It was always cold on the Regis at night. Hanging in a vacuum in a cold metal ship isn't exactly what Brennan "Rainman" Roth had in mind when he signed up for the Alliance. It sure wasn't glamorous, but he wouldn't give it up for the world. He had come to love his life in the Alliance, and he couldn't think what life would be like without his squadmates.

It was no use; he wasn't going to get any sleep. His chronometer read 03:00 hours. He threw the covers back, getting blasted with icy cold in the process. He put on a nondescript gray flight suit and his boots, and headed down to the "Citizen's Mug," the on-ship lounge.

On the way to the "Mug," he only saw two other people walking around. They weren't people he knew, but on a ship the size of a Nebulon B class Frigate, that wasn't unusual. He entered the mug and spotted the squadron XO, Robert "Kyp" Cashman draining a mug of something at the bar. Rainman walked up to the stool next to him and sat down.

"Oh, hi Rainman," Kyp said, "what are you doing up at this hour?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," Rainman replied, "I've got flight duty in two hours and I couldn't sleep."

"Couldn't sleep huh?" asked Rob, "you've been here a while, you shouldn't still be anxious about escort assignments."

"Yeah I know," said Brennan, "I just couldn't sleep, I'm not anxious or anything, just...awake."

"Well, I'm feeling the same way, but I have paperwork to do anyway," joked Kyp.

The bar-droid made his way over to the pair and asked if they needed his assistance with anything. "I'll have whatever he's having," Rainman told the droid.

"One hot chocolate coming up," was the metallic response.

"Well, I've got to go down to the Flight Deck to get some inventory sheets from Pappy," Kyp said, "if you'll excuse me?"

"Sure, have a nice night," said Rainman with a wave of his hand.

Rainman slugged some of his hot chocolate down and sat at the bar, waiting for his flight duty to start. Rainman started at a tap to his shoulder. It was Mark "Redjed" Hagues, resident Jedi Trainee in Red Squadron.

"Hello Rain, what's up?" asked Mark.

"Hi Redjed," said Rainman, "not much here, just waiting for our flight duty. I couldn't sleep."

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep either," remarked Redjed, "I don't know what it is. I thought it was my Jedi Awareness, but if you are feeling it too...strange."

"Yes, I feel it, and I have absolutely no force sensitivity," said Brennan, somewhat jealous of Redjed's abilities with the force. Rainman had always had an intense fascination with the force, but he couldn't feel it to save his life. At least, he thought, he didn't have to worry about all that dark side/light side stuff.

The bar-droid came over again and asked if he could be of service. "I'll have what he's having," Redjed replied.

Rainman and Redjed walked over to their assigned X-wings, parked side by side on the deck. Pappy, the chief mechanic for Red Squadron, was tweaking something or other in the cockpit of Redjed's X-wing.

"These birds ready to fly?" Mark asked Pappy.

"Yep, they sure are," replied the mechanic, "you guys take it easy on these girls, ok?"

"Sure Pappy," said Rainman, "we haven't seen any Imperial activity in weeks."

"Well, you never know," was the reply, "just promise to bring 'em back in one piece."

"We'll do what we can," said Rainman, shooting a glance at Redjed, who grinned. Pappy treated each of the ships as his own child. When one came back damaged, his face looked etched in stone and he took on the grave task of fixing the damage personally.

"Well, time to saddle up," remarked Redjed, glancing at his chronometer. The pilots thanked Pappy for the work he was doing on the ships, both knew that it was him who kept the ships running so well, and their lives depended on it. They climbed up their respective ladders and harnessed themselves in, donning helmets in the process. As cockpits hissed closed, engines fired to life, and soon both X-wings were exiting the hanger.

The two X-wings circled around the Regis and a trio of Corvettes they were escorting to a rendezvous in the Noat System, at a distance of approximately three clicks. The pilots didn't know what the CRVs had as cargo, or what their mission was, but they were used to being kept in the dark about the missions of their charges.

"Well, this is a boring assignment," said Rainman.

"Yeah," Redjed spoke into his commlink, better than KP though."

"You got that right," laughed Rainman. After a two-minute pause he continued, "Well, I'm heading back in, Corran's taking the second half of my duty this morning."

"Why is that?" asked Mark.

"I asked him to, 'cause I have to review training clips today and have a report due to Spectre by 08:00," complained Rainman.

"Wow, that was nice of him," said Redjed.

"I figured he owed me one after beating me out of 50 creds last night at sabaac," joked Brennan.

"I don't know if I 'owed' you one, but I'm always looking for flight time," crackled Corran's voice on the com as his X-wing rose into view in front of the other 2 pilots.

"Hey there Corran, nice to see you," said Mark.

"Hi Corran," greeted Rainman, "you ready to take over?"

"Ready and willing," answered Corran.

"Ok, see you boys later," said Rainman as his ship banked to the right and started toward the Regis.

"Have a nice morning," said Mark.

"You too," was the reply.

Just then a blip appeared on the radars of the three X-wings. An Imperial Star Destroyer was coming into range on the far side of the convoy.

"Looks like we've got a Impstar at 1:00 boys," exclaimed Corran.

"Well looks like where going to earn our pay today," shouted Rainman, "Head over their way Corran, we're right behind you."

"My pleasure," he answered.

"We've got to hold off the fighters until we can get more ships of the deck," offered Redjed.

"Looks like those training clips will have to wait until later," sighed Rainman with a grim face...