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OOC: A bit more, just so you get a feel for most of the characters and such.

Bester sat in his chair, his fingers steepled, the way men sit when they have too many things to ponder, and none of them are pleasant. It was the way a man sat when he could no longer sleep through the night, because his sins weighed too heavily upon his mind.
He was still sitting like that, when one of his subordinates came into the room. "Mr. Bester, sir, I have some bad news. Our sensors have picked up enemy movement. It looks like those... those SPORKERS!"
Bester leapt to his feet. "Them again? Don't they have better things to do than to interfere with me? Scramble fighters, get to battle stations, and prepare for attack."
"Sir!"
"And get me Grim. I think it's time to let him test his little project."
"Yes, Sir!" The subordinate, a man who would have probably risen far, were it not for the large chunk of duracrete that would crush him to death exactly five hours later as he sat in his E-web emplacement, ran from the room at full speed, to the terrifying offices of First Scientist Grimace G Grim.
Bester chuckled to himself. "Yes, I think the Sludge will be perfect opponents for our friends."

Aboard the I.F.S. Errant Spork the mood was a mixture of jubilation and panic. The boys of Hawk Squadron were testing their X-wings, going over the full checklist. "Come on, men. Don't forget double and triple checks. It'll do you no good to have something fail in combat." Xanderich knew his crew hated when he hard-a**ed them, but he also hadn't lost a man in over a year, an incredible length of time in a squad that saw combat as regularly as his.

Derek, with his ever-present hydrospanner, was also double checking many of the Spork's systems. The beer spout was still acting up, but he didn't have time to fix it again. Instead, he was going over all the power couplings.

Chief Chef and Bottlewasher Ronin stroked the hilt of his sporksaber, ready for the inevitable boarding action. Every good battle had a boarding action. And every battle, he wound up right in the thick of it, no matter how hard he tried to avoid it. Of course, his hardest try was more like running right into the middle of the battle than running away. "Peace and Order might be great for those Jedi, but for a Spork knight, Honor and Pride are far better, dont you think?"
Lothar smiled up from the corner of the cantina, where he sat with Ryoko, who had somehow popped up from another universe. No one on the E.S. knew how this had happened, but Lothar didn't much care. The more ladies running about the Spork, the happier he was. "Of course. If that's what the last Spork knight says, how can I disagree? Just don't get killed out there."
"Of course." Ronin smirked. "Shouldn't you be getting to the bridge?"
"Me? Nah, the Captain won't want to see my face yet. I'll show up at the last minute, just like always. So gimme another plate of those eggs." He put his feet up on the bench. "Piloting is hungry work."
"Piloting? You sit in a chair and punch buttons. The boys in Hawk and Eagle squads, now they're pilots."
Lothar rolled his eyes. "Yes, they are. I mean no disrespect to them. But whatever you want to call it, I'm still hungry. Serve me up some more of them eggs."
Ronin shoveled a full plate. "Coming right up." He started cleaning the grill. "Expecting anything difficult today?"
"Of course. But not difficult for ME." He laughed heartily. "No, I don't expect too much. Then again, no one knows exactly what this guy has planned."

In the Eagle Squad hangar, Koholos and Kamar were still fighting. "I'm telling you, Koh, I'm gonna get FOURTEEN of them today."
"Kamar, fourteen is more than a full squad. There is no way you've got the skills to take a full squad."
"Let me at 'em. I'll take em all."
"Seriously, what's the most you've ever hit? I took out eleven once. And I'd have gotten the twelfth if my wing man hadn't bailed on me."
"I took ten once. And I'd have had twelve, too, except we had to make a system jump."
"There you go then. Ten. Not fourteen." Koholos tossed him a spanner. "Don't forget the bolts under the S-foils."
"Yeah, yeah. You tell me that every time." Kamar caught the spanner behind his back and threw a diagnostic tool across the gap. "But I'm not kidding, I could take fourteen today. I'm feeling good. Pumped full of energy."
Koholos reached out his arm and caught the diagnostic tool while he kept his eyes on the checklist screen. "Thanks. But you won't take fourteen. If you get twelve, I'll pay your tab for tonight."
Kamar laughed. "All right, then. If you get more than I do, I'll pick up your tab."
Cobol leaned over the side of his X-wing. "And if you BOTH shut up, I'll pick up your tabs for the next month."
Kamar and Koholos both made a rude gesture at him. Cobol smiled and stuck his head back into the cockpit. It was a routine they'd all done dozens of times before. For any of them to miss a part of it would probably have jinxed the whole mission. Besides, as long as they were the top two pilots, Cobol didn't think anyone would really make them quiet down.