X-WING

　The next day, the rescued pilots were taking a break from their extensive debriefing, and three of them were in the mess, grabbing a bite, when I entered the room. I noticed them talking with some of the other pilots, and looking my way. I paid it no mind, and proceeded to collect some porf (which I had begun to like, much to my surprise). I sat alone, still brooding a little over the last mission, and not really wanting company.
　"You Farlander!"
　One of the rescued pilots, a captain by his uniform, stood at the head of my table, leaning over with his hands placed flat on its surface. I looked up in surprise.
　"That's me," I answered, a little defensive at the man's obvious breech of etiquette. I studied him, assessed him almost instantly. He was dark-skinned, hard-edged, and dangerous. "What do you want!"
　"I'm Samuel Raider," he said, as though it should mean something to me.
　"I'm afraid you've got me there," I told him. "Do I know you!"
　"You knew my friend," he said. He wasn't going to make this easy on me, whatever his problem, but something in his tone clued me in.
　"You're Cardacs' friend," I said with sudden insight. He said nothing. "Listen. I'm sorry about Cardacs. He was - I didn't really get to know him. He said that you were a great pilot," I added lamely.
　"Just watch yourself," Raider said at last, and then turned and walked back to his friends. They all sat there then, watching me.
　So much for gratitude.
　I didn't see Raider again until I was called in to a squadron briefing the next day.
　"This is Captain Raider," S'man was saying. "He recently escaped from Stars' End prison, and he has brought us important information. It seems that a slave ship carrying Wookiees is en route to a mysterious Imperial project. Wookiees are allies of the Alliance, and we must attempt to rescue them."
　S'man nodded to Raider, who continued the briefing from that point.
　"We think that some of the Wookiees may have information about their destination." The new captain was dead serious. "The rumors about a new weapon were everywhere at the prison, but we could never get close enough to anyone who had been there. Some of these Wookiees may know more. I'm going to lead a team of A-wings to get them back. I need two other pilots."
　"You." He pointed at Jan-lo.
　"And you," he said, pointing at me.
　Why would he choose me? I quickly ruled out gratitude as a motivating factor.
　Then one of the other pilots who had been rescued spoke up; "Hey, Raider. Come on. I haven't seen action in months. Let me go."
　The captain turned to his friend and said, "OK, Toalagar: You're in. You and Farlander over there."
　He pointed at me again, and I had a distinctly unpleasant sensation, as though his finger was a charged laser cannon, and I was its target.

　OP 2: Rescue Wookiee Slaves

　File Name: rescue1
　Mission Briefing
　You must capture a freighter containing Wookiee slaves. Look out for the new Imperial starfighter, the Assault Gunboat, which is now operational in this sector. You are in the number-three spot in a three-ship group of X-wings. Three groups of Assault Gunboats are three clicks immediately ahead. The Star Destroyer Intrepid is about 12 clicks away, and to the left. The freighter with the Wookiees is another six clicks beyond the Gunboats, and has a full TIE fighter squadron escorting it.
　Farlander's After-Action Report
　Went through the standard mission-start procedure. Between us and the freighter were six of the new Assault Gunboats we had been warned about. They all seemed intent on Red 1 and Red 2. My threat indicator wasn't even flashing! Maybe they thought that the number-three spot was for rookies or something. Red 1 and 2 proceeded with a head-on attack against the nearest enemy fighter, Gunboat Mu 1, while I made a flank attack with torpedoes.
　Red 2 was lost to missiles on the first pass, but I managed to get off three torpedoes before anyone began to pay attention to me. By now, I was in the thick of it, along with Red 1, and I fired one more torpedo at short range. The target evaded at just the right moment, so I decided to switch to cannons and get back to basics. At one point, we both went after the same enemy, and Raider's cannon fire raked my shields. Accident? Or not?
　"Red 3," he called over the comm. "Why don't you go find another ship!"
　Finally, we destroyed all six Gunboats, then proceeded toward the freighter.
　The escorting TIE fighters were split into four groups of three apiece. They had the odds - six to one. It didn't look like a promising situation, but Raider was a good pilot, and we managed to hurt them pretty badly pretty quickly. After we had cut their numbers in half, I figured that it was time to confirm the identity of the freighter. Red 1 continued after the TIEs while I peeled off for an ID run, and then I rejoined him.
　The Y-wings came in a few moments after I identified the Toral. We finished off the last of the escort TIEs, and then someone on the Star Destroyer woke up and began sending reinforcements.
　The next three-ship group of TIE fighters was from Theta Squadron. These guys must have been ordered to stop the Y-wings, because they were pretty single-minded about it - which made it all that much easier for us to get behind them and blow them away. By now the Y-wings had disabled the Toral, and Rescue 1 had arrived.
　As soon as we finished off Theta, a replacement wave was launched, followed soon afterward by another flight of three from Zeta Squadron.
　We were so caught up with Theta that I almost missed noticing that Zeta had gone right by us. Apparently, they were going after Rescue 1 before it could escape into hyperspace. Worse, they were already more than two clicks away!
　I quickly transferred my cannon power to the shields, and then redirected all cannon and shield energy to the engines. Switching to torpedoes - I still had two left - I targeted Zeta 1 and launched as soon as I got a lock. I was just about to launch the last one at Zeta 2 when I realized that I was close enough for cannons.
　As I reconfigured the ELS levels and transferred some power back to the lasers, I began shooting. Rescue 1 made its jump, and I finished off Zeta. Red 1 had finished off another wave of Theta, so I formed up on his wing and followed him out.
　Debriefing (Win Conditions)
　TRN Rescue 1 must dock with FRT Toral, and then escape into hyperspace.

　I was stripping off my flight gear when Captain Raider came up behind me. I almost ducked. I was afraid that he might blame me for Toalagar's death, too.
　"Farlander..." he said quietly.
　"What is it!" I was a little defensive.
　"I just wanted to apologize," he said. "For the stray shots."
　"Yeah!" I answered.
　"Yeah. I was hot about Cardacs, but..." He hesitated, then said, "Toalagar died... and that wasn't your fault... It was mine."
　"Let me ask you something, Captain Raider," I said, deciding to get things straight between us once and for all. "Did you chose me for this mission to check me out, or to shoot me in the back!"
　He looked a little shocked. "To check you out. Yeah. But to shoot you? What kind of pilot do you think I am, anyway!"
　"A pretty good one, from what I saw," I told him sincerely. "But you were... You seemed to blame me..."
　"I was wrong. Let's leave it at that. Come on. I've got some drinking to do, and I need some company."
　He offered a handshake, and I complied. His grip was firm, and his eyes were steady.
　"Oh, and Farlander..." he added as we strode up the path from the hangar bay, "You're not a bad pilot yourself."
　As he started toward the hangar exit, I heard him say, more to himself than to me; "Yeah. You're OK."