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Post by GuardsGhost on Apr 7, 2015 13:23:23 GMT -5
Dac.
The homeworld of the Mon Calamari, the birthplace of heroes such as Admiral Ackbar. An enslaved world that rose against its masters and joined the Rebel Alliance, Dac is now the homeworld of many a Republic constructed vessel, due to the reluctance of Corellia to join the New Republic. Its peaceful oceans and friendly people belie their military nature and heroic sacrifice in the cause of the Rebellion.
It is here that the Republic decided the next generation of officers and pilots should train, learning the way of war and their way about the Mon Calamari ships that float in the shipyards of Dac.
It is here that the next generation of heroes for the New Republic will be prepared to claim that title.
It is here that Maverick Squadron began their journey.
Perseval Trelp yanked back on the stick of his X-Wing, pulling the nose of the snubfighter up as green laser bolts slammed into the aft shields. His R2 unit whistled and howled in protest, "I kriffing realize that there's one on us Archie! Shut up and put all power into the aft shields!" He looked over his screens, sweat droplets beginning to form on his face. He took a moment to reflect on how everything had ended up going quite this bad as he pressed down on the left pedal, banking the X-wing left as another laser bolt flashed by his cockpit. 'Deep breaths Pers, deep breaths..' The battle had started out fairly normal, they had been sent in to hit a lightly defended Imperial convoy, and they had done so. Their proton torpedoes had hurtled through space, ripping through the shields of the lightly armored freighters and causing them to explode into magnificent testaments to the accuracy of Mavericks torpedoes.
And then it all started going to Bantha shit.
An Imperial Interdictor Cruiser had jumped out of Hyperspace, and had scrambled two squadrons of Squints. Maverick was scattered, and Perseval couldn't even hail his wingman on the comms, making him fear the worst. The squadron couldn't jump out either, the Interdictors gravity wells kept them stuck in place. Now, Perseval had at least one squint right behind him. He had nailed three of the four in the Imperial wing closest to him, but the fourth one just wouldn't let him go..he couldn't outrun it, because it was faster than him. His only real advantage at the current moment were his shields, but even those wouldn't last forever.
He could hear the other members of his wing chatting quickly over the comms, heard someone shout for someone else to bail out, then the dreaded reply "I can't". Then, silence.
He weaved his snubfighter away from the sudden torrent of turbolaser fire as he neared a bit too closely to the dagger shaped cruiser that had started all their trouble, but still the Squint followed. Infact, it actually had gained on him a bit. He hissed, activating his comms. "This is Maverick-Four, is anyone close enough to assist? I got one on my tail!"
There was nothing but static and for the first time, Perseval realized he might be well and truly alone. With a curse, he examined his options, and then it hit him.
"Alright you kriffing Imp, you like speed? Let's see how you like this!" He muttered to himself, and then suddenly cut all power in his engines, allowing the Squint to roar on by above him. He yanked the stick back, adjusting the pedal, and then began to fire at it as it came roaring past his view. One of the crimson blaster bolts found its mark, but the Interceptor roared by, albeit smoking a bit more. 'Oh kriff', it turned right back around, coming at him head on. Perseval opened fire on it, knowing that his shields would give him the advantage-
Except all his shields had been put to the aft.
His eyes flew wide just as the green bolts sliced through his cockpit, igniting it into flames as he screamed.
The pod opened up, and one of the other pilots of the Squadron pulled him out quickly. "Hey! Hey! Perse, it's okay. It's over! Simulation ended!"
Perseval stared at the man, wide eyed, and then just nodded as he looked around the room. They had been in a simulation. An accurate one at that. They had been almost completely immersed in it, and the pain was..very real. He took a step away, bending over as he felt like he was going to vomit.
From the other line of simulator pods, their squadron leader, Ea'rl Vesil emerged and yanked off his helmet. He looked over his accepted applicants. "Good work today. You were crushed by the modification made to the simulation, but you lasted longer than our good Captain Orion expected you would."
From the simulation monitoring room, the gruff voice of Captain Orion called over the PA. "They still got themselves killed, didn't they Vesil? Them dying means I die, and I'm not interested in dying because your pilots wet themselves over a little thing like an Interdictor Cruiser." There was laughter from the crewmen of the Alderaanian Wraith in the background, the lot of them had been watching from the monitoring room to see how their 'cargo' would do. It was one of the many entertainments the off-duty personnel could enjoy on the pleasant islands of Hakawa, but few of the others could offer them as much amusement as the embarrassed looks of hotshots did.
Ea'rl sighed softly, "You're dismissed for now. Flight Officer Trelp, good work. You lasted the longest of your Wing."
Perseval straightened himself up and nodded, a flush of pride replacing the one of embarrassment for now, "Thank you sir. Nice shooting sir."
"That wasn't me who shot you, Trelp."
Perseval's eyes flew wide, and Ea'rl couldn't help keep a small grin from forming onto his face. "Uh..who did then sir?" "You'll find out when you find out kid. Next time, make sure you watch where your shields are. Especially in a head to head."
'Well, it was nice while it lasted' He thought to himself as the Squadron Leader walked away, and embarrassment returned. One of the other members of his wing, he couldn't tell who, pat him on the back as they started moving away to head out of the simulation room. He could even feel the cool Hakawan breeze through the door as they made their way out. "Who the kriff shot me down if it wasn't Squad Lead.." He shook his head, turning to his simulation pod and looking it over. He wasn't in the mood to go out there and enjoy the Hakawan sun. Not while there was a variable he wasn't aware of. His days in CorSec, while uneventful, had taught him to always be suspicious of things he didn't know.
