[h3]Kytra Alde - Before the briefing[/h3]

The hangar was crowded. It always was. Thranta squadron, though the smallest in number of craft aboard the Keep, took up more space than Mynock squadron. The craft were large in their own right, but Y-Wings were notoriously maintenance intensive, and always surrounded by technicians, spare parts and supplies, that increased their hangar footprint considerably.

Today however, it was even more severe. Three of the squadrons craft were damaged from the previous battle - and in order to keep the squadron operational, repair crews had been assigned to them with priority. Kytra sat in the cockpit of her craft now, forgoing the relative silence of her quarters for a place she felt comfortable in… And a place too loud and chaotic for anyone to come and ask her how she felt.

The battle had caused more grief to Thranta squadron than the damage to the craft. It had taken from them Lieutenant Verena Aldamar and her ship. Verena had been one of the longest standing members of the squadron and Kytra’s second in command. That alone would’ve been a significant blow to the squadron, but it was worse than that. Kytra though a reasonable starfighter tactician, had never been much of a leader of men. Verena had had the charisma she lacked, and while Kytra was the squadron’s mind, Verena was its soul. The loss was keenly felt.

She had run out of tears for her friend. Now she had to write a letter to Verena’s next of kin. She had been staring at the datapad unable to find the words for half an hour now. This was the worst part of leading her own squadron.

“Hey!” A yell from a goggled human in the messy garb of a technician yelled up at her. “Hey! Flygirl! You need to check some systems!” His shouting roused Kytra from her reverie. She put down the datapad, taking the excuse to focus on something else. “Alright, what's first?” She spoke loudly to be heard over the cacophony of the hangar. “Check the left rear deflector projection strength and the power coupling efficiency to the left engine!” Of course. The left wing had been hit on the retreat after the last battle. She ran a quick systems check, and after a few minutes diagnosis relayed the result “I’m seeing fluctuations in the rear deflector. You should take another look at its alignment.” The repair crews were good, but even good repair crews made mistakes when they were rushed and crowded. “Power flow to the engine is good, but its running hot.” The cooling systems were the eternal bane of the maintenance crews. There was [i]always[/i] a problem somewhere with them. The reply from the technician confirmed Kytra’s suspicions. “Yeah, that was the next thing I was going to ask you. We had to bypass the main line with three new lines. Main line is shot and we can't fix it without a complete strip down.” Kytra nodded, then after a moment replied, somewhat stroppily. “I need more cooling on that engine. Work something out.” 

All she got back was a sarcastic “Yes your majesty.” From the technician. It was something a disturbing number of the crew had taken to doing whenever she asked for anything, in reference to her occasionally demanding nature and royal lineage. It wasn’t technically the right formal address for her station, but then, that was the point. She let it slide, mostly because she knew if she asked for it to stop, it’d just be said behind her back. It was then her comm link activated and the beeping of an astromech came through. She was needed in the ready room. It was another mission.