Fleet Prep Yolo

[Vanya Belkit]

Kuat System
TerraCom Testing Facilities


Think of it like a paid internship. Force Sensitive pilots getting paid rare sums to test new XA-5 variants for the Military Industrial Empire of Kuat. Pretty cut and dry. The Contractor of the day was TerraCom United. The variant was the XA-5 Mark 91. Codename: Badger. Fancy as that may sound, it was just a recon spec. They popped the nose off the X-Wing and attached a Horizon Dish and a few spear antennas. It wasn't clever and it wasn't pretty. But it did forge your helmet's HUD into a marvelous map of color and blue dots.

Vanya Belkit's sim had just ended and she was waiting alone above the flight deck. It was a white-washed hangar familiar to Contractor R&D. The lighting alone could have blinded you. A year ago this perky girl would have called herself a Jedi Padawan. After Coruscant was taken however, she just called herself lost.

Her blue-haired clashed wickedly with her bright red jumpsuit. She had the sleeves knotted about her waist so as to flaunt her tattoos. Kuat could be a bit stiff at times. Until you hit the bars anyway. Vanya was a wildcard in spirit but she couldn't say no to the money. Or the chance to test drive the latest X-Tech. She was Force Sensitive. But she was no prodigy. She did this for the hell of it.

Something echoed on the loudspeaker far away, the tech were busy making changes below, and as another pair of Starfighters returned from the Blue Deck; Vanya was busy daydreaming about a Vodka tonic. Poor girl had all the making of a perfectly good alcoholic.

[member="Marcello Matteo"]

 

[Marcello Matteo]

The dark blue N-1T Advanced Interceptor design landed softly at the indicated parking spot on the pristine hangar deck. Rather unceremoniously, the starfighter's pilot opened the canopy and jumped down to the deck, not bothering to wait for a ladder to be moved to the side of the spacecraft. With purpose, Marcello walked over to the X-ugly that had arrived slightly behind him. Unlike the many orange and red flight suits roaming around, the Jedi Master was clad in a black flightsuit with dark blue accents.

As the large, long-haired Jedi surveyed the nose of the experimental spacecraft, he smiled thinly. "Shittiest design, ever."

By the time the words had left his mouth, the spacecraft's pilot, a fellow pilot from the Order, arrived to wince and add his own comment. "I'd thought the reinforcements would be acceptable."

Marcello shrugged. "They mostly are...in the vacuum of space. When they have to operate in any type of atmosphere however..."

"I doubt it will be doing any form of atmospheric reconnaissance."

Marcello turned his smile to the other pilot. "Fair point, but isn't just air resistance that is the problem. Maneuver this thing in even a remotely aggressive manner and the energy translation through the fuselage is going to cause havoc. It needs a better design." Sighing, Marcello nodded to the other pilot. "Alright thanks. This platform is grounded for now. Who do we have available from the other crews?"

The man quickly pulled out a datapad and looked up the most recent information. "There is a [member="Vanya Belkit"