He brushed a gloved hand over the unit designation that had been assigned to the pod, his designation. The room was rather spacious, considering it was meant to house dozens of flight simulation pods for the pilots of Maverick to use. Like everything on Dac, the room was curvy, and if it was not curvy, it was a spiral. There was even a viewing area near the pods for the pilots to look out at Dac before they sunk into the darkness of simulated space. Up above and behind the pods, was a boxed off platform that led into the rest of the compound. It was from there that the techs and Captain Orion viewed the simulation, adjusted variables, and even decided when someone jumped into the simulation. Such as the Interdictor cruiser that had appeared from seemingly nowhere.
Sitting down on the pod, he pulled off his glove and ran his fingers through his hair. The fighting might have been simulated, but the sweat and adrenaline rush certainly was not.
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Post by aardvarklord on Apr 7, 2015 16:05:42 GMT -5
Sometimes it was enlightening to be given a glimpse to what one would have been like in the past. Erin had no doubts in her mind that she would've been no better than these kids when she first started off, probably worse in all actuality. And that fact told her a great deal of how bad the situation was. From her place amongst the crew, she had watched the entire simulation, her hand placed against her forehead for half the time. It really was pretty pathetic actually. These were supposed to be the Republic's elite, the cream of the crop... they had no idea what they were doing out there. It was like watching a bunch of slaves steal their masters' ships and attempt combat for the first time. Well, that was a little mean, but she could tell that the pilots only knew how to fly.
They had no idea how to fight. It was her idea to throw in the Interdictor, something which met with enthused giggling from the Wraith's crew. They were an easy class of ship to put up with if you knew anything about them, in fact if these really were elite pilots they would've not only driven off the fighters, but done some serious damage to the capital ship. After all, Republic aces actually had higher kill counts than their Imperial counterparts thanks to how glassy the old TIE's were, especially the TIE/LN and TIE/IN. She wasn't actually expecting them to manage that, mind, but at the very least she hoped to see them react with competence. After all, an Interdictor was both lightly armed and pretty glassy for a capital ship--it needed support in order to be effective against anything actually dangerous. She'd hoped to see some damage to the thing or at the very least to avoid it competently
Instead she got to watch as the squadron scattered like insects. Pitiful. Still, it allowed her to watch the pilots and take notes on all their problems. Most of it was rookie mistakes, situational awareness or simple tactical failures... actually there were a lot of those. Still, some of them showed promise, she just thought that they relied too much on aerobatics rather than actual tactics. She knew many aces who were terrible pilots. Still, that just meant that they had work to do. And she DID see talent there, she was actually impressed with Trelp's last little maneuver, even if he botched it. The idea was there, and it was a smart one. When Orion and the rest of the crew started mocking them, she certainly wasn't joined in with the revelry, in fact while she didn't give them any glares she certainly was noting their disdain and avoiding eye contact. Though, she did make sure to comment to Orion and his men quietly, "Well, guess that means that Vesil and I have some work to do, now doesn't it?"
Well, suppose she should go ahead and start interacting with the squadron... she'd delayed that long enough. They'd no doubt seen her around, a few of them had even figured out that she was SpecOps, but she hadn't interacted with the squadron much--she wanted to know what kind of state they were in without her interference. Actually, they reminded her a lot of her old 204th, though she would never actually say that out loud. When she'd first come aboard the Alderaanian Wraith, she'd cringed and felt her hair stand on end, knowing damn well that she was basically going into the rancor's den. She especially avoided Orion, just in case of a slip of the tongue or him noticing something about her mannerisms or something of the like. As far as she knew, nobody on-board was aware of her history, though she wouldn't be too shocked if Commander Vesil had been informed. It wasn't relevant though. She had intelligence that they could use, she had thrown her hat in with the Republic--may her father's and grandfather's souls forgive her--and now she was offering it to assist. Hopefully, if she and Vesil did their jobs, these boys would live long enough to actually manage something out of themselves. And hopefully she'd keep breathing through her work as their Republic Intelligence liaison; because if things went south she was pretty much going with them.
When she came down the stairs, she didn't really bother making any introduction or commanding attention, she just wanted to talk to the pilots, or more specifically the commander. However, as she passed Trelp, she went ahead and gave him some encouragement, seeing that he pretty much looked like he'd just been shot despite doing the best in the sim. "That was a neat maneuver you pulled there at the end," she told him encouragingly, stopping for a moment to give him a pat on the shoulder. He'd no doubt pick up on her Corellian accent; normally she also had a bit of that posh Imperial touch, but she'd gotten quite good at covering that up. "Work on that awareness though," she added, a little more seriously, "And calm down. Focus on what needs doing, and you'll find that it's almost like the ship will do it for you."
Assuming he didn't do anything to stop her, she then went ahead and approached Commander Vesil, giving him a salute before addressing him. "I'll be honest sir," she told him plainly, though with her voice lowered a bit, "What I'm seeing here tells me that they weren't taught anything about tactics in their flight school. They fly well, but it's more like you got some stunt pilots for this than actual soldiers." With that she then crossed her arms and looked out at the beautiful seascape in the distance. "Not criticizing you, just throwing in my two credits and wondering what I can do to help out."
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Post by GuardsGhost on Apr 7, 2015 17:21:57 GMT -5
Perseval glanced up in surprise at the sudden pat on his back, and the Corellian accent that spoke up. He looked over at her, listening even as his face twisted in confusion. "Er..thank you miss..?" He blushed a bit at the advice, knowing that whoever this was must have heard every second of the simulation, or at least watched it. Including his panic at the end. 'To be perfectly fair, I was on fire and dead anyway..I think a little panic is warranted at that point..' But before he could even really speak to her, or ask her questions. She was gone, walking off to go talk to the Commander.
