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"Lieutenant Commander Hermus Dogan reporting for scheduled simulator run, sir," saluted the leader of Gold Squadron.

Lieutenant Commander Modnar, the cruiser McGrath's Mon Calamarian second officer, returned the salute. "You may relax, Hermus. We share the same rank now. Congratulations on your promotion, by the way."

"Thanks." Hermus quickly scanned the newly overhauled simulator suite, noting some of the simulators were already in use. "Doesn't actually look much different. Any problems found during the overhaul?"

"All simulators are actually new, with the exception of the TIE Interceptor and Assault Gunboat models. Given how rare they have been for us to acquire, this should not be a surprise."

Hermus stepped closer to the nearby B-Wing simulator to inspect it more closely. "New? How'd that happen?"

"While the ship was in drydock the ranking officer of the Eagle's Nest ordered the aging simulators to be exchanged for fresh replacements. Captain Lawah was quite stunned, I assure you."

"I believe it." Hermus turned back to face Modnar. "So, what's the mission we're running this time? Another of the Grey Squadron runs?"

"Indeed. We will cover the full briefing now. Come along." Modnar turned to enter the simulator suite's briefing room.

It took only a few minutes to complete the briefing. Modnar led Hermus back to the simulators before continuing. "There is a choice in craft this time: the B-Wing, or the X-Wing. Which would you prefer?"

The pilot took a few moments to consider. "X-Wing. The B-Wing is a terrible choice for engaging enemy fighters, and isn't as effective at evading turbolaser fire."

"The X-Wing it is." The Mon Calamari's left eye swiveled around to scan the holovid screen showing statistics for the currently featured simulator mission. "The only other pilot to fly the mission so far is Lieutenant Colonel Lunac'her'inar of Red Dragon Squadron. She flew it a few days ago."

Hermus frowned. "I don't recognize the name. A new cadet?"

"A returning pilot, actually. I am uncertain of the details."

"Ah, that's a familiar story. Excellent. RDS has been needing more pilots to fill their roster." Hermus grinned. "I'm going to see that Gold takes top spot for this run, though. Is everything ready?"

Modnar bobbed his head in a rough imitation of a human nod. "Ready and waiting. You will be using X-Wing Simulator Two."

Hermus pulled his flight helmet on as he approached the designated simulator and climbed in. He pulled the hatch shut and settled himself into the pilot couch, fastening the safety harness out of habit as he scanned the new simulator. Gone were the familiar scratches and dents of the old model, replaced by flawless paintwork and smooth surfaces. He didn't expect that to last more than a week.

The commlink receiver in his helmet crackled. "Is there a problem, Hermus?"

The pilot smiled. "Negative. Just inspecting the new merchandise. Powering up now." He suited action to words and flipped the activation switch on the simulator's control board.

Modnar's voice crackled again. "I will leave you to your run, then. Good luck."

The simulator power-up cycle took longer to complete than Hermus was used to, but the screen in front of him flashed to life before he could comment on it. The familiar star-studded backdrop of space and a Nebulon-B Frigate greeted him as he quickly checked his sensors. His wingman was behind and to his right, flying in close formation.

Hermus keyed the comm. "Grey Lead here. You copy, Two?"

The simulated wingman responded immediately. "I copy."

"Lock onto the frigate and prepare to launch all torpedoes on my mark." Hermus waited for the frigate to turn a bit more before he fired. "Mark!" A pair of proton torpedoes streaked from the nose of his X-Wing and headed for the frigate, followed closely by another pair from his wingman. Eight more torpedoes emerged from the X-Wings before their magazines were exhausted. Hermus checked sensors to locate the B-Wings. The heavy starfighters were angling towards the Star Destroyer Opaline. "Two, I'm breaking off to support the B-Wings against the ISD. Engage the frigate with lasers from maximum range to wear down its shields some. Don't get too close!"

"Copy that, lead. Engaging now." Two dropped out of formation and headed directly for the Emerald.

Hermus swooped down on the Star Destroyer and opened fire on its outrageously vulnerable shield generators from above. Turbolaser fire lanced up to greet him, but he managed to slip through the barrage and heavily damage the ship's starboard dome before being forced to break off.

The commlink crackled in the pilot's ear. "B-Wing flight beginning attack run on the Opaline now."

Hermus gritted his teeth and yanked back on the flight stick to begin another pass on the shield domes. He needed more time to take them out, but the B-Wings weren't giving him the chance. Proton torpedoes and streams of ion cannon fire were already slamming into the Star Destroyer, rendered useless by the large ship's shield barrier. He centered the X-Wing's sights on the starboard generator and held down the trigger. Pairs of bright red bolts erupted from the starfighter's laser cannons, peppering the weakened shield dome. Hermus kept firing until it exploded, immediately adjusting aim to hit the second generator.

