Saga - OT Saga - Legends These Things Will Change - Kessel Run Challenge, OC Rebel Pilots

Title: These Things Will Change
Author: Thumper09
Characters: OC Rebel pilots
Timeframe: OT era, approx. 1 ABY
Notes: This is my thread for the 12-week Kessel Run Challenge featuring my main group of OCs, an X-wing squadron.

1/13/22: My goal is to write each week's entry about a different member of the squadron (hopefully in numerical order, 1-10) and culminate in an ensemble squadfic for the final, long prompt, all while making a single narrative story out of all of the entries, start to finish. However, since I have no idea what the various prompts will be each week, this idea might completely crash and burn at any time. But I'm going to give it a try and see what happens, because why not.

Constructive criticism is welcome. Star Wars is owned by Disney, etc. etc.

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“You can walk away, say we don’t need this / But there’s something in your eyes says we can beat this...” -Taylor Swift, “Change”


Index:
Week 1 Entry (Cmdr. Quentell "Mack" Mackin, Corona One)
Week 2 Entry (Lt. Ikoa Fyndcap, Corona Two)
Week 3 Entry (Lt. "Chopper" Forsgren, Corona Three)
Week 4 Entry (FO. Kalre Unatel, Corona Four)
Week 5 Entry (Lt. Shaun "Scoop" Pellicer, Corona Five)
Week 6 Entry (FO. Chryse "CC" Cerac, Corona Six)
Week 7 Entry (Lt. Tictintco "Slurry" Tnis, Corona Seven)
Week 8 Entry (Lt. Steen "Snubber" Weas, Corona Eight) / (Lt. Col. Trainneer, Special Forces)
Week 9 Entry (FO. Darin "Thumper" Stanic, Corona Nine)
Week 10 Entry (FO. "Quiver" Yanilr, Corona Ten)
Week 11/12 Entry (Corona Squadron)

 

Prompt #1: Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words that starts with this sentence: “Saying goodbye was never easy, but she couldn’t put it off any longer.”
Word count: 950

Commander Quentell “Mack” Mackin, Corona One/Lead

Saying goodbye was never easy, but she couldn’t put it off any longer. It was obvious by the way she was stalling, the words that were spoken more to take up space and time than to impart any meaningful information, and how her eyes kept flickering from the holocam recorder to something off to the side of the room. Something in her real world was demanding attention that she didn’t want to relinquish.

Commander Quentell Mackin could tell all this because that’s exactly how he felt whenever he had to conclude a letter to his wife back home. He knew what it was like to be the one stalling, drawing out every nanosecond he could, unwilling to say goodbye.

His wife’s attention flickered off to the side once more, and then she sighed and focused on the recorder. “Sorry, Quen, but I have to run. We’ll write again soon, and I’ll give you an update on the garage repairs then. Be safe. We love you.” Calla smiled. She had just started reaching forward to turn off the recorder when a loud noise sounded from the area that had been distracting her. Their young daughter Aurora came running into view of the holocam behind Calla. Aurora was holding two toys high in the air and shrieking in glee as she sprinted across the living room. From the brief glimpse Quentell caught, it looked like Aurora had orange paint smeared across her face, hands, and clothes. It must have just happened; nothing like that had been present a few minutes ago when she’d been recording her part of the letter.

Calla rolled her eyes at their daughter’s energetic outburst. “Aurora, inside voice! You know I was making a letter for your dad--” Anything further was cut off as Calla turned off the recorder, and the message ended.

Just like that, Calla was gone. Back to raising their daughter and dealing with the day-to-day reality of her own world.

A world that did not directly involve him. A world where his only input and influence were through the periodic recorded letters he was able to send. He was unable to help, unable to fix problems, unable to do anything for his family besides talk and listen.

He felt so damned useless.

Quentell leaned back in his chair, let out a long sigh, and closed his eyes. Listening to the letters always did this to him. He had authority here on the ship, with nine other X-wing pilots under his command. He was responsible for the safety and welfare of everyone in his squadron, but no matter how many missions they flew, how many times he managed to bring everyone back alive and hopefully unhurt, the letters always reminded him how powerless he really was when it came to the two people who mattered the most to him.

Slowly, Mack opened his eyes. The interior of his small office filled his sight. This was his real world, his day-to-day existence that Calla and Aurora would never be a part of. The closest they could come were the letters, a holo of them displayed on his desk, and the couple potted plants from back home on Treminal III that sat beside the holo.

