Following the Battle of Endor, Blade Squadron's roster is left depleted. With Braylen Stramm now in command, he and Gina Moonsong begin the process of rebuilding the squadron before the Battle of Malastare while navigating their own personal relationship.
This short story contains the following tropes:
- Airstrike Impossible: Blade Squadron is assigned to begin the Battle of Malastare by blasting through the planetary shield with their ion cannons and then blowing up a major Imperial communications center and the planetary shield generator so the rest of the Republic fleet can begin its assault.
- Fake Static: Moonsong pretends that she can't hear Stramm due to static and then cuts off her comm when he realizes she is defying orders and leading a bombing run on Moff Pandion's palace and tries to order her to stop.
- Inappropriately Close Comrades: Stramm decides that since he is now Moonsong's commanding officer their relationship cannot continue.
- New Meat: Two of Blade Squadron's new members, Cutter Poole and Yori Dahn, have no experience outside of training in starfighters. A third recruit, Jordan Karls, has experience in other starfighters but is new to flying a B-Wing.
- Number Two: Moonsong takes over as Blade Squadron's second-in-command.
- Rank Up: Stramm is officially promoted to commander and given leadership of Blade Squadron, while Moonsong is promoted to lieutenant.
- Red Shirt: Karls gets pretty much no development or backstory before being killed by crashing into the shield surrounding Malastare.
- Sole Survivor: Out of the three new squadron members who are introduced, only Dahn survives the Battle of Malastare.