The front and rear shields of his X-Wing flashed almost simultaneously, prompting him to stomp on the starfighter's port rudder pedal as hard as he could. The X-Wing's nose abruptly slewed to port as the simulated astromech droid in the socket behind Hermus emitted an electronic scream. A pair of TIE Fighters roared past the X-Wing, barely avoiding the stream of turbolaser fire from the Opaline. A TIE Interceptor from below managed to land half of its snapped quad burst into the X-Wing's already weakened rear shields, depleting them entirely.

Hermus silently chided himself as he dumped all remaining laser energy into the shields and broke into a flurry of random evasive maneuvers. He had concentrated too closely on destroying the Opaline's shield generators to notice the approaching TIEs, a mistake that nearly cost him the simulator run.

"I'm in trouble here. Shields f....ng!" Grey Two's voice over the comm was laced with static.

"Two, break off! Recharge your shields."

The static increased. "..o late, flight con... gone. About to hit the ..ig..e."

"Repeat your last, Two! I didn't copy."

"G...b-" The transmission abruptly ended, as did Two's sensor blip.

Hermus sighed. It was never comforting to lose a wingman, even a simulated one. He looped around for another attempt on the ISD's port shield generator and immediately began firing, hoping to bring it down before any of the B-Wings were lost. More TIEs were closing in. Off in the distance, A-Wings were battling another group of TIEs.

After suffering dozens of laser bolts the shield dome finally surrendered, erupting in a plume of exploding gases. The B-Wings immediately pounced on the vulnerable Star Destroyer with their ion cannons, rapidly disabling it.

The leader of Grey Flight Two announced their victory over the comm. "Opaline disabled. B-Wing flight moving to tackle the frigate."

"Grey Lead copies." Hermus tapped a button on his flight stick to target the nearest enemy starfighter. The image of an advanced TIE appeared on the screen in front of him. A glance at the sensors told Hermus it was just under a third of a klick in front and below of him, heading for the B-Wings. He immediately lowered the rate of energy generation for the lasers to maintenance level and dropped the shield generation to minimum. The boost in speed allowed the X-Wing to remain on the faster TIE's tail, but at the cost of slowly depleting the Republic starfighter's shields.

Dropping the X-Wing's nose placed the TIE almost directly in the center of Hermus' crosshairs. He tightened his index finger on the trigger long enough for three shots in dual fire mode. Four laser bolts lanced into the TIE's aft shields before it broke into an evasive maneuver. Hermus followed, snapping off shots whenever the opportunity presented itself. The TIE managed to avoid several of them with relative ease, but enough of the X-Wing pilot's shots were hitting to drop its shields.

Hermus moved in for the kill. The TIE evaded two more bursts before a third ripped into its engines and rendered it into a cloud of shrapnel. "Scratch one Bright."

A warning tone from the astromech alerted the pilot to another TIE approaching.

"Thanks, I've got it. We'll work our way over to the frigate to help the B-Wings."

Half an hour later the newly captured Emerald jumped into hyperspace. The mission was a success, but at a heavy price: over a dozen starfighters and two transports were lost. Hermus was glad it was a simulator mission, but couldn't help wondering if the losses were that bad when Grey Squadron actually flew the mission.

After a final sensor sweep of the area for any leftover TIEs, Hermus triggered a jump into hyperspace to end the simulation. The screen in front of him went dark as he unbuckled his restraints and crawled out of the simulator.

Modnar rose from the chair he had claimed and offered Hermus a datapad with his mission results. "A high price in lives that time, Hermus. But a victory it was."

The pilot removed his helmet before accepting the datapad and cringing as he read it. "Yikes. Sixteen losses? And absolutely atrocious accuracy to boot."

"Agreed. You did complete the mission, at least. And more than sixty TIEs fell to your X-Wing in the process. You have claimed the highest score for the mission so far."

"I suppose that's something. What kind of losses did we suffer back when Grey actually flew this?"

Modnar closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "I am uncertain. That information should be within the ship databank, however, should you wish to pursue the matter."

Hermus nodded. "I think I will. I might rerun this mission later on, too. Anything else you need from me at the moment?"

The Mon Cal reclaimed the datapad from the pilot's grasp. "No, that is all. If you wish to fly this mission again for scoring, just contact me to set up a time."

"Right. Take care, Modnar." Hermus collected his helmet and strolled towards the door.