He glanced at his chrono and found it was later than he’d expected: Calla’s stalling must have been extremely effective in delaying the inevitable. Mack wasn’t looking forward to immersing himself back in the life-and-death stakes of the Rebellion quite yet, but like Calla, he couldn’t put it off any longer. He’d made sure everyone in the squadron knew he was invoking his Personal Time to listen to the letter, and all of them were aware that if they interrupted him then and no one was on fire or bleeding out, someone would be shortly. With as much as he let the Coronas get away with the rest of the time, he was grateful they were gracious enough to take this seriously.

Mack pushed himself to his feet and walked to the door to go tell the others he was finished, though he hesitated before opening it. As soon as he opened that door, the bubble of relative serenity afforded by his Personal Time would burst and this other reality would come flooding back in. It was tempting to stay in here and avoid it altogether. He missed his family so much, and sometimes it was hard to remember why he was out here, away from them, fighting an impossible fight against a galactic government. Sometimes the effort felt worthless and the cost too high.

Times like now.

The stocky pilot waited another few seconds before duty reasserted itself and made him reluctantly open the door. Waiting outside in the corridor was his Executive Officer, Lieutenant Steen Weas. Steen looked outwardly placid like usual but was bouncing ever so slightly on the balls of his feet, and Mack wondered how long he’d been waiting. The fact that he was there at all wasn’t a good sign. Anything mundane would have been handled through a computer message, and with the Personal Time in effect, a direct comm was out of the question for non-mundane topics, which apparently led to this stakeout to catch him as soon as he was available.

“Sir,” Steen said. “Something’s come up.”

Of course it had. It always did. Mack tiredly ran a hand through his black crew cut and then beckoned Steen to follow him back inside his office.

How he wished he’d be dealing with a mess of orange paint, garage repairs, and utility bills instead of whatever Steen was about to tell him. At least with those activities, he had a chance of making a difference.

*****

 

Great start with one of your squadron missing his family and the daily stuff of a house-hold

 

A fantastic start that really tugs the heartstrings.

 

A lovely contrast between what Mom is dealing with at home and what Dad is dealing with on duty. I'm sure plenty of servicemen and servicewomen know what that's like. Both important roles, however.

This reminds me of a colleague who has two children, and when we were all working from home for two months last year, I sent her a "Do Not Disturb" sign that included "Unless The house is on fire," "You're on fire," "You're one step from death." (And "there's a wine truck outside," but, you know, priorities.... )

 

I really appreciated this look into the family life of a Rebel pilot. We (or maybe it's just me ) are used to reading about these young hotshot pilots with no spouses and sometimes no living parents, who are able to give their all to the Rebellion - but what about the ones with families back home? I enjoyed seeing that perspective here.

Mack's reactions are understated, but no less poignant for that. I could really feel his exhaustion and helplessness throughout this piece.

I really liked this section; it felt like the perfect encapsulation of the entire story, Mack's conflicting desires of wanting to be with his family while also wanting to fight the Empire in order to protect his family, and the feeling that he's fighting a losing battle on both fronts.

Poor Mack. It's already hard enough being away from his family and fighting this war that sometimes seems impossible to win, but he has the added responsibility of leading this squadron, and all that that entails. There was a quiet heaviness to this entire story, and I could feel that weight distinctly here at the end. Well done with this, and I look forward to reading more!

 

Thank you to everyone for reading!

Thanks! I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but we'll see where this winding road leads.

I agree, it has to be difficult feeling like an outside observer to one's own family. There are different types of "distance" involved at that point too.

With his family, Mack's stakes tend to be a bit higher than those of some of his squadmates'. Looking at things from a purely IU perspective, it couldn't be an easy decision for most people to join the Rebellion because of those insane odds.

You're not wrong.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you! Mack would trade a lot of things to have that home life back. Thank you for reading and commenting!

Thanks! I'm glad the emotions came through well. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thank you! They each have their own sorts of battles to fight, and it's hard when a partnership can't fully team up against those battles.

I like that idea for the "Do Not Disturb" sign. It would be handy around here, but the cats tend to ignore any boundaries I try to enforce. Thank you for reading and commenting!

