The high-pitched roar of the TIEs rang through the air as they passed over the city. Yet another eventless air patrol in the dull skies of Belona... Still, it was a welcome change for one of the four pilots up there. For the last few months, the light carrier [I]Dreadful[/I] had been assigned to a small escort fleet, defending supply and trade convoys near Hutt space. Pirates crazy enough took no hesitation to try and catch the escorts off guard, but the TIEs were always on station, hitting back before any real damage was done. ...Constantly watching scanners for unidentified craft was making Anya more and more paranoid! The rookie still had nothing on the discipline that her fellow pilots had - they all seemed like they could care less when under fire, and nobody seemed to really give a damn when Daryll bought it as the only casualty during their trade escort posting.

The comm channel was absolutely silent, and Anya could hear only the muffled roar of her own fighter and her own breathing through her mask. Patrol or no, silence was expected of the small squadron until alert, or if the lead was giving instruction... Yep.

"Patrol - we've passed Point Cresh. The final waypoint is home. Eyes peeled. I don't want a clean report, if you see something suspicious or out of the ordinary, I want it called out so I can decide its worth!" the Lieutenant said clearly over the comm channel. Though his voice was rough and grizzled, it still held that pristine Imperial accent. He was the only one on the team who'd adopted it, but perhaps he came from a noble family or something along those lines. Anya and the LT's other subordinates would probably never change, but you totally didn't need to put on your best classy voice when you became an Officer... Right? It might help though.

"You're thinking about nothing again," Anya told herself first, [I]before[/I] checking that she wasn't transmitting anything. Fortunately there would be no snapping over the channel just for a little infraction, as she was on mute. Last thing she needed was an angry LT - he was a veteran, patriotic, and had a very short fuse. At least this flight was nearly over... Anya was looking forward to some Caf and a little time to chill out once they got back to base. Without any random stops along the way to recon things that looked, but probably were not suspicious, it should only take a matter of minutes.