He watched her leave with the confusion growing all the more poignant, not even noticing as Archie whistled from inside the pod. Perseval blinked, hopping off the pod with a swear. He had completely forgotten his astromech droid in the pod, and now the poor guy was freaking out. "Hang on, hang on Archie! I'll get you right out, okay?"
The droid whistled something in response, and Perseval frowned at his dome as he opened up the pod. "That was just uncalled for."
The droid burst out of the pod once the back had been opened up, landing on the floor next to Perseval and running into his leg with an angry hoot. Perseval yelped, hopping up on one foot as he moved away. "Knock it off Archie!" He growled a bit at the droid, shaking a leg out as the droid gave another series of whistles and beeps, this time sounding almost apologetic. Perseval's lips twisted into a small smile, and he gave the astromech a fond pat on the head. "Alright, alright. You're forgiven. Come on, let's go outside." He rolled his shoulders, and moved past the commander and the strange lady, giving her a quick glance before he exited out into the warm Hakawan sun.
Commander Vesil turned to her, raising a brow at her opinion of the Squadron. "You're not incorrect, but you're also not correct. They did receive training at the academy working on tactics. They all graduated afterall. The issue is, the New Republic Star Fighter Academy is a fledgling thing. They're the first generation of Pilots we're not getting from volunteers, from the Rebel days. And they realize it. It's made them overconfident, cocky even." He nodded, gesturing for her to follow him as he walked up the stairs to the large window that faced outside to the Hakawa islands. As they strode past the control panels, Captain Orion gave them a look over and nodded.
"Ea'rl, I'm leaving. Heading back to the old girl." "Thanks Orion. Take care of yourself." The older man stood up, moving out and down the staircase with a slow, deliberate stride.
When he was gone, Vesil turned back to Erin. "Tell me. Did you know that Perseval Trelp is considered the 'worst pilot in the squadron'? He has no kills outside of a simulator, scored the lowest in the sims out of the accepted candidates, and is perhaps the most nervous one of the bunch." He smiled then, "So why did he last the longest? Infact, why did he score the most kills? He shot down that Interceptor at the end, even though it killed him."
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Post by aardvarklord on Apr 7, 2015 18:00:59 GMT -5
Erin was pretty well aware of the fact that she'd probably left the kid a little baffled as to why she'd bothered to talk to him then jet, but she wanted to make sure that she talked to Vesil above all. She'd talk to the pilots later, maybe actually sit down with them and have a good chat, since they'd be working together for a while and probably needed to get to know one another. But right now plans were most important, anything could be looked to after that. Still, he seemed a good kid, and if she wasn't mistaken he was a Corellian himself--always good to meet a fellow child of that planet.
She wasn't all that surprised when the commander began commenting about how new the academy was, in fact she'd visited it briefly for evaluations just to see what she could do with something other than an Avenger. That said though, she generally didn't like that kind of answer--she wasn't going to harass the commander about it, but reasons were very different than results. "I'm aware of the situation there, and I'm not blaming the pilots or you for it. That said, first gen or not, the case is the case. If they came from the finest pre-Empire academies with master pilots or no training besides barnstorming, it doesn't change anything." Personally, she had a fair bit of disdain for the current Republic flight school; it was pathetic really. Even her training was better, and she was trained to basically be a suicide fighter.
She of course followed him up to the observation deck, listening silently as he gave his details. Of course, she gave a polite nod to old Orion as he took off, but otherwise didn't say anything to him--she didn't have anything to say. Once they reached the top, she arched her back a bit to crack it before giving the commander her full attention. She was visibly surprised that the kid she'd talked to was the lowest-scorer of the bunch; his piloting said otherwise. However, when the commander talked about the details and she looked after him as he left with his little R2 unit, she realized that he was probably a pretty familiar type of pilot, at least in that regard. "Could be any number of reasons," she said as she looked out onto the gorgeous vista, "Nerves can be a powerful force, in both directions. I wouldn't be shocked to hear that he was suffering from them in his exam and then it brought out the best of them here. He clearly has skill, if unrefined--though that can be said of all of them. Seems to me though that he lacks confidence and when he doesn't think about that he does better."
She was thinking on her own words as much as Vesil's and brought her hand up to tap her lips thoughtfully. "Thing is... tactical knowledge can be taught and instincts come with time, but confidence is a trickier one to take care of." Briefly she tried to think back to her days, trying to think of what they did. Her confidence was always being battered because of her gender amongst the Imperial Fighter Corps, so she wasn't exactly encouraged. Yet she didn't have that issue since she was still able to beat her brethren in the simulator, at least on a decent basis, and her first combat mission went swimmingly for her. Though... it also helped that in training she was taught just how pathetically outmatched the rebel fighters were in maneuverability; they'd even managed to get a simulator to run X-wings to prove the point. Almost immediately she smiled and shook her head at the thought of them being shown how frail the TIE's were in the same way. "Could always run them through a sim as a TIE pilot," she joked, not really thinking much of the idea.
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Post by GuardsGhost on Apr 7, 2015 22:00:23 GMT -5
Vesil listened to her speak, carefully. He nodded along as he listened, the older mans face clearly showing that he was actually paying attention to her, not just letting it go in through one ear and out the other. It was a trait that had served him well with selecting his new unit, listening carefully. "We could. But there's no time for that I'm afraid.." He let out a heavy sigh, expression darkening. "Seeing as you just recently arrived here, I'm sure you aren't aware of this yet. But we're running out of time. Command sent in the word yesterday..Maverick Squadron has to be ready for operations against the enemy in two weeks. Two. Weeks. I have two weeks to turn these pilots, into a Squadron. These individuals into a team." His fingers drummed against the railing of the staircase, "So, they're going to find their next few days on this island less than pleasant. I already contacted the commander of one of the Y-Wing squadrons stationed here, we'll be running a joint drill with the Y-wings using powered down blasters. Maverick Squadron will intercept the Y-Wings, and take them down to keep them from reaching their objective."