Thanks! In a general, relativistic sense, I'm not sure how many Rebels have families who are still alive. The more I think about what a decision to join the Rebellion would mean for the person making it when they don't have the OOU knowledge we do, it's a pretty daunting thing that will affect the rest of their life. Adding in families is a completely different layer to include on top of everything else, too.

Thank you! I like your phrasing of how it's fighting a losing battle on both fronts. I wish I'd thought of that to include it, honestly.

Mack's definitely not in an easy position, nor does he have an easy task. I'm glad the emotional weight came through okay-- I wasn't sure if it did since I got a bit too wordy. Thanks, and thanks for reading and commenting!

**

Thanks again to everyone who's following along! The second entry will be up momentarily.

 

Prompt #2: Write a dialogue-only story between 400 and 800 words in which two characters have a disagreement.
Word count: 603

Lieutenant Ikoa Fyndcap, Corona Two


“Oh, no. Ikoa, those datapads better not mean what I think they mean. Don't you dare.”

“Hello to you too, Chopper.”

“Is Mack’s Personal Time over yet? Did he tell you something? Is that what you’re researching?”

“I don’t know; I haven’t talked to him. I’m just looking up some info. Scoop told me about a hot rumor he’d heard floating around the ship about a possible Imperial engagement coming up, and I wanted to get a head start on learning about the planet involved.”

“Blast it, so it is the same thing. I overheard Scoop talking about it. And now here you are, wasting time on it before it's even a reality.”

“I hardly think that getting a better idea of the possible situation and what we might be getting into is a waste of time.”

“Why bother? If you really think we’re going to be getting involved, what difference do you think all this extra effort will make? None, that’s what.”

“And what if it does? It’s my time to spend. If there’s even a chance it'll help us or the people on that planet, then I’m going to try.”

“Yeah, and that bleeding heart of yours makes it worse for the rest of us, you know that? Listen, our job is to shoot at what Mack tells us to, when he tells us to. That’s all. But then people like you go and get so emotionally invested in the outcomes, and you do all this prep work that isn’t expected of us, and then Mack and Snubber start to expect it. From everyone. Including me.”

“Never thought I’d see the day when you started sounding like Quiver.”

“I am not! Quiver’s just lazy. I object to being expected to waste time on things that aren’t my responsibility.”

“Oh, and now the great Chopper is caving to peer pressure? Isn’t that what you’re always getting on Darin’s case about?”

“Blast it, I’m not caving to peer pressure either! I’m just tired of you using your influence on Mack to make things worse for the rest of us.”

“Ha, sorry, my what?”

“Don’t give me that. You know damn well he cares what you think. He’d be a sorry excuse for a wingman if he didn’t. And when you care so blasted much and put the notion in his mind that caring so much is a good thing and that it affects mission outcomes when it really doesn’t, the rest of us get caught in the rockslide.”

“Maybe I’ll care about whatever I want to care about.”

“Well, maybe you should care about your squadmates and the consequences your actions have on some of the rest of us. Ever think of that?”

“Chopper, if you’re not going to care about what we do, then why are you even here?”

“I told you. To do a job. Now let me ask you this, Ikoa: let’s say you put all of this emotional investment into this rumored problem and get all wound up and ready to go help some people we don’t know. If we ultimately aren’t told to go help or we do try to help but can’t, was this really the best use of your time and energy? Or will you waste even more energy then because you can’t let go and start feeling guilty and responsible for not helping? I bet I know the answer. And if that’s true, then was this extra dose of caring the best idea? Was it the most productive thing you could be doing right now?”

“I don’t know. I guess time will tell, won’t it.”

*****

 

Those two have their points and sure are different with one wanting to know all about the possible engagement

 

Thanks! This was a tricky prompt for me, but Ikoa and Chopper have very different personalities and Chopper likes to argue, so maybe it worked out. I imagine there's a happy medium somewhere between their two viewpoints, but I doubt either one wants to budge on this topic.

Yeah, Darin and Quiver are my main OCs and pop up in my stories more than anyone else. Some of the others get a bit neglected, though, so this is a good exercise for me to really focus on those characters as well. Thanks very much for reading and commenting!

Thank you! I think both viewpoints can be valid depending on the situation, but they'll never convince the other of that. Thank you for reading and commenting!

**

Week 3 will be up shortly.

