The New Adventures of Nomi Darklighter

Chapter 29 - To the successful Mission

The freighter Lucky Girl with the urgently needed X-wings on board reached the orbit of D'Qar after a smooth journey through hyperspace.
"Ground control, this is the Lucky Girl. I have your new fighters on board. It would be nice if you could send someone to pick them up," Nomi heard Tarik's voice as he contacted the base on D'Qar via comm.
The reply came quickly.
"Copy that, Lucky Girl. We're sending pilots with one of our transports to take the X-wings to the surface."
Tarik laughed his chirping laugh.
"I've got twelve X-wings on board. You only have to bring up 11 pilots for that, because you have the twelfth in me."
On hearing this, the female ground controller let out a low whistle. She realized that the cargo was much more than the commander of the base's fighter squadrons had expected.
"I'll inform the pilots," she finally replied.
"Thank you"
Tarik handed over command to his co-pilot, stood up and left the cockpit to go to the docking bay. The former Rogue Squadron pilot was already wearing his old pilot's gear and had his battered helmet tucked under his arm. He had to admit that he could hardly wait to sit in the cockpit of an X-wing again.

Nomi had been listening to Tarik's conversations with ground control and a little later she saw a Resistance transporter leave D'Qar's atmosphere and set course for the Lucky Girl.
When he reached the freighter, the pilot of the transporter carefully maneuvered it into the docking bay. The Jedi imagined the X-wing pilots of Red Squadron disembarking from the transporter to take over the new fighters and fly them to the planet's surface. She leaned back and waited patiently.
It wasn't long before the new X-wings and the transporter left the docking bay of the space freighter, which immediately jumped into hyperspace.
As soon as the Lucky Girl had left, Poe Dameron activated his comm.
"Mission accomplished without a hitch," the pilots heard their commander's voice.. "Blues, we should celebrate a bit, and this time I have something very special for you all."
Nomi was curious as to what it could be, but she knew they would soon find out.

As Nomi and her comrades flew over the landing pad in their X-wings, they saw the twelve brand-new T-70. The pilots jumped out of their fighters as soon as they landed.
"Ambassador Tarik has done a great job again."
Poe Dameron grinned broadly.
The winged alien had just returned to the landing pad and had heard Poe's words.
"May I remind you that I'm no longer an ambassador, Poe?" He said, winking at the young commander. "We had agreed to call each other by our first names. By the way, I'm assigned to the Red Squadron." Then he turned to Nomi. "What a pity we can't fly together, old friend."
"Yes, it's a pity, Tarik," the Jedi smiled at her old comrade. "But if you're with the Reds, you can keep an eye on Tasherit."
This made him laugh out loud.
"I think your daughter can take care of herself, Nomi."
In the meantime, Dash and Snap had joined them. Wexley clapped Dameron on the shoulder.
"You said you had something special for us, Poe."
The commander nodded.
"Come to my quarters. Tarik, you're invited too." Then he grinned. "I managed to get Jet Sprit."
Nomi laughed as she remembered the fatal effect the stuff had had on Tarik during their last encounter on Hosnian Prime.
Apparently her old friend remembered too, because he shook his head and ruffled his feathers.
"Thanks for the invitation, Poe, but I'm not touching that stuff anymore. Besides, I need to calibrate my X-wing's controls. I don't want any nasty surprises in my first fight."
With those words, he left, but not before giving Nomi a hug.

Dameron looked at the three remaining pilots.
"But you're participating?"
All three nodded.
"Good, then come with me."
He turned and walked ahead, followed by the others.
After they had entered the quarters, Dash, Nomi and Snap sat down at the table and Poe took a bottle of Jet Sprit out of his locker.
He then placed glasses on the table, poured a good portion into each one and passed them to his guests.
The commander raised his glass.
"Let's drink to the successful mission and the new fighters," he paused briefly and then continued. "And also to the comrades who were killed in action."
After that, the men downed the Jet Sprit in one go, keeping a straight face, while Nomi just took a sip of her drink. The alcohol burned like fire in the Jedi's throat, but she also kept a straight face.
Watching her out of the corner of his eye, Dameron nodded approvingly.
"You're the first woman I've ever met who can drink Jet Sprit without coughing, Nomi."
The veteran pilot laughed.
"I drank the stuff while I was in Rogue Squadron while you were still in diapers and drinking Juri juice that your mother put in your bottle."
With a laugh, the commander refilled the glasses for himself and the men. This time they didn't just gulp the drink down, but took their time.
Dameron swirled his drink thoughtfully in his glass.
"I hope General Organa is successful and we finally get simulators. We could save fuel, which is hard to come by, if we could practice in them instead of our fighters."
Snap nodded in agreement, then took a long sip from his glass.
"Yes, getting fuel is a problem, and getting spare parts. To our mechanics who keep our fighters running despite all the problems, my friends."
He drained his glass.
Dash and Poe did the same, while Nomi just took another sip. She didn't want to be the picture of misery she had been at one of Rogue Squadron's legendary victory celebrations when she had thrown up in front of all her comrades. She had had to listen to mocking remarks for days afterwards.
Poe refilled the glasses for the men and himself. Then the bottle was empty. He shrugged his shoulders.
"You should always stop when it's best. Besides, let's keep a clear head, my friends. Who knows what will happen tomorrow."
He raised his glass once more.
"Long live the Resistance!"
His guests also raised their glasses.
"Long live the Resistance!"
Then they emptied their glasses in one go.
A little later, the three pilots said goodbye to their commander and made their way back to their own quarters.