He looked over at her before he continued to speak, "As I'm sure you know from experience, the Y-Wing squadrons don't fight as individuals. Ever. They wouldn't survive. They rely on eachother to get the entire formation through, and one crack in that formation would doom the entire group to a quick end. So I think it might be a good learning experience for the kids, see how they hold up against a disciplined opponent. I'm expecting Maverick to win, but if they lose it will be just as good. Might even be better for them to be knocked down another peg. The difficulty here, Miss Erin, is that we want to turn these people into a confident squadron that can handle tough missions. To do that, we need to somehow balance the need to break them down and reform them into a team, without also destroying their confidence as pilots." Vesil chuckled a bit, shaking his head again. "I can't say this is harder than the Ackbar Campaign, but it's certainly kriffing close." He let out another sigh and then straightened up.
"I've kept you long enough, Miss Erin. I've got lessons and reviews to plan for the Squadron however, so if you'll excuse me..." He started to walk off, but glanced over his shoulder at her, "I'm glad you've seen fit to keep your..former allegiance..on the down low near Captain Orion. The mans crew is utterly loyal to him, and I wouldn't put it pass a couple of the more idiotic ones to do something stupid out of hope of impressing him. Keep up the good work Miss Erin, and watch your tail."
With that, he ducked away into one of the many hallways of the compound, going about his business.
Outside the compound, the pilots of Maverick squad had mostly stripped out of the flight suits they had worn for the simulation and into more casual clothing for the beach. None were exactly swimming at the moment, most were hovering around the tables that had been erected by the Republic engineers as a makeshift recreation area. Some were drinking, others talking, and others playing games or reading.
Perseval was in that latter group, hovering at a table by himself as he read over a datapad intently. Archie rolled in the sand nearby, whistling in that typical annoyed fashion. Perseval just disregarded it for now, instead going through the datapad.
It was a historical treatment, made by a former Rebel star fighter pilot who had long since retired. It told of battles long ago fought, from a time even before the Rebellion. Famous naval engagements of the Clone Wars, the Death Star fights, and even the occasional odd skirmish between TIE's and X-Wings. The most recent part of the pad, which was where Perseval read, dealt with the Ackbar Campaign. More specifically for Perseval, it detailed a battle between Rebel star fighters and an Imperial Interdictor cruiser. So intent was he in this text of sorts, that he wouldn't even notice anyone approaching him. His mouth moved along with the words of the text, silently committing them to memory if he could.
While he found the battle itself interesting, he found the details of it even more so. 'Learn from your mistakes, or burn up in atmosphere.'
The quote that had been summoned up from the dark pits of his memory was one his father had told him, long ago. And it caused a small smile to snake its way onto his face as he read.
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Post by aardvarklord on Apr 7, 2015 23:28:39 GMT -5
Erin's immediate response to hearing that Maverick was being sent out immediately in two weeks, regardless of preparedness, was to smack her forehead and let out a long sigh of frustration. Why did people always insist on doing that sort of thing? There's a degree of preparedness that's required for these sorts of missions, and they aren't even waiting for a suggestion of even any preparedness. Oh, this was kriffing beautiful. So she and Vesil were going to have to figure out how to get these guys functional within two weeks. Wonderful. As he went on to explain the Y-wing situation, she brought her hand back down and looked to him, a slight red spot on her forehead where she'd smacked herself. Okay, that was something, at least the kids would get some proper behind the stick training--there was only so much that a simulator could do for you. However, as the commander explained the situation, the emphasis he put on the word "experience" made her stiffen. Well, he knew. Guess he was told.
Well, that just meant that some of the things that would come out of her mouth would be better justified. And it meant that he would know why she was so justified in joining them, even if he might not necessarily trust her. His explanation of what it would be good for wasn't really necessary for her, but she definitely agreed, nodding emphatically to his assessment of the potential outcomes. Yeah, they needed to find a working balance, otherwise things could get bad quick. Fortunately, he understood all the necessities, and she found herself crossing her arms in thought. His mention of the Ackbar Campaign made her very visibly wince, but she was quick to recover and responded with a quick, "Nothing's ever easy in this war."
To his farewell, she responded with a relaxed, "Of course, take care." However, as she went back to looking out the window, she would turn around when she was addressed once again... and on the subject of her previous allegiance. For a moment she looked like a thief cornered by police, eyes wide, but as he elaborated on how the captain and his crew might see fit to... give her a thrashing at the very least, well she calmed down pretty quick. She still had no idea what his opinion of her was, but at the very least he was wishing her luck and warning her to keep up her facade. Giving a thin smile, she responded with a not-quite-salute, "That's the plan, Commander."
With that she looked back out onto the beach, biting her lip in thought. Well, one way or another, she knew that her identity was in play, and while she'd do all she could to keep it buried, chances were good that it would be discovered one way or another. Still, that was a lesser issue right now. Sighing to herself, she reached out into her pocket and pulled out her crystal, running her fingers over it and using the soft 'hum' to focus. The squadron was going to be taking a pretty rough path, and she knew damn well that the commander was going to be earning some scorn from them during the coming weeks. And she'd probably be getting some of that, if she was doing her job properly. Still, that wasn't a new thing to her, she'd gotten her share of hate from the 204th's newcomers when she drilled them, but they thanked her in the end. However, perhaps she could see about easing things. Perhaps she should actually get to know the Maverick boys and perhaps be more of a mentor than an instructor. Well... it was a place to start anyways.