 

Prompt #3: Write a set of 5 drabbles with the following prompts: beacon, discovery, arcane, sister, burden. Each drabble must be exactly 100 words, for a total of 500 words. (Note: As nothing about my pilots is ever straightforward, I'll be doing the prompts in reverse order. I don't think I've ever done drabbles, so hopefully I did this right.)
Word count: 100 each

Lieutenant Jayke "Chopper" Forsgren, Corona Three

Burden

The pilots’ lounge was obviously not the place to be with Ikoa there going off the deep end with her pre-pre-mission research. Lieutenant Jayke “Chopper” Forsgren rolled his eyes and walked out. Blast, it was hard being one of the only beings in the squadron with common sense.

He went to the hangar and found one of those few other beings, his wingman Kalre. The Rodian didn’t look busy; he should be up for a trip to ship’s downtime establishment. Chopper walked over and asked, “Want to hit the Bacta Tank? I need a drink to unload my never-ending burden.”


Sister

Kalre widened his large eyes in surprise at the Human and said, “Already? I guess so. I was hoping to go a bit later, though.”

“Why?”

“I have it on good authority that Renizi, that Twi’lek from the Procurement group, is going to be there later tonight. She’s a bit too pale for my tastes, but eye candy is eye candy.” Kalre smirked.

Chopper scowled at him. “Damn it, you’re supposed to give me advance notice on these things. Anyway, if you’re going after her, you know the rules--” He leaned in conspiratorially and asked, “Does she have a sister?”


Arcane

“Actually, yes,” Kalre replied with a huff. “She’s even on the ship. I don’t know if the sister is going to the Tank tonight or not, though. Renizi says she’s in the middle of this big research project. Some arcane nonsense about gravitational theory and mass shadows in hyperspace, and if smaller ships can use narrower, trickier hyperspace routes that larger capital ships might have problems with, or something like that. I don’t know. I don’t care. I zoned out.”

“Hmm. Wonder if it’s based on the Theory of Universal Reference or more of a scalar tensor theory,” Chopper muttered.


Discovery

Chopper stopped, too late. Blast, he had not meant to say that out loud. Chopper silently cursed when Kalre blinked in surprise at this unexpected discovery. Great. Not only had he said it out loud, but apparently he’d said it loud enough to be heard.

“What did you say?” Kalre asked incredulously.

“Nothing,” Chopper snapped.

“That wasn’t nothing. Don’t tell me you actually understood and were commenting on that pretentious physics gibberish they spew out up on the science team decks.”

“Of course not,” Chopper shot back defensively. “I was just making fun of it like you.”

“Yeah, right. Liar.”


Beacon

He had to shut down this line of thinking right now before it got too ingrained in his wingman’s skull. Chopper glared at Kalre, his eyes flashing like twin warning beacons that cautioned against proceeding any further, a look he’d perfected long ago.

Kalre was rarely on the receiving end, and it startled him into paying attention.

“I said I was making fun of it. I don’t know what that stupid jargon meant,” Chopper growled. The back of his mind still tried to work out if the idea had merit and whose research they might be using.

“Pleesh, fine. Whatever.”

*****

 

Love the banter between Chopper and Kalre. Girls, and with Chopper and the theory he doesn't want to share

 

Thank you! In a lot of ways, those two are like two peas in a pod. But they also have some differences, as we saw. Thanks for reading and commenting!

Thanks! Banter with word limits is tricky for me, and I'm glad it came across okay. I think Chopper believes he has a particular reputation to uphold, and if others find out he's pretty smart, then that perception / reputation would be in danger. Or maybe he wants people to underestimate him and he doesn't want to deal with what he believes would be increased responsibilities / input-seeking if they knew he was smart. The front he puts up lets him keep things like this close to the vest. Thank you for reading and commenting!

**

Week 4, coming up. And let's just say there's a reason I tend to write non-Force-Sensitives, LOL. I have no clue if anything here will make sense to anyone else.

 

Prompt #4: Write a story between 100 and 1,000 words from the perspective of the Force.
Word count: 627

Flight Officer Kalre Unatel, Corona Four

Many sentient beings were going to die very soon.

This was not a new occurrence in the history of the galaxy, or even in recent times. The Clone Wars and the rise of the Empire had seen to that.

It was not even an unnatural occurrence. Death was simply life transformed, then energy was born into life again. One led to the other in a cycle as old as the Force itself. The energies shifted from the Living Force to the Cosmic Force and back again.

