 I like dat.  I've read your file.  Wat der is of it, anyway." he continued in his particular, somewhat nasally accent.  "Royal Imperial, well done.  You're not some sort of celebrity, are you?" the grin Sallin had was very nearly predatory...

Kahrnon suppressed a smile and gave a slight shake of his head. "No sir, I find they just like a few of the rank and file around to help them stand out" he replied, well aware of his alma maters reputation.

"Just glad to be here sir." He added for emphasis, obviously excited for his first real assignment but trying to keep it under control.

Elone stood before the door of the debriefing room, pausing only long enough to take a breath before entering. As an alien, he had grown accustomed to being looked down upon by his fellow Imperials. They were humans. They feared what was different. And, if he was being honest, not without good reason. The Separatists - and later rebels - had been composed largely of alien species and droids. Even his fellow Umbarans had chosen, unwisely in his opinion, to secede from the Republic following the death of their senator.

Fortunately, wiser minds, women like Sly Moore, had chosen to remain loyal to the Republic. When Chancellor Palpatine had announced the government's restructuring into the first Galactic Empire, they had continued to serve.

And, following in Moore's footsteps, Elone had followed suit.

The door slid open with a whoosh of equalizing pressure, and Zam stepped through. He wore a crisp new uniform with well-shined boots. It was nothing at all like what he might have worn back home, but he was proud of it nevertheless. Stiffening to attention at the sight of a senior officer - the squadron's CO, presumably - he quickly made his way to a rear seat and sank into it silently, stiff-backed and ready to respond to orders.

Sallin's eye folded to slits.  "You there. You must be Eee-lone. One a them darkmen.  Listen. You fly right, you're ok by me.  But hear this, flier - you cross my path without saluting again, and there's trouble.  Understood?  An if I hears about you disrespecting another officer, there's trouble.  Are you hearing me?  Im not havin an outfit where people say oh them.  Like we're some placeholders for real pilots."

He's got his hands on his hips, and he's definitely not happy.

It's also really bright in here, come to think of it.

[OCC : reading your post again, it seems like Sallin didn't see your salute.  If im reading 'stiffened to attention' to include a salute of course.]
This message was last edited by the player at 01:24, Sat 28 Jan 2023.

Kenth made his way through the station making his way to the assigned briefing room. Along the way he made sure to keep track of where he was and where he was going. Getting lost now would be the worst, that had happened his first day at the academy and he didn’t want to go through that again.

Stopping as he neared the briefing room he adjusted his uniform as best he could and taking a deep breath to calm himself he stepped forward and through the door as it opened.

Stopping just inside the door he spotted an officer just as he was finishing speaking. Coming to attention he saluted, “Ensign Felaeon reporting sir.”

Ensign? Had he heard that right?  He saluted back just the same. "Lt. Commander Sallin" he says by way of Introduction. "You're Felaeon, but you're a JG now, and don't forget it.  Academy is over, Mr Downside.  You're a pilot officer, and you're going to prove it.  As soon as everyone is here, we'll begin."  He checked his watch, "There's still some time.  When you're in combat, every second maters."

Zinda dashed down the hallway to avoid being late, skidding to a halt before hurried fixing her uniform. She checked her appearance in a nearby piece of polished metal, wanting to be perfect, before opening the door. "I'm Lieutenant Seshani, sir" she said with a crisp, fresh from the academy salute.

The heels on her polished boots clicked as she walked down the passageway to the briefing room. She had come straight here after being checked in, no stops along the way. Early was on-time, on-time was late, and late was unacceptable.

She checked her appearance in a porthole one final time before stepping into the room and waiting for the CO to acknowledge the young human before tendering a perfect salute herself.

"Lt. Mitth'Arr'yleoni reporting for duty, sir," she told him before pulling out a code cylinder to present her orders to him.

Sallin returned Seshani's salute "Welcome Lieutenant, have a seat" and then saluted to ... the Chiss, taking the code cylinder, but handing it back.  "Won't be necessary till we board, Lieutenant.  I know who you are, I have your file.  But your name.  I'd like to get it it right.  You're to be a member of my squadron, and I'd like to get it right. Mittthethairyeollownni."  He finally releases the salute, and smiles as though he was correct.  "Have a seat, Lieutenant."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:49, Sat 28 Jan 2023.

“Very good, sir. My core name is Arry if it please you, sir,” she said before taking a seat. He had butchered her name, of course but he had tried. He thought enough of her to try which was a lot more than the vast majority of people had tried since she joined. She had been given some very unpleasant names by instructors at the Naval Academy as well as some of her fellow cadets. She had ignored them all and shown them who she was by graduating top of her class. That had earned her a mix of grudging respect and hate but that she ignored as well.

It wasn’t about, or for, them. Let them feel how they will about her. She had made her oaths to the Empire and was determined to serve to the best of her ability.

Burn the rest if they got in the way of that.

Zinda blinked and dropped her gaze, uncertain of whether the commander's brief response was a good sign or a bad sign. She raised it again as she decided it was good and headed back towards a seat. "Hiya, I'm Zinda!" she chirped at the other pilots, smiling brightly.

