ITOD Home > PSG Tour A1 (TIE) > PSGTa124 - Buoy will be Buoys

...GREY SQUADRON TO THE BREIFING ROOM...
...GREY SQUADRON TO BRIEFING...

Ray stood leaning on the wall in the briefing room listening to Castors brief and giggled at the thought of what the wookiee Shock commando, Kanashaak, might have done to convince the enemy informant to give up so much information. Having dealt with Kanashaak personally, she thought it wouldn't take much for an average being, human or alien alike. She very much enjoyed Kanashaak's company in the Romp Room. He was a phenomenal sparring partner.
Castor was going on about Malachite, project security, and mines, and Ray was trying to desperately try to stay awake. She had been on mission after mission and had not gotten enough rest except for her time in the bacta tanks, which wasn't very much, either.
“Which brings us to this point. We’re sending out a number of operations to collect these buoys. While our Transports are going to be pulling double duty, most of you are going to be flying into buoy link sites and destroying the buoy mine fields," Castor stated matter-of-factly.
“So, we’re basically talking Mine Racer missions, here.” Corran Jr. stated. All the Greys had run the ComTac missions with minefields, and they were no picnic.
“We believe so. Although Greedo doesn’t really have much to say since the Sapphire returned, he has told us that most of the project’s mine fields that he’s seen have been highly accurate, but run of the mill, laser, ion, and missile mines.”
There was some mixed feelings of Greedo's integrity, but Ray didn't bother to listen to the babble because she didn't know him well enough to have an informed opinion.

“In any event,” Castor continued, “that’s where we’re at right now. Your starfighters are prepped, such as we have left, and your assignments are on your datapads. You should be ready to head out on your separate missions in about fifteen minutes. Nest high, my Greys.”
The briefing room cleared out as everyone left for their assignments. Ray stared at her data pad. Castor, leaning against the podium looked at her.

"You have a problem, Miss Djo?"

"Permission to speak freely, Sir?"

Castor raised his hand to his forehead like he was already anticipating the headache that he was about to receive. "I know I am going to regret this. ... Go ahead."

"Sir, are you out of your mind!? Have you ever seen my ComTac scores when they involve mines? "

"I have seen them."

"Then what the frak are you thinking!? I am TERRIBLE with mines! If you send me out, I won't come back! Isn't there something else I could do that would be more useful that I might potentially live through?"

Castor looked at her calmly. "If I didn't believe that you could perform the tasks that I assign to you, I would not have accepted you into this squadron. You might not be the best pilot I have got, but you are better than some, and you always manage to come back alive, one way or the other. You are not going to get preferred treatment because you are force sensitive. If nothing else, I will be harder on you to prove your worth. So you will go out, you will survive the mines, and you will complete your mission and come back to this squad, as planned. Understood?"

Ray sighed, but she knew that Castor was right.

*****

Ray sat in her assigned ship and launched on schedule. When she got to her assigned coordinates, as predicted, there was a cluster of mines with a tug in the middle. She took it slow. There was nobody around to get in her way. She took out all the ion and laser mines first, then went back for the missile mines. She inspected the tug, and then ordered the Brier to come collct the data chip so the could go home.