A short while later Erin would emerge dressed in a grey tank top and shorts, mostly intending to just join the squadron in the wonderful beachside sun, get to know them on a personal level. She wasn't planning to become friends with them, at least not like the old boys, but as she'd been thinking, they'd be stuck together, might as well get at least mildly included in the cliques. She greeted a couple as she walked by them, but more in a friendly passing way than actually trying to cozy up. Initially she just found a place on the sand to sunbathe, laying back and closing her eyes; she was actually intentionally keeping her distance at first. Just seeing how the environment was and wondering if someone would join her or offer to have her join them.
But then she saw Threlp off to the side alone, just reading. Keeping in mind what Vesil had said about him being the 'worst pilot in the squadron', she wondered if he was actually outcast for it. Well, she'd left the option for a conversation open earlier, may as well follow through on it. Jeeze, when did she get so calculated in interactions? Getting up off the sand and brushing herself off, she went over behind the kid, initially peering over his shoulder to see what he was reading before seeing that it was some sort of action report. Yep, should've guessed. Time to stop the sneaky stuff. "This seat taken?"
Provided he didn't object, she'd take a seat reasonably close to him, of course giving him some breathing space. After a moment she'd comment with a light smirk, "Not exactly light reading there."
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Post by GuardsGhost on Apr 8, 2015 0:16:47 GMT -5
Perseval amazingly kept himself from appearing startled as Erin spoke, jolting him out of his reading. He hadn't even heard her approach from behind, and that unnerved him. Only slightly. He was a son of Corellia afterall, being sneaky was second nature. He nodded at her question, gesturing at the free spot at the table. "Nope, be my guest. Plenty of space as you could probably tell." He snickered a bit, leaning back and stretching before she commented on the subject of his datapad. He grinned a bit, nodding at her.
"Nope. I picked it up recently though, guy who wrote it flew with Wedge Antilles apparently." He knew the way he said it borderlined reverent, but that wasn't uncommon among the New Republics pilots. Particularly the ones from Corellia. Antilles had been a hero, he had taken down two death stars, and many (including Perseval) saw his death on Endor, outside of a star fighter and killed by some falling rocks, as the Empires final laugh against the Rebel alliance that day. "From Corellia too, so..might as well learn from those who went before." He shrugged a bit at that, seeming mildly embarrassed. "They didn't really give us much of this stuff at the Academy, just gave us the old Imp texts. Good for the basics, but wasn't much about putting a proton torp over a Squints head into the bridge of an Interdictor, if you know what I mean."
Up ahead, a flight of X-Wings roared on by, wiggling their S-Foils at their fellow pilots on the ground. Perseval let out a cheer with the rest of the personnel on the beach as they did, grinning that infamous Corellian grin as he did. "Gotta say though..being here really hits home how different the times are from the Alliance days that these guys write about.." He pat the datapad, briefly looking out towards the ocean. "Place is almost..too nice. Certainly no Hoth, or Dantooine." He hesitated a bit as the grin faded before confessing something, "Can't shake the feeling that we're here for more than just training. I keep hearing rumors about ol' Warlord Vark and his 'death fleets'. Mon Calamari have already been enslaved once..must help their confidence having an 'elite' squadron stationed on the planet. Hope none of them saw today's training.." The last bit was almost inaudible as he muttered it, and then he brightened up a bit. "Though, like my old man always said, 'if you don't get hit, you can't learn how to not get hit'."
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Post by aardvarklord on Apr 8, 2015 1:04:17 GMT -5
Erin gladly took up a place across from him, cracking her back while he stretched. While she kept a smile on, she privately groaned at the mention of Wedge Antilles--all the power to the guy, she actually had nothing but respect for him even when she was Imperial. In fact, he was a textbook example of a person who was used for counter-training in studies, and she found him interesting, especially as a fellow Corellian. However, Endor always came up, and that was something that she had always wanted to side-step unless she wanted to get herself angry. And nowadays anger was something that she tried to avoid. Still, his reasons for reading him got a grin out of her, and when he obliquely mentioned the sim debacle, she responded lightly, "I've always been amazed that more of those books aren't mandated by the academies, even if they're Imperial. Those old textbooks are about as useful as a hyperdrive on a lightsaber." A starship made to look like a lightsaber... that was a strange thought.
When the T-65's roared by, she joined the guys in waving to them, though she didn't bother hooting and hollering. Still, they were majestic machines, much better looking than those ugly old TIE's. Heh, funny thought that. Actually, the kid had a really charming smile--he probably drives the girls wild with that thing. The mention of the days before got a shrug out of her, that was before her time even if she had been flying with the Rebellion since she was sixteen, though she'd definitely nod her agreement. Truthfully, having them stationed at Mon Calamari seemed strange to her--not a bad idea, just something that wouldn't be conducive to training. And then the subject of Vark and his boys came up, and she promptly knew just how serious that issue was. Vark was a lunatic. The guy may have united the Empire, but it was the Empire no longer--heck, that was a chunk of the reason she'd left. That, and she wouldn't be shocked if he was part of the reason her boys had been thrown to the grinder. Still, she couldn't let the kid get too worried about that. And then, just as she was opening her mouth to speak, he mentioned a rather great truism, something which made her grin lightly.
"That's the spirit," she told him encouraging, leaning forward on her folded hands, "And I doubt that's the concern. Vark's bold, but Mon Calamari's too fortified and not strategic enough to throw himself at. More likely they want to be able to say you guys are from your planet, even if they had nothing to do with it." She chuckled at that, looking up at the sky and the fading contrails left by the X-wings. "But yeah, truth be told, you guys have what it takes. More so than my original squadron, that's for certain." She chuckled lightly, looking back down at him and giving him a light smirk. Then a funny thought came to her, something that would help gauge a great deal. Expression flattening out a little, she lowered her voice a little to speak honestly. "Let me ask you something: do you trust your fighter?" She paused a little to let him consider the question. "When flying a fighter, especially something like an X-or-E-wing, you need to have confidence that your ship is going to do what you tell it. You shouldn't have to think about how to do something, you should just be able to do it. It seems a simple thing, but if you're focusing on forcing your fighter to act rather than letting it move, you can't pay attention to what's going on around you."