Yahn watched as the other newly commissioned pilots filtered into the briefing room, men and women that his own life could very well rely on sooner than later. He could not help but pay Arry and Zam a little more attention, but if he was puzzled by their presence he said nothing.

"Zinda? Yahn" Kharnon replied with a fraction of the enthusiasm. "Good to meet you, how was the trip in?" he asked quietly, as if he expected at any moment to be thrown into  the briefing in earnest and to have to cut their introductions short.

Shortly after, a pair walked in, human woman and man; both saluted, looking fairly sharp, exchanging names - Xabet Tilli and Hamar Summatic. "Ah, my bomber pilots!" Sallin adds.  "Welcome! Sit.  You met on the transport from Eriadu? Dats excellent.  Two more.  Remember in starfighters that early lets you pick the engagement.  Late is fatal."

"Nice to meetcha, Yahn!" Zinda enthused, extending a hand to her fellow pilot. "It was long, but I got to speak to some new people and seeing the station was great. You come from the Academy too?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:16, Sat 28 Jan 2023.

Kenth groaned inwardly as Sallin corrected him. A quiet “Yes sir.” was his only reply. He quickly took a seat, back row, behind the big man, more out of habit than on purpose.

It didn’t seem like two years had passed. Going from cadet to ensign and now lieutenant JG. It seemed a little too fast. Thankfully the young lady he had seen earlier introduced herself and his bout of reflection was gone. “Hello Zinda and Yahn. I’m Kenth, pleased to meet you.”

Yahn leaned over and stood slightly to shake the offered hand lightly before he resumes his seat. "I did, my first assignment actually." He admitted, although with all the humans being around his age at least, he did not seem terribly uncomfortable admitting it.

"Kenth? Likewise." He leaned back and turned around half way. "Looks like it's mostly new pilots in this outfit huh?" He commented and looked to the bomber pilots that had arrived for the briefing.

"The pleasure is mine, Kenth. Excited for the new assignment?" Zinda shook hands with Yahn and extended her hand to Kenth. "Really? You have kind of a veteran air to you. Second hyperspace jump too?" she said to Yahn.

Yahn smiled with a corner of his mouth at the complement and shook his head. "Well thanks, but no, just getting my feet under me. My dad is career, and I was on a cruise for family members with him when I was younger, and they made a few jumps, but that's pretty much it." He clarified.

"I was just excited to get an active assignment, sounds like we might actually be put to work huh?" He mentioned in return and glanced between them. "Honestly I was pretty worried it was going to be garrison duty in the sticks or something, it being my first one."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 23:38, Sun 29 Jan 2023.

The Umbaran largely ignored the officer's correction. He would take it under advisement, but he suspected he knew why Sallin had been assigned to them - and it wasn't his good looks and charm. For all its strengths, the Empire was not known for giving non-humans their best and brightest. Clearly, the unit commander was not even skilled enough to fail upward, as so many humans seemed wont to do.

Ironically, that boded well for him: if Sallin had been assigned to them, there as a non-zero chance that he, and any other aliens, would soon outrank him.

The pilot casually looked around the situation room. There was at least one other alien present, although he did not recognize the species. The alien was practically the Umbaran's opposite: dark hair and skin instead of pale and bald, glowing red eyes instead of sable... and yet she, just like Zam, was clearly well aware of what it meant to be in the human-dominated military. Her uniform, like his own, was perfectly creased and her shoes, again like his own, were shined to a high polish.

No doubt she had learned the same lessons he had at the academy. Mittthethairyeollownni. He doubted that was her name. And even if it was, he wasn't convinced he could say it. He would stick with 'Arry' - her core name? What did that mean? - when dealing with her. At least until she trained him in how to speak her name.

And then there were the humans. Like all humans, they were noisy, happy to let the Galaxy know their thoughts, their entire family histories. One was an awkward child. His name was Kenth. Another, excitable. Zinda. A third, descendent of a military family. Yahn.

Of the three, he hoped he didn't get stuck with the first two as wing-mates. Excitable meant brash, and that led to unnecessary danger. Awkward, if anything, was worse - it meant he wasn't likely to push boundaries when the time was right. At least the child of a military family was likely to know how things worked.

Unfortunately, that meant he was also likely to get paired with one of the other two. With luck, he would also be paired with Arry. To make it through the academy as an alien, she was probably a skilled pilot. Likely more skilled than even he - his eyes flitted back to the woman - which meant he would be able to learn from her.

The Umbaran nodded. Yes. The Galaxy could close a hatch, but it was just as likely to open a viewport.

Kenth smiled and shook Zinda's offered hand. "I suppose I am excited and a bit nervous to be honest."

He looked around at the other's, two of which were aliens. He remembered a couple of aliens from his first year at the academy. He hadn't gotten to know them unfortunately, they had washed out rather quickly from what he recalled.

He knew the Imperial Navy had some strange bias's about aliens and women that he just didn't understand. His dad had always said it was just the way things were, maybe that was changing.

They were all likely better than he was anyway. Guess he would just have to wait and see.

"More than I've got" Zinda admitted. "Whatever happens, it should be exciting as long as we get a chance to fly. Not everyone gets to fly nearly the fastest things in space like we do!"
She smiled at Arry. "It's good to see another female pilot flying the fighters. There were barely any other girls at the academy."