(Okay, just to let you all know the background behind this... PezCat here plays role-playing-games. Lots of them. One of the characters [and by far one of my favorite character names/personalities...] I played was "Chase Jericho," a Smuggler from the Star Wars RPG. I use "Chase" frequently as the name of a character in games like FF7, and "Chase" is the name of my Monster Rancher 2 file. Since he's transcended a few gaming genres, I thought this one might be a little fun... but hang with me if it starts out choppy... I'll probably break it into chapters so it's palatable... and I warn you, it WILL start off sounding hideously off-topic... also, bear with me. I have to use a mac to do this, and the posts look like they're coming out real ugly...)
"Blasted Imps!" Chase sent the Odd Duck into a hard starboard banking to avoid the fire of several Imperial TIE Fighters pursuing his ship. Chase had dealt with this before, enough times to make it almost routine. But today, Chase was not in the mood. An outmanuevered TIE blew up in a shower of sparks after the Odd Duck blasted it. If the Empire had known exactly how pissed off in general Chase was at that moment, they likely wouldn't have let their fighters chase after the Rebel smuggler when they sighted him. But they neither knew nor cared, and were losing valuable pilots as a result. Another TIE's existence ended abruptly. "I just want to go home, you bastards! Leave me the F*** ALONE!" The singular piece of profanity Chase Jericho uttered was accentuated with the destruction of the last TIE Fighter harassing the Odd Duck. Chase let out an exasperated sigh as he relaxed in his chair, the stress showing on his face. "Chase, you okay?" his co-pilot asked. Chase looked over at his co-pilot, then wondered again exactly how he got in with THIS crew... an Ewok co-pilot, with a cloak that was better left undiscussed; a Jawa mechanic, who was in a relationship with the Ewok that was even better left undiscussed; an ex-Stormtrooper, assigned to a mission with Chase several years ago, resulting in the two working together continually; and an Assassin Droid with a grudge against the Empire even bigger than Chase's. The only one on the ship that kept him sane was his gunner/fellow pilot, who, when they had spare time, doubled as Chase's fiancé, Dan'Tiree. "Yeah, I'm fine... Just wanna get this shipment dropped on Yavin then get outta here for awhile... Set course Bob... I'm taking a break..." "Alright," the Ewok replied, clumsily pounding several buttons and leaning back in his chair. "What a friggin' day..." Chase said tiredly, leaving the cockpit, shaking his head. "What a friggin' life..." Walking down the hall, a smile cracked his face. He wouldn't give up any of it for the world.