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Post by GuardsGhost on Apr 8, 2015 2:18:34 GMT -5
Perseval listened to her, visibly relaxing a bit as she spoke. When she asked her question, he opened his mouth to answer almost immediately. But then he hesitated. It wasn't out of nervousness, but his own grin seemed to fade away again as he considered the question carefully, with the respect and thought that it deserved. After a few quiet moments, he answered in a low voice. "I do. I..really do. I don't know. I may not have the 'force' or the years of experience like the Commander has..but I trust it. In the Sims, I wasn't even really worried about diving out of the way of that turbo laser fire. I knew my X-Wing could do it, so I just let it go while I focused on the Interceptor." He spoke slowly, but confidently, tapping a finger on the table that they had sat themselves at. "What you're saying makes sense, because if I was worrying about what my X-Wing could or couldn't do, I'm pretty sure I'd have been shot down during the sims first today. But..somehow I lasted the longest." He shrugged, leaning back again.
"I think I just got lucky. Must've. But I also think I know how to take care of that Interdictor now. What we did before, we scattered into our wings." A smile began to grow on his face, but it was more of a rueful one. One that had arisen from knowledge gained too late. "But that was all wrong. We should have stayed together, right? Fire our Torps in a volley at the gravity well projectors, first round to take down the shields, and then the other rounds would go right through and tear the hull apart. Take care of the gravity wells.." He pressed his hands together, then expanded them in a miniature explosion to help show what he was saying. "Then we can leave. Don't even have to bother fighting the Imps in that case, because they probably have reinforcements inbound. Just have to disable the Interdictors gravity wells, or force it to run, and then we can jump out of the fight..by scattering we just made ourselves easier targets for the TIE flights, and they tore us into pieces."
He sounded excited, and it was clear he was already formulating the plan. "Now, while it's not perfect..if we had two volleys, five in each volley, with two watching over us for the TIE's, we could potentially hit the Interdictors wells, knock it out of commission, and get out with almost no casualties. What was a bloodbath today would have turned into a zero casualty patrol. I guess we just have to start trusting eachother a bit more..well, we'll get there eventually. Hopefully. Like my father said-" He cut himself off abruptly, seeming to realize he was beginning to ramble on. He coughed a bit into his hand, covering up the faint color rising into his face. "Right, sorry. Rambling. Do that a lot. Brothers used to tease me about it. Sorry."
Something occurred to him, and he blinked. "I er, don't think I caught your name?"
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Post by aardvarklord on Apr 8, 2015 3:11:51 GMT -5
Truthfully, Erin had fully expected to hear a very hesitant response from this kid, perhaps something unsure of both himself and his position. She'd even been expecting a firm yes. What she hadn't been expecting was the entire thesis that she got, not only on whether or not he trusted the X-wing and why he thought it was important, but also on the entire situation involving the Interdictor. It was actually kind of impressive, very well thought out and actually pretty intricate all considered, especially with his understanding of the Interdictor itself. Heck, it took her three years with the Imperial Navy to know that the bulbs were fragile. The whole time through his spiel she leaned forward with a neat grin on her face to mirror his own, listening to every word and drinking in the fact that this pilot had learned at least a little bit of how to fight better. It was a very specific scenario, but it was something.
It was actually kind of adorable watching as he rambled on about how he would handle it, how things could have gone, what they did wrong. It was like watching a child learn to walk for the first time for her. There was just something charming about it. She let him continue, since he'd said nothing wrong so far, and was actually a little disappointed when he stopped. Though, that said, she was still smiling as he apologized for his jabbering (that, and she had to admit that his blush was kind of cute). "It's fine, it was good to hear you're learning,"
Of course, when she also realized that she hadn't introduced herself, she also blushed with embarrassment, rubbing the back of her head. "Ah... sorry about that," she responded sheepishly before eventually offering her hand, "Erin Barthet, Republic Intelligence." After that she leaned back a little and looked up at the sky. "I was assigned as your squadron's liaison with RI." Chuckling lightly, she looked over towards the compound and added with a wicked grin. "Though, I'd lay money they also want me here to take the pressure off of the commander. Training pilots damn near made me go grey, can't imagine what it must be like for him."
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Post by GuardsGhost on Apr 8, 2015 11:58:51 GMT -5
Perseval leaned forward and reached out to shake her hand in return, nodding. "Good to meet you..Erin? Or Miss Barthet?" He tilted his head a bit to the side after releasing her hand, wondering how he was supposed to address her. He wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that he was sitting down, chatting idly with a spook. She was the first spook he had ever met, and she didn't seem that bad. But it still felt a bit odd knowing that the woman infront of him could in theory report anything he said during the conversation to her bosses. 'You're being paranoid.' He mentally scolded himself, smiling at Erin. 'She seemed just as nervous as you were when she realized she hadn't introduced herself, nervousness is good, means it wasn't rehearsed. Maybe? Shut up.'
He then zoned back in when she started talking about her reasons for being here, and he couldn't help but look surprised. "They sent you to help out the Commander with training? I guess that means you must have been a pretty good pilot before transferring to Intelligence..right?" He hated to assume, but the way she talked about star fighters and trusting your ship..well it just reminded him of some of the older pilots at the academy, who had had more experience. Who should have been here, but for some reason weren't. Somehow, he had pulled ahead of almost two hundred other candidates, and here he was. 'When I joined up to fight the Empire..didn't expect to be put on a beach, speaking to a woman from my homeworld about trusting your instincts and star fighters. Just..the way the world goes I suppose.' He wouldn't speak up again at first after she answered, letting her ask any questions or go on her own ramble if she so chose to.