However, the recent increase in deaths did have an effect: the balance had shifted. The harmony between the Living Force and the Cosmic Force had become dissonant. With each new massive grouping of untimely deaths, the Living Force became weaker and the Cosmic Force grew stronger. Now the Force fought to right itself in a time when the vast majority of the galaxy’s inhabitants were deaf and blind to it.

Even now, the impending deaths were stirring through the energetic threads of that planetary system. The Living Force grew locally weaker as time and possibilities coalesced into stronger probabilities that the threat would come to pass and many would perish. The subsequent increase in local power in the Cosmic Force began acting like a gravity well, distorting the energetic landscape all around it and attracting everything within reach. It tugged on the Living Force of nearby beings to fill the looming vacuum of life the deaths would create. It also couldn’t help but pull on itself as well, tugging on the Cosmic Force connected to those same nearby beings and helping to increase the probability that they would physically arrive and protect the endangered sentients, thereby lessening the blow the Living Force would soon take. The more sentient beings that survived, the less imbalance there would be.

And so, this nearby fleet of ships was caught in the Cosmic Force’s energetic pull. The sentients that lived on the ships were a discordant twang in the Cosmic Force as competing motivations and personalities clashed against each other, but they were a bubble of intense Living Force out amid the void of interstellar space.

The Cosmic Force lowered a probability here, increased a likelihood there, and continued removing obstacles and energetic resistences as much as feasible throughout the crews of the capital ships. One possibility in particular came up during a conversation between a Rodian and a Human. The Rodian had always been bright in the Living Force but seemed stubbornly set on ignoring the Cosmic Force as much as possible, which made it all the more surprising when the Cosmic Force managed to slip in the notion that the Rodian should share a particular piece of information with the Human, and the Rodian did so. It was quickly obscured by deceptions and murky energies, but the information was planted where it might do some good to prevent some of the imminent deaths.

It was strange, really. This Rodian, while being bright in the Living Force himself, was one of the sentients in this fleet that had no qualms about weakening the Living Force by killing others. Though he didn’t always succeed, he was usually amenable to trying. Sometimes it was in cases like this where killing one would save more lives, but sometimes the sentients that the Rodian and this squadron killed were not a direct threat to other lives and therefore contributed to the weakening of the Living Force.

Sentients like the Rodian made the balance even harder to fix, so it was fitting that the Rodian help with that task this time and offset some of the past damage done.

It just all had to balance out in the end.

It had to.

And one way or another, it would.

*****

 

Great to see the clash between the Living Force and the Cosmic Force

 

Very meta!

 

Thank you! From what I can tell, they seem to be two sides of the same coin, but I'm never sure if I'm interpreting it right, LOL. Thanks for reading and replying!

Thank you! I'm glad things came across okay, since I'm still not sure how much sense it makes outside of my head. I figured Kalre would be strong in the Living Force because he's very much a live-in-the-moment type of person who does what he wants and doesn't much care about destiny or "coulda shoulda woulda" and whatnot. He's one of the more aggressive pilots in the squadron too. Thanks very much for reading and commenting!

Thanks! The Force can be something of a broken fourth wall at times, heh. Thank you for reading and commenting!

**

I'm a bit short on time the rest of this week so I'm posting my next entry a bit earlier than normal. I hope I'm not going to regret this strategy down the road, but I don't really have any OTPs so I'm using the get out of jail free prompt for Week 5.

 

Week #5, “Get out of jail free” Prompt: Write a story between 300 and 1,000 words in the format of a letter. It can be a thank you letter, a love letter, a letter-to-the-editor, a request for funding… any type of letter, for any reason, by any character. The entire story should be written as the letter, without any additional narrative framing.
Word count: 908

Lieutenant Shaun "Scoop" Pellicer, Corona Five

**

TO: Lt. Ikoa Fyndcap
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Ikoa, I know Mack’s done with his Personal Time and Snubber was talking to him about the upcoming mission. Has he said anything to you about it? This sounds big, and I’m trying to piece together all the rumors. Let me know.

**

TO: R4-P2, ID 94YN7903, “Trip”
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Trip, when you’re done with our engine diagnostic (and make sure that power fluctuation is fixed), I need you to send a message to one of the 3POs with the Communications group and ask if they’ve been picking up increased traffic on any Imperial frequency bands within the last 72 standard hours. If they have, find out which ones and if they’ve been able to decrypt anything, especially locations or ship movements and supply runs. Send me the info as soon as you have it.

