Just Another Day

The papers piled high on his desk just made the headache worse. He pushed them aside and put his head down. A soft gutteral groan escaped his pained lips. Today was always an awful day.

And from the looks of it, wasn't going to get any better any time soon. A few punched in commands brought him to a small gift vendor on his data-pad. Elladan deserved a very special gift for his Day Of Birth Celebration. Aero mumbled to himself,"Guess he won't want another dildo." He chuckled as he remembered the beet sitting on Elladan's shoulders when he had opened that thing in front of EVERYBODY. Maybe something a little more conservative this year...

Aero punched in an order for some silky negligé...a very sheer piece. Well, that made him feel better, a little. That was a good start....now something else. He stood up, and left his office toward the pilot training facilities.

A group of three arrogant cadets was milled about the simulators, as a hard featured training officer, Aero chuckled as he recognized BenK, was going through the instructions. The young pilots had obviously heard all this before, or so it seemed, by the way they jabbed at each other, and ignored the Lieutenant. Aero slipped into one of the control Simulators. These pilots wouldn't be nearly so arrogant when he was done with them.

It was an intermediate training course...one Aero had taught, and flown, many times. The Training officer, Lt BenK of Avenger Squadron was a lone Awing fighter guarding an Alliance Bulk Freightor. The Imperial cadets, in all their attitude, were supposed to arrive at the scenario in their Gunboats, and disable the freighter and eliminate all fighter escorts. Of course, there was a trick to the mission. In default settings, an Artificial Intel Xwing would leave a hidden Dock on the freightor. Well, this time there would be no AI.

The three cadet GUNs flew in sloppy formation...Aero tsked to himself. BenK was not a shabby pilot to any extent, but if these cadets were only as good as they appeared, BenK could probably immobilize them all, without Aero's help.

* * * *

"This is Death Leader, fall in formation." Vindicator calmly spoke into his communicator. "Report in."

"Death 2, I gotcha" Black Widow murmured a little arrogantly.

"Death 3, I'm right behind you." Another pilot offered.

The Three Gunboats cruised toward the Freighter and the lone Awing escort. "I thought this was supposed to be INTERMEDIATE difficulty" whined Death3. "I'm too good to be wasting my time here! Let's get this over with!" Death 3's assault gunboat suddenly accelerated, broke formation, and charged ahead of the other two GUNs.

Vindicator called back, "Realign 3!"

"Screw this," Blackwidow began, and also pulled ahead of his flight leader.

It was over in a matter of seconds. The two insubordinate GUNs, while doing their best to destroy the evasive Awing, never noticed the Xwing fighter exit the freighter. Vindicator had seen him, and immediately targeted him. So Vindicator had to be eliminated first. He was. The other two GUNS never new what hit them.

Aero was waiting outside the simulators when the three cadets exited. A look of disgruntled confusion mixed with anger covered their torrid faces. BenK's face was smug. Aero was holding a clipboard, to look important. BenK and the pilots saluted Aero, as he had presumably just arrived. He almost chuckled aloud.

Lt BenK dismissed the pilots and turned to grin at Aero. "Well, thanks for keeping my ah...rear clean." Aero did chuckle.

"No problem buddy."

A man dressed in the garb of the IPS (Imperial Postal Service) arrived, also carrying a clipboard, and a small package.

"Captain ah...Airo-paggitika?" he presumed.

"Yeah, yeah" Aero mumbled.

"Please sign here." The Postal Worker pointed to an X on the clipboard. It was a wonder why the postal service still used antiques in their work. Aero noticed the postal worker's fingers fidgeting as he signed the page. Then Aero saw that it was the simulators the postal worker was staring at. Postal Workers could kill. He smiled grimly to himself.

Surrendering the package, the postal man trotted away, on to some other gruesome task, no doubt.

BenK looked at Aero, then at the package, then at Aero again. "Well?!" he said incredulously. "Oh, alright...but I know I'm gonna regret this." Neither noticed the postal worker had returned, and held a small holo-cam. Aero opened the package, and first pulled out a card. He read it aloud.

"Dearest friend,
Through all the torrents of war that strike our hearts so grim
And though the day is young, and work is tough, your friends are here.
So this we got for you alone to keep your day from being dim.
From us your friends you who love you dear.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY AERO!
Love,
Rogue Squadron
ps- These are for your lady friend. Should be a perfect fit!

* * * *

Endor, Danté Stryker, Sparkster, General Mara Raddick, and even Admiral Ghent had all come together for this momentous event. As they all looked into the holocam projection, though they had no idea (except Stryker) what was going on, they were all already grinning.

BenK's face was a puzzle. A smirk was forming on Aero's face, and a knot in his stomach. He closed his eyes and felt into the package... it was soft. Silky.. Maybe they'd gotten him silk scarf like all the Imperial Nobles wore..that would have been nice. He pulled it out and opened his eyes. His face was glass. BenK was rolling on the floor, he laughed so hard. And so was Stryker, and the rest of Rogue Squadron. Only Ghent kept his feet as he chuckled. Ghent alone continued to watch the screen as Aero replaced the size 24 (women's) panties back into the package. He alone heard Aero chuckle to himself. "Heh, won't Ell be surprised..two gifts from me this year..."