Blackout

[Kotkas Adelaar]

Onderon-Dxun Orbit

"Alright systems check." Kotkas said to the astromech droid. "Give me a full diagnostic of the ship, R9." The little doird beep'd and buzzed as it's head rotated around clock wise and counter-clock wise. "Alignment go, weapons go, targeting system go, shields go, engines go, communications go, navigation go, life support nominal, all systems go." He recited to himself as the HUD gave system updates on the diagnostic. He glanced his control panel one last time making sure everything was in working order. "Looks good R9." Kotkas said as the droid beeped back at him.

Kotkas turned up the thrusters and the XJ-9 began to push towards the 'the demon moon' while keeping the center-stick steady. This time of year the moon was close enough to the planet that the two shared a continuous atmosphere, a rare phenomenon. But its proximity also share various gravitational abnormalities which could impede pilots of smaller ships. In essence this was the perfect place to run a high to low orbit dogfight scenario with it perfect environmental challenges. The X-Wing closed on the planet for some time until Kotkas gave another order to the astromech.

"Lock S foils in attack position and power up weapons." Kotkas said. The wings of the XJ-9 split to give the once fixed wing snubfighter unlocked in it's famous X shape, spread gave the various modes of alternating fire that ship was capable of a wider spread area then other dual cannon starfighters. Kotkas had to give it to the senator from Alderaan, this was a fabulous machine. Now combat ready Kotkas gave his neck a roll and tried to relax a bit as the craft glided through space. Then the Jedi gave a quick glance at the communication channel, soon the other pilots would here for the mock dogfight. He waited for their arrival.

 

[Beowoof]

Six marks decorated the nose of Fairweather Friend, all marks the rutian pilot was proud of. She had earned them all in her first taste of combat, and while most might chock that up to beginner's luck, Sressechka had been a stunt pilot for years and basically called on luck all the time. But there was talent to it all, as well, and she was insistent that she was capable of performing on the elite level of the aces--provided she obeyed orders from now on. Yeah, she had sort of neglected that bit at Manaan.

The XJ-9 cruised towards the wild world of Onderon--the one with that indecent rock that siphoned off atmosphere and screwed with gravity and physics in general. The twi'lek pilot had dared some dares and defied death on many the occasion, but she had never encountered something so absolutely insidious to starcraft as this little planet-moon union. The Republic sure seemed intent on weeding out sub-par pilots the hard way.

"Are we A-OK?" she called to her astro droid, Wheezer. She barely waited for a response. "We are A-OK." And with that, she switched her S-foils into attack position and began a weave to loosen up with the yoke. Nothing to worry about. Just a day at the races. Nobody dies.

Dispelling a yawn, Sressechka switched to the open comms channel and reported in for the dogfight. "Angel One in. Good morning."

[member="Kotkas Adelaar"]

 

[Aqulia Audax]

She’d flown it in simulators but this was the first time she was actually going to sit in an XJ-9. It was a thoroughbred and its lineage was legendary amongst fighter pilots. And this beauty was going to be hers. She ran her hand along its sleek lines and performed the standard pre-flight checks. Putting her boot in the first foothold to climb up to the cockpit, she pulled a holo-sticker out of her pocket. The magnetic image of a wedge-tailed eagle was affixed to the panel just below where she was going to sit.

And then she kissed it. It was always like this, every time she took charge of a new ship. And the bird gave rise to her callsign. Due to the bird’s oddly shaped tail, she became known as Diamond. And it stuck.

So she sat herself in the cockpit and plugged in her music system. Flying without music just didn’t work for Aqula. And she cycled through the controls – just as they were on the sims. And to be fair, she’d only written the virtual bird on half of the recreated missions she’d flown.

So she familiarised herself with the droid – Archie seemed as good a name as any – and checked out the controls and completed her pre-flight checks. Four laster cannons, two proton torpedo launchers, chaff, flares, comms, life support, nav and targeting systems, snsors, shields and compensator field.

Good to go, she thought to herself and switched on the HUD and a soothing song. Entirely appropriate for the location…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWz0JC7afNQ

The take-off was smooth and she eased power in slowly. Sims never truly gave you the feeling you got when the thrusters kicked in. ”For the families,” she whispered before finding out what this baby could really do. She gave orders to Archie as she went – instructing him to lock the foils in attack positions and took a while to feel the difference in handling with this configuration.

Then she picked up the radio chatter and responded. . ”Angel Three in. And a great morning to you.”

[member="Kotkas Adelaar"] | [member="Sressechka"]