Nearby, a few of the other pilots had set up on opposite ends of the beach and were beginning to play slingball, laughing and calling out taunts to eachother as they hit the ball back and forth, diving into the sand as they did. It really was..peaceful on the island chain. Aside from the occasional star fighter roaring by, and the chatter of the other nearby pilots, it was quiet. The Jedi had even decided to claim one of the islands for themselves, a small enclave using it to meditate and train their padawans in the ways of the force. The pleasant air, the warm temperature that was offset by the cool ocean breezes, and even the water. It all gave the area a peaceful atmosphere. It encouraged one to relax, loosen up a bit, and forget about the galaxy for a bit. 'Definitely not the best place for training pilots in the art of war...unless..they're testing to see if we can remain focused, even with pleasant distractions..' The idea seemed right to him of a sudden. While the place was fun to relax and unwind, his fellow squadron mates had been planning the slingball match all day..perhaps that was why they had done so poorly in the sims? 'Stop thinking. Just enjoy the conversation, idiot. Not every day a Republic intelligence operative casually comes by the beach to have a chat.'
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Post by aardvarklord on Apr 8, 2015 13:29:08 GMT -5
"When we're just chatting like this, Erin's fine," she assured him, waving it off with her free hand. She had a bad habit of forgetting that other soldiers tended to get spooked by 'spooks,' she was used to Imperial intelligence officers being treated as such, but the Republic ones never struck her as that... creepy. Then again, her introduction to them was with a kid who'd she'd seen get pantsed in school, so perhaps they were just kind of neutered to her. Regardless though, she didn't report conversations for the most part, not unless something important came up. And if Persi here said something worthy of her writing it down, there were far more serious things on their plate besides just a peculiar personal mindset. She was here as a fellow pilot and someone that'll be helping coordinate things on the ground; her branch of the military was mostly just a matter of technique and objectives rather than anything worth noting.
Still, they didn't know that--as with her stance on people who knew she was a former Imperial, Erin knew that she was trustworthy but nobody else did. Perhaps, in her subconscious, that was also part of the reason she was trying to bond with the kids. Funny how she kept calling them 'kids' in her head yet they weren't more than nine years younger than her. Persi here couldn't have been more than five. "Well, I wouldn't say I'm an Antilles or Skywalker, but yeah, I've given some hell," she granted modestly, internally reminding herself that officially she was a RZ-1 pilot, not TIE/ad, "Flew A-wings for a while, wonderful little machines but very situational. Loved them when I had to deal with trips or brights, hated them whenever anything bigger than a missile boat popped up." That little bit of lying sounded completely genuine to her ears, but that was because she was practiced in it. She'd actually decided that her first kill was a TIE Defender since it was visually most similar to a B-wing. She did that a lot actually, just replacing terms to make things easier on her.
Eventually the conversation eased off and they were able to just breathe in the cool ocean air. It was kind of surreal seeing the kids playing slingball; she knew that most of them were dead men and women walking. Part of her wanted to get up and start training them properly, get out what few books and vids she had even if it meant showing her old colors off and helping them understand how to fight. But at the same time, they'd get their wake-up call with the Y-wings. Those had a reputation as the worst machines in the Republic (though she'd rank the B-wing as worse just for its size), yet she had a feeling that those pilots were going to whip them pretty hard. They needed to learn how to work as a team, so perhaps it would be best to see an actual team in action. In the meantime, they needed a place to cool off. If she got the commander's permission or cooperation, she'd see to it that they were grilled pretty hard. But afterwards, they needed to be able to unwind. That all said, planning that game probably hurt them in the sim, screwed with their focus.
Just one more thing to work on. Looking back towards the kid, she couldn't help but notice the thoughtful expression on his face. Seemed he had made some realization or revelation of his own. Actually, she wouldn't be shocked if Threlp was just an over-thinker and needed to simplify his thought process. He said he trusted the machine, but perhaps he didn't trust his senses. There was a lot that one could do. As she was debating on a topic, she noticed a soft whispering in her head. It was nothing major, nothing alarming, but that tell-tale sign of the Jedi that she'd picked up when she first flew over that other island was a familiar thing. Hrmm. Needed to come up with a way to make listening applicable, nothing was coming to mind right now, but he needed to learn every tiny detail of his fighter. Oh well. Leaning back again and cracking her back, she commented to him with a smile, "If you want to join your brothers and sisters over there, don't let me keep you."
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Post by GuardsGhost on Apr 8, 2015 16:19:56 GMT -5
He glanced back over at her, and grinned again after she spoke up. He had been listening with interest again as she talked about what she had flown. It had confirmed his initial suspicions about her being more than just an intelligence operative here to spy on them, and he seemed more at ease than he had before after she had told him what she flew. "Well Erin, you don't have to worry about that. You're not keeping me from anything. I'm not really good at slingball, and my wingman was sick today. So, nothing to really talk about or do. You're not keeping me from anything." Perseval then raised an eyebrow at her, something had occurred to him that he had forgotten to ask initially. "So, you're from the mother world right? Or at least the sector. I was born on Corellia, same as my brothers, same as my father, and same as his father. Grew up in CoroNet. I used to love watching the TIE fighters zip by, even after my brother joined the Rebel Alliance. They just..went by so fast. One minute they'd be there, and then bam, they were gone. After a bit, I learned to duck my head around Imps, specifically after our family got suspected for our ties to the rebel alliance. But when I was a little kid? Man, that was the stuff. I'd just sit back and watch the Squints zip by."
