Saga Turnaround - Rebel pilot OCs, OT, June OC Challenge, one-post

Title: Turnaround
Author: Thumper09
Timeframe: OT era, approximately 4 months ABY
Characters: OCs (Rebel pilots)
Summary: A lousy day can provide some unexpected lessons.
Notes: This is my response for the June challenge in the Essential Guide to OCs thread. The challenge is, "You can't bring me down! Let your character be happy and satisfied for a change. Then, make the worst happen, but, as the challenge states, for whichever reasons it does not bring him down. He's still happy after all is said and done.
We can't bring them down, but it won't be for lack of trying."
It's probably on the long side for one post (six pages in Word), but I didn't want to split it in two so I'm putting it all up at once.
Disclaimer: Hello, my name is Thumper, and Star Wars is not mine.

Constructive criticism is most welcome.

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"Turnaround"


Flight Officer Darin Stanic grabbed an extra tool belt from one of the repair areas in the hangar. None of the mechanics gave the pilot a second glance as he did so; Darin came to the hangar to help with some of the more simple repairs on his X-wing every chance he got. He loved doing it, and his crew chief seemed to welcome the assistance and effort.

Normally he'd be heading to his own X-wing now, but not this time. Now Darin latched the belt around his waist and nonchalantly walked toward one of the other Corona Squadron X-wings. He fought to hide a smile.

He couldn't believe Quiver had talked him into doing this, but his wingman was a persuasive speaker. Or Darin was just gullible. Or both. At the moment, he honestly didn't care.

"No way. I'm not getting involved in one of your pranks," Darin had told Quiver earlier.

"Come on, Darin! Why not?" Quiver pleaded.

"Common sense tells me to stay away." That was a lesson Darin had learned very quickly.

Quiver snorted and rolled his eyes. "Common sense is the anti-fun. Have I taught you nothing? Which would you rather do tonight: look back on everything that happened and say, 'Well, that was a common, sensible day,' or say, "Well, that was a fun day!'?"

"With you involved, an unanticipated third option always seems to bubble up."

"That would fall under the 'fun' category. Blast it, come on. Please? I have everything together and planned out, but I don't know how to get it started with Chopper's X-wing. You're good with that mechanical stuff. I need you for this."

And there it was: Darin was needed for something. After a couple months of floundering around and trying to find his place in the squadron, he at last had a niche to fill, a service to provide, a position where he belonged.

And it felt wonderful.

Darin reached the X-wing belonging to his squadmate, Chopper. The snubfighter's tech crew was off at lunch, leaving the fighter alone in the hangar in the midst of preparations for their upcoming mission. That made it easy for Darin to make his way slowly along the fighter's hull until he stopped just forward of the S-foils and engines. While facing the fuselage, he didn't have to worry about hiding his smile anymore. He felt damned good, and this prank would be pretty funny once it was all ready. Everyone in the squadron would get a good laugh out of it, except for probably Chopper.

He located the small access panel on the side of the X-wing. The first step was to remove the panel, which was simple enough. The next step was to do a straightforward rewiring: swap the two wires going to the cockpit's ambient temperature controls. When he was done, a cold setting would bring in hot air and vice versa. Just to be on the safe side, he'd checked the X-wing manuals to verify what wires to adjust. The rest of Quiver's planned prank all hinged on this simple, benign first step.

Darin's

 

You know I love your OCs, Thumper, and it's nice to see you writing Rebels now that you're done with your Imps from "The Way." I really enjoyed this; I think you really captured the whole feel to what it's like to be in the Rebellion.

In spite of his throbbing hand, Darin fought to hide a smile. He may be grounded, but his squadron still needed him, and he could still help them.

And it felt wonderful.

That's the spirit! Best lines.

Awesome job!

 

Thumper! I'm kidnapping you right now to write with the jolly crew of TIS.

Dern! The way you organize a tale is just fantastic. That opening with every few sentences being a new realization of "This wasn't supposed to happen," made me laugh and cringe and laugh again. It was just the flow of the story coupled with good organization that made me read this whole dern thing when I'm really supposed to be doing other things.

Again, superb job. As always, you never fail to impress. I love your OCs. Fantastic story!

Thanks for the PM.

Trikes

 

Idri: Thanks! Rebels are my usual fare, and they had too much time off while I was writing the Imperials, so now the Rebs are back in my crosshairs. They're not too happy. I'm glad you liked the last bit and that the Rebellion "feel" came through. Thanks for reading and replying!

Trika: Thanks! And I hope you got everything done that you needed to. I wrote this story while I was supposed to be doing other things, so I can sympathize. That opening section was fun to do, especially with the increasing amount of things that weren't supposed to happen. Thanks for commenting and reading, and I'll see you around the Nest!

-Thumper

 

Commander Mackin crossed his arms. "Did I stutter? Was I not speaking Basic? Can you not understand Basic?"

Is Darin from the planet What?

Excellent response to the challenge, Thumper!

 

Woohooo! Hooray for more Corona Squadron!

Poor Darin! He certainly got in trouble this time. That was pretty dumb of him though, but at least he got to punch someone in the face, haha.

Great job and thanks so so much for PMmming me!

 

Great response to the OC challenge. Loved this story

 

Aw!
Such a wonderful end.
Poor darin, to get grounded like that.
Being the rookie of a squad does not sound like fun, but it was good for something this time. I felt so sorry for him when he got reprimanded twoce and bad.

I hope he gets something more out of this than to punch somebody, though that is a good start.

Great response to the challenge!

 

Nothing like punching somebody who really deserves it to alleviate frustration. Not that I've ever done that...

Great response to the challenge!

Raptor517

 

Face: I think Darin has a summer home there. Thanks for reading and replying!

snowspeeder_gunner: Quiver seems to bring out the stupidity in people. Yeah, Darin got really busted, but he deserved it for that stunt, LOL. Thanks a bunch for replying and reading!

earlybird-obi-wan: Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for commenting!

MsLanna: Darin definitely does not enjoy being the rookie at this point, but yeah, the whole punishment ended up being something of a good thing. Plus, in the future he'll be a little more wary of what he's talked into doing by someone else. Thanks for commenting!

Raptor517: I imagine Darin would agree with your statement after this little incident. Thanks for reading and replying!

-Thumper

 

Great - my kind of line in terms of SW-

And it felt wonderful.

 

Thanks for reading and replying, cdmcc! I'm glad you liked it.

-Thumper