"Welcome aboard, Major!"
Naval tradition dictated there could only be one captain on a vessel, so the increase in rank was merely a courtesy. Josh nodded gravely at the Mendellian pilots, who were craning around in their seats to look at him. "Delighted to be here. In your own time, gentlemen," he replied coolly, and with a final nod, moved back to the passenger compartment of the Gaia.
He was dressed in what unofficially passed as an official Terra Group undress uniform - black boots, khaki cargo pants, a black blaster belt, and a T-shirt the same shade as the pants. The Terra Group logo stood proudly on his right chest, the pips of his rank insignia sat on his shoulders, his lightsabre hung from his right hip, and the custom patch on his left arm depicted a gold Southern Cross on a field of green. For some reason, wearing the uniform made Josh want to strut.
At least part of it was the way the Mendellians treated him when he wore it. He'd been around the Palace in his normal attire on several occasions, and every time the hired help eyed him like he was there to steal the silver. Once, a butler had informed him in no uncertain terms that 'his kind' were not welcome in the Palace, and that he should leave and never come back.
But when he wore the uniform, he became part of the fabled Terra Group, that band of starship-slayers, who had joined with Thayer Atner to liberate Mendellia. Not only that, he was an officer, which presumably meant he was a gentleman as well. People would point and whisper reverently, higher-born Mendellians would incline their heads almost as if to an equal, and soldiers would salute.
It was all a load of rancor spit, really. All he'd done was kill a bunch of people and somehow avoid being killed himself. The idea that this made him in any way better than other people - except in the killing-people stakes, perhaps - was a bunch of hooey. Even his rank was a bit of a joke - in an organisation like Terra Group, rank counted for little, reputation counted a lot. As near as Josh could tell, all his rank really allowed him to do was take the blame if someone else stuffed up. But yet...
He was proud of what Terra Group had done. Admittedly, he'd only had a relatively small role - he hadn't destroyed the Admonitor, or killed Thraawn, broken Quiara out of captivity or even displayed the leadership his rank should require - but he was a member of a small group who had saved the world. And that didn't happen every day. And like it or not, when people showed respect to him, they were showing respect to Terra Group - and if he didn't act like he deserved it, he was somehow letting down the entire team.
At least, he hoped that was the reason.
He strapped himself into the seat, and settled in for the voyage to Mendellia.
*********
Josh was staring at the X-Wings parked in the hangar when someone called out from behind him.
"Not bad, eh, Crispy?"
Josh turned his head at the voice, and Mike grinned back at him with a grease-stained face. "All carefully cared for by moi. They're beauties, aren't they?"
"Hey, Mike," Josh said, smiling in return. "Do we have enough pilots for 'em all?"
"I know we've got more astromechs than X-Wings - let's see," Mike pulled a rag from the belt of his overalls and wiped it across his face, smearing the grease into a uniform sheen. "We've got the Big Josh to fly one, Emily for another, count Vickie in for a third..." He began to tick off names on his fingers. "Kristy drools too much at the sight of 'em to sit in the cockpit, Becki hasn't said - Nick?"
Josh shrugged. "Hasn't said either. The company's got a repulsorcraft we use to hop continents, though - he's pretty fond of that."
"All right then - Brad's got his pride and joy -"
"He's got that back up and running?"
"Yeah, just got the last few parts he needed last week. It should be right any time soon, and the Fearful Leader's got his shuttle. Is there anyone I've forgotten?"
"You?"
"Catch me up in one of those things? I know everything that can go wrong, sonny - not going to happen. Looks like we might have a vacancy, sah." Mike winced. "Dammit!"
"Don't worry, I didn't think you meant it in the military sense." Josh winked. "And don't think you're getting demoted that easily."
"Is that a challenge I hear?" Mike asked with a twinkle in his eye.
Josh sighed. "I guess so. Still, I'd like to log a bit of sim-time. Can I borrow an astromech?"
Mike immediately snapped a little too much to attention. "Can do better than that, SAH!" The grin never left his face.
"How d'you mean?"
"I can assign you one," Mike continued, beckoning Josh to follow as he made his way over to a rack of powered-down astromechs. "Came in with the B-Wing shipment. Just transferred from FleetOps, a real piece of work. Comes with specialised software and electronics, and a whole heap of experience." He knelt down in front of a white-and-green R2 unit and undid the latches holding it in place, rolling it out onto the hangar floor. "Crispyfried Aussie, say 'g'day' to R2-D15!"
So saying, he flicked a switch on the astromech and closed the control panel. The droid powered up quickly, the light on its dome-like head quickly turning a vibrant blue. Its holocam sensor spun around, taking in its surroundings.
"Hey," said Josh in greeting, moving up to crouch in front of the droid. "R2-D15, right? I'm Josh - I've been assigned to you." Not knowing what else to do, he held his right hand out as if to be shaken.
A panel jumped open on the astromech, and a spidery robotic arm leaped out at Josh's hand. A blue spark flashed, and Josh refexively drew his hand back. "Ow!"
The droid blatted rudely, tootled a bit more, then turned in place and rolled off, leaving Josh shifting his bewildered gaze between his hand and the retreating astromech.
"Did I mention he's got a slight attitude problem?" asked Mike, watching the droid go.
"Slight?" asked Josh in a hurt tone of voice. "And no, you didn't."
"A shame. A man might get demoted for that kind of negligence..."
"But not today. Bastard."
"Yeah, the arcwelder was a bit much, I thought."
"Not the droid."
"Ah, well, that's what I'm here for. You treat your new friend nicely, you hear?"