Perseval leaned back in his seat as he spoke, folding his hands together as he did. Archie whirled over, carrying two glasses of water in his wiry metal pincers. The R2 unit placed them both on the table, beeping at Perseval. "Thanks Archie, you're a life saver. Even got one for my new friend huh?" The Corellian pilot gave the astromech a fond pat on the dome, and then took a sip from his glass of water. "Archie here's my astromech, if you haven't figured that out already." There was a teasing tone to his voice, it was fairly obvious after all, just by the droids loyalty to him and his seeming comfortableness with it. "Haven't memory wiped him in five years. Had him with me even before I joined up with the New Republic, and he's followed me through thick and thin." There was another set of beeps and boops, and Perseval rolled his eyes.
"He acts like he doesn't, but he enjoys working with me. I've never put a restraining bolt on him, and I've never mind wiped him. Funny thing about droids, some people treat them like they're nothing more than a tool; and they'll be an effective tool. But a tool can't adapt, can't think. A droid can. A droid that's allowed to retain its experiences? That's invaluable in my opinion. Archie here remembers every sim we run, every variable that occurs. He knows how to adapt. Last time I was flying, there was an issue with the life support in my X-Wing. Knocked me out cold, and I would have probably dived right into the water had Archie wanted me to. Instead, little guy took control of the X-Wing and managed to execute a bit of a crash landing on the beach. Only some minor damage, and I lost my landing skids." He snickered a bit at that, taking another sip from his glass of water. Despite talking about a near death scenario, the man didn't seem nearly as unnerved as most would have been talking about it. Some might have found it a bit odd in a new pilot, or written it off to bluster..but he didn't really seem concerned. It was clear he had had genuine faith in his droids ability to do that, and in the droids loyalty to him. "People say the odds aren't in favor of a droid retaining its effectiveness after years of not getting proper memory wipes, but..you know what they say about Corellians and odds, right?"
Archie hovered nearby as Perseval talked, eye focused on Erin. The droid had placed her glass of water next to her, if she had wanted to drink from it. It wobbled back and forth when Perseval said his last sentence, hooting a seemingly positive response. Perseval laughed at Archie, shaking his head as he did. "Way I see it, so long as Archie retains his personality and way of doing things, I'm not actually really flying alone. I've got him looking out for me like a hawkbat taking care of its young."
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Post by aardvarklord on Apr 8, 2015 16:50:33 GMT -5
Suppose that would be fair enough, not everyone was big on sports; still, seemed odd that he wouldn't want to bond with his squadmates. She was grateful that he considered her worth spending time around though, it helped her feel like she was actually getting through to at least him... gave a bit of that old nostalgic feeling. Erin nodded with a thin smile as he asked her about the home world, intending to say 'Corellia born and raised,' but found herself dragged into yet another one of her Corellian kinsman's rambles. At least it was something that she could relate to, kind of eerily similar actually. Her smile lost its teeth at the thought, but she'd respond just as cheerily as ever, "I know the feeling. I used to go down to the starport with my mum just to get a better view."
At about that moment a little R2 unit came rolling up with a bit of water for them. Erin didn't need the introduction to figure out whose droid it was, but as she took the glass and smiled at the droid she received an introduction nonetheless, smirking a little bit at his teasing. It was actually a little surprising to her to hear that it wasn't memory wiped. Then again, that was something she occasionally came across in the Republic and had a hard time with regardless. Still, there didn't seem to be any problems, so she didn't have anything to complain about with it. Taking a sip, she too gave the droid a little pat on the dome, "Pleasure to meet ya Archie."
The succeeding story, however, was more than a little alarming, especially how nonchalant he was about nearly dying. Her eyes went wide as he spoke and she actually seemed to straighten up for once. If he had been in a B-wing or A-wing when that happened, he would have been nothing more than an obituary. Still, it was impressive that the droid was able to manage the situation, just getting them down intact would have been quite the feat. "Jeeze, that's equal parts bad and good luck," she said,shaking her head with disbelief, a smirk leaking out at the droid's antics, "But hey, if that's what he can do, I think that the results speak for themselves. Personally, I've never done much with droids, so I wouldn't know what to say about such things, but near as I can tell he seems like a great little guy."
At that point she scoffed and took another drink before looking up at the kid with a more serious expression, "Though, have you adjusted your pre-flight check to fix that sort of thing? Same thing won't occur twice, but you don't want to risk something similar happening. R2 units like Archie are impressive, but they have their limits."
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Post by GuardsGhost on Apr 8, 2015 21:10:55 GMT -5
"Yeah, it was quick thinking on his part. We figured out what had happened after we landed, and now it's fixed. Trust me, no way am I letting that happen again. It was a close one, and I'd rather not have a repeat that ends with me turning into the textbook example of 'what not to do' in an X-wing." He laughed, even as Archie gave an indignant hoot. "I know you'd save me again Archie, but it's better to not get to that point at all, right?" Archie gave a conceding whistle that sounded almost like a whine.
"Look Archie, if you want to help that much right now, go check her out. Come back and report if you see anything I need to give extra attention to in a pre-flight checkup, or if it's bad enough that it needs to be brought to the Techies." Archie hooted and beeped, bowing on his two legs in a decidedly sassy manner before rolling off. Perseval gave her an apologetic look, shrugging. "Sorry about him. He gets overprotective sometimes. He means well though."
'And he's also more annoying than a riled up nerf on glitterstim when he wants to be.' He left this bit unsaid, knowing it wasn't needed.
"So how long has it been since you were last on the Motherworld? Only a year for me so far. My father always said that we need to remember where we come from, even when we're lightyears away. Says it's especially true for us Corellians. It's why I made a Ryshcate recently, going to share it with the Squadron. You're more than welcome to join us as well, not sure how many of the others are Corellian yet, so.."
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