How Sabre Was Born

Posted on Thu Feb 19th, 2026 @ 4:28am by Ensign Grace MacKenzie 'Sabre' & Lieutenant JG Anzhelina Walker "Seraphina"

1,218 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Return
Location: Pilots' Barracks

Grace wasn't sure how she had been invited into this game of poker, it wasn't like she'd had anything of her own to throw into the ante pot. She had her Stetson, somehow not confiscated from her back on Foch and having had made it into her fighter for the last escort mission, but that was it. No credit account, because that had been taken away through fines and punishments handed out over the last two years, no outstanding leave days to gamble with because those too had been removed from her record for some infraction or another. The Legion had taken them away so as to reduce the 'distractions' they would have caused her from her extra duties and training.

So now that she had a pile of chips in front of her that had gradually accumulated over the course of the last three hours, she didn't know what to do with them. She measured the last bet made and took one small pile of the chips in front of her and pushed them forward, "Call. Ah've got a full house, Threes over Sixes." She looked up at the others at the table.

Anzhelina had decided to arrange a poker game with her fellow pilots. Being new to the ship she figured it would be a good way to get to know those she'd be working most closely with.

Her luck had been up and down. She'd under estimated her opponents or overestimate her skill at the game.

She'd long since gambled away her credits, and had been forced to ante up her beloved sabre, and it seemed Lady Luck had abandoned her.

She'd gone all in on this hand, and now the younger woman had 'called'.

Anzhelina sighed and placed down her cards. "Jack High Flush." She said. "Congratulations, Ensign." After a moment she added. "Please take care of the sabre, I've had it a long time, its an exact replica of my grandmother's sword."

Grace had dragged the credit chips over and begun to stack them, not having touched the sabre on the table and suddenly her face went white and then red as she looked down at the table before looking back up, "Ah-Ah-Ah can't take that!" She stammered as she looked at the beautiful weapon on the table, "Please, you can have it back, Ah just got lucky and Ah don't even know how to use a sword!"

"You won it, fair and square, Ensign." Anzhelina said. "You don't want to disrespect me, or my family do you?" She asked.

Panic crossed Grace's face as she shook her head violently, "N-no, ma'am, Ah don't!" She glanced at the sword and then back at the other pilot, "B-But, it's special to you, Ah don't want you thinkin' that Ah'd want to take it from you because it's-it's- Ah... Help!" She had to ask, "Mercy, Ah mean, I think, Ah’m..." She was exceedingly flustered at the situation.

Anzhelina smiled. "Relax, I'm just pulling your leg." She said. "If I wasn't prepared to lose it, I wouldn’t have bet it." She laughed. "I can teach you how to use it, if you like." She took a sip of her drink. "I've got a Kahric Telan blade, that I've been meaning to try out."

The panic slowly began to leech out of Grace’s face as the more senior pilot laughed and the others that had also successfully lost to the junior pilot made their farewells, “Ah wouldn’t mind that, ma’am, personal weapons beyond sidearms and combat were discouraged at the Academy and outright banned without special permission on Foch.” She reached out for her own drink, a non-alcoholic one she’d selected from earlier and gulped at it, “Ah’ve only really read about some of the sword fightin’ in the Old West among cavalry troops, back in school that is, Ah guess Ah’m fantasized about it when Ah was ridin’ in the rodeos, ma’am.”

"Cavalry sabres can be used for fencing, but their main use was for cutting down enemy infantry." Anzhelina said. "They're like ornate meat cleavers."

Grace shook her head slightly, "How um... Lovely? But Ah can see from horseback how that would be the case." The credits were finally organized and it was apparent to the Texan that it was more credits than she'd seen in the last couple of years. Certainly a couple of her wins on the rodeo circuit had given her more in prize winnings, but since she started flying? "Ah really don't know how to thank you for invitin' me to this shindig, ma'am, it really does make me feel like part of the Tokyo family."

"You're welcome." Anzhelina said. "By the way, wat's your call sign? Mine's Seraphina."

"Ah don't have one." Grace's hands dropped from the table to her lap as she looked down, the humiliation apparent. She had no clue what she should be called, tradition dictating that one didn't give themselves one, they had to be earned. Her cheeks flushed again, "On Foch, we weren't allowed to have individual names, we were assigned to a slot in a squadron, to make sure that we didn't have any inappropriate individualistic glory, that it was all for the Legion. So, bein' in the twelfth spot of the third squadron on the ship, Ah went by Foch Three One Two. That way, everyone knew exactly what assignment Ah had."

Anzhelina thought about it for a while. "How about we call you 'Sabre'?" She asked.

"Sabre." Grace repeated, testing the name for one she could use instead of her own, finally reaching out to the blade that had made it's way onto the table as a part of her winnings, one she couldn't refuse to keep. "Ah think Ah like it." She finally said with a smile, "Means that Ah don't have any excuse not to learn how to use this and to keep it in a special place in my quarters."

"Sabre, it is then." Anzhelina said with a smile. "I'll let the CAB know, and she can make it official."

Grace just couldn't help herself, bouncing up with a move that was as graceful as her name, wrapping her arms around the other pilot, "Thank you, ma'am, Ah really don't have any words to say just how happy Ah am right now! Ah actually feel like Ah belong somewhere!"

Anzhelina was caught off guard by the Ensign's sudden embrace. "At ease, Ensign." She said. "Spend your winnings wisely."

"Um, yes, ma'am, sorry ma'am, got a little too excited, ma'am." Grace backed off from the Lieutenant, "Ah don't even know what Ah can spend it on, ma'am."

"Its okay, Ensign." Anzhelina said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some rack time."

"Yes, ma'am." Grace took the meaning and clutched the sabre to herself as she found the door. As it closed behind her, she leaned on the corridor wall for a few moments. She was one of them now, a pilot with a callsign and no embarrassing story of how she came by it either. What else could a girl ask for?

End


Lieutenant JG Anzhelina Walker
Call Sign: Seraphina
Fighter Pilot
Starfighter Squadron B "Harley"

Ensign Grace McKenzie
Call Sign: Sabre
Fighter Pilot
Starfighter Squadron B "Harley"

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