**

REPLY TO: Sgt. Len Meira
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Thanks, that’s interesting. I know you’re busy filling the urgent request, so I’ll just ask one more thing: how much cold weather gear did the Army troops just requisition from you? A squad’s worth? Platoon? More?

**

REPLY TO: Capt. Yll’en’ni
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Thank you, Captain, I appreciate the heads-up. I’ll send the navigational data for that system to my astromech so he can start looking at it if the gravitational mass shadows and vectors are that unusual. Hopefully we won’t end up going there if the hyperspace vectors are that much of a challenge, but I’m not going to hold my breath. Do you want me to have my droid look for anything in particular that can help your Nav team with their analysis for the fleet?

**

TO: R4-P2, ID 94YN7903, “Trip”
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Trip, I have a follow-on for you. Attached is nav data for a nearby system with some challenging mass shadows and hyperspace vectors. Start taking a look and see what you think our inbound and outbound options might be. Also check to see if any of the planets or moons in that system have population centers with current average surface temperatures of around five degrees or lower. I’m guessing that will be our destination.

**

TO: FO. Chryse Cerac
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

CC, who in the squadron knows the most about hyperspace navigation and gravity wells?

**

REPLY TO: FO. Chryse Cerac
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Yes, it’s related to that. I have a theory about where we might be going and why, but I want to run it by someone who knows more than me.

**

REPLY TO: FO. Chryse Cerac
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Very funny.

And no, I was looking for a person, not an astromech. If that’s true, doesn’t it kind of concern you that we don’t really have someone well-versed in a topic like that? Yeah, Ambush would be good to talk to, but she’s probably asleep right now while the Quakes are off-shift. I guess I’ll just have to ask it generally at the briefing then.

**

REPLY TO: FO. Chryse Cerac
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

No, I haven’t, but I’m sure the briefing notice is coming soon.

Okay, if you want to know, there’s a planetary system nearby that’s apparently a challenge to navigate to in hyperspace. Depending on the routes in and out, it sounds like it would be a good place for the Imperials to occupy, hole up in, and secure. Put an Interdictor or two in the best routes in to block those, and let the natural gravity wells protect the rest like a three-dimensional wall. It would be very hard to get the Imperials out once they’re in a place like that, and they could use that type of defensible location for any number of things. I’m wondering if I’m interpreting the nav situation with this system correctly. If I am, I’ve got a hunch that’s what this urgent mission is about.

**

REPLY TO: FO. Chryse Cerac
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Yes, we were always on the lookout for places like that, and I’m sure it hasn’t changed. Our commander used to incentivize us to find and report any possible systems with these nav characteristics by saying that anyone who found a legitimate useful one could be stationed there when it was operational. The promise of being able to spend the war in basically the safest type of system possible was a huge motivator for a lot of my shipmates. Not much I could really scout out in a TIE, though, and I didn’t want to pore over nav charts in my free time like some others, so I didn’t do much with it myself.

**

TO: Maintenance_Schedule_Inquiry_Weapons
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Query: Changes to scheduled activities for Weapons Maintenance group within the last two hours, flag new Priority One line items

**

REPLY TO: Lt. Ikoa Fyndcap
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Okay, thanks, Ikoa. Thought you might have heard something from him by now. No, but I’m sure we’ll get a briefing notice soon. And yeah, everything I’m hearing is making me more sure it’s the same system I told you about earlier. Find anything interesting on it?

**

REPLY TO: FO. Chryse Cerac
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Thanks, CC, but no. I’ll eat later. I’m in the middle of something.

**

REPLY TO: FO. Chryse Cerac
FROM: Lt. Shaun Pellicer

Then I’ll eat in my cockpit. If you’re that concerned, then bring me back something from the mess hall.

*****

 

An exciting conversation and start a mission. Great way to write that letter

 

This is an excellent example of the "show, don't tell" writing technique, where the reader has to piece together what's going on by following one side of a "conversation." I don't know a lot about these characters (my bad for not following your stories more closely [embarrassed_face]), but I could understand what's going on without difficulty. Here's hoping the mission goes well.

(And good use of your "get out of jail free" prompt. I don't have any OTPs either, and the less said about my entry for this week, the better. Thank you for your kind review.)