Dorn: A Star Wars Story

0. Maelstrom Leader

"Troopers, attention!"

The sound of boots on the floor, of a hundred Imperial cadets snapping to attention in unison, the rustle of the rain ponchos and clack of plasteel armor, my breath in my respirator and the blood in my ears. Our first deployment. 

Kando standing beside our commander, pride on his face, but something else... something buried under the surface. 

Apprehension. I know it well. Now I do, anyway.

"Today, you will be marching into Mimban to aid the Mud Jumpers. You will be the vanguard of order in this galaxy!"

I close my eyes and take a breath. There's a calm that comes over me. A feeling unlike any I ever felt. 

Acceptance.

My eyes open, and I slam my controls forward and shoot past the X-Wing with a click of the guns, and the only thing I see on my rear sensor is a ball of fire.

"...I can't shake them!"

Of course they couldn't. X-Wings could never hope to outmaneuver TIEs. Especially Interceptors.

One of the perks of returning to the job had been getting new ship upgrades, and an Interceptor of my own was the best of them.

"Ascendant, this is Laureate. You have two of the reinforcements coming in on your six. I'll take them."

"Copy that, Laureate. Baroness, you have about three coming your way."

"Don't mind me. I'm hanging on Vengeant's arm like a debutante at her first ball."

I couldn't help but smile. Who couldn't? This team - Ascendant, Laureate, Baroness, Inun, Heir, and Vestige - were mine, and they were the best.

My name is TK-65780, Maelstrom Leader and Vengeant, Major Ithan Ruana of the Galactic Imperial Remnant, and these fighters were the beginnings of a new Maelstrom Squadron. My Maelstrom Squadron.

When you fling your way around the stars in an Interceptor, you start to forget about anything else. That acceptance and calm comes over you and you find yourself in a zone that is something close to legendary. I saw Vestige shoot overhead and take out another two X-Wings and there's another feeling that starts to seep in through the cracks.

Vindication.

Getting back into the swing of things felt good, and I felt like I had my fangs back for the first time in a long time. A ship, a squad, a purpose... For the first time since the Battle of Jakku I felt like the old Dorn again, and it was right.

I swung the Interceptor back around and locked one of the few remaining X-Wings in my sight with a deep breath and words that were barely a whisper, "For Maelstrom Squad." I squeezed the trigger and watched the shots connect with the ship's engines as it burst into flames.

"Vengeant, I take it that was the last of them?"

"The rest jumped to hyperspace. No point in going after them. We need to return to the Resplendent and regroup, report back to command," I replied as we all swung back into the formation. I smiled at the sight of the Summa waiting just on the horizon, yet something hung hollow when I looked back at it. The voices on the comms weren't my friends. Even if they were my new squad, no matter how much I loved them as my brothers and sisters in arms, they weren't...

Them.

"Understood, Major. Long live the Empire."

"Long live the Empire," I replied as I set my heading and let the ship coast towards the Summa as I leaned back in my chair with a sigh. I glanced at my console and saw my holoportraits sitting there and open. One was of my old squad - of Thesh, Besh, Osk, Aurek, and I - and the other was of Shenna and I on the day she had gained her pilot's clearance. She had been so happy...

I smiled at her face and then at the faces of my friends. She may not have been able to understand what I had to do, but I knew that they would have. All four of them.

Now... If you read my other logs I'm sure this whole thing must come as a bit of a surprise.

How did I end up here?

Good question.

It all started a while ago when I received a holo from the last person I expected to hear from.