Spear squadron’s fighters lumbered into the hanger of the ISDII Relentless. Fractured view ports, carbon scoring from lasers and exposed wiring and conduits sparking riddled all of the starfighters as they all touched down on the deck. MsMayham hollered into the comms, “SPEAR IS ABOARD!!! LET’S GO!!” Within seconds, the Star Destroyer made its jump into hyperspace back towards friendly Emperor’s Hammer space.

“What in the blue Chiss hell was that?!!” Mack yelled as he threw his flight helmet across the flight deck with enough force to knock over several mechanic tools and equipment. “Since when did those chumps have THAT many numbers?!” he continued in his tirade. LC Death climbed out of his TIE Advanced and as he was walking away, the hyperdrive exploded and caught fire. Fire alarms began blaring and fire crews rushed over to the crippled fighter. Unphased, he continued walking towards Mack who was still in mid temper tantrum.

“Here.” LC Death said as he shoved a flask in Mack’s chest. “You need to calm down Captain, we’re all here and we’re all alive.” Mack took a deep breath and exhaled, immediately taking a huge sip from Death’s flask. “Thanks, I needed that.” said Mack. He scanned the hanger looking for their Commander, “Where’s the boss lady?” Death shrugged his shoulders, “Probably in the locker room”, taking a swig from the flask himself. As they approached the locker room, they could hear MsMayham screaming in anger and several metal clangs. Mack and Death both paused then proceeded inside cautiously. Multiple locker doors were punched or kicked in, a few barely hanging on to their hinges. The duo rounded the corner just in time to see her in mid swing at another locker and they both flinched, having a shared thought of thank the maker that wasn’t me. Before she could throw another anger fueled punch, they grabbed her hands.

“LET ME GO!” MsMayham protested. Death calmly replied “No” and poured a shot from his flask into her mouth. “GAH!!” she protested, but relaxed her arms and Mack and Death released her fists. MsMayham quickly hugged both her XO and FL, “I’m so sorry boys” she cried, with tears rolling down her face. “It’s okay, we’re all here because of you” said Death. “Yeah, exactly” said Mack trying to hold back tears himself, “I’m pissed off too, but we live to fight another day thanks to you”.

“That’s not entirely true, but thank you Mack. Thank you Death” said MsMayham, wiping the tears from her face and smearing the blood from hands instead. “Oh, that’s our girl, being modest as always” teased Death. The three team members chuckled softly. “So now what? What’s our plan now?” asked Mack. “Home” MsMayham said, “but first, we need to hit the infirmary and get patched up and cleaned up, then more of whatever our LC has in that flask.”

“It’ll cost you, it’s from my secret stash”, said LC Death with a smirk on his face. “About a month’s salary should do nicely.”

MsMayham snatched the flask from Death and took another swig, “OR, I could just order you to give it to me” she said with a grin and handed it back. “Duely noted” Death replied, “let’s go get fixed up, shall we?”

The 3 battlegroups of the Emperor’s Hammer arrived back in the Aurora System. If not for the vacuum of space, you could have heard the crews cheering all the way to Aurora Prime. The heavily damaged Star Destroyers and escort cruisers limped into the space docks to begin repairs. TUG ships and Zero G maintenance crews swarming around the ships like little gnats. Shuttles ferrying starfighter pilots and non essential personnel down to the planet surface. After narrowly escaping defeat and destruction at the hands of the First Order, Emperor’s Hammer High Command issued a mandatory R&R for all staff involved in the battle.

Mack disembarked from his shuttle, carrying his bag over his shoulder and got a ride on a landspeeder back to his apartment. His body weary from the ordeal, he dragged himself inside and immediately collapsed on the couch. When he woke up, it was night and he felt a weight on his chest. Meeeow? “Huh? Oh, hi Lenox” Mack said groggily to his Loth-cat. Lenox began purring and kneading on Mack’s chest. “Yeah, I missed you too buddy. I missed you too.”

The following morning, Mack began going over flight logs and reviewing mission holos while drinking his caf. He refused to let this time go to waste and was already working on a way to help improve his own efficiency. “Next time, the First Order will be the one’s running away” Mack said to himself, taking another sip of caf.

For the next month while on R&R, Mack began a new training regimen for himself. Promising himself to push past his limits and rededicating to the Emperor’s Hammer way of life and why he joined in the first place. Spending more time in flight sims to refamiliarize with the abilities of different craft and to increase his own skill as a pilot and more time with sparring droids to sharpen his hand to hand combat and soon to be able to carry his lightsaber. His abilities in the Force were growing and eventually he would have the power to utterly destroy those who opposed his beloved Emperor’s Hammer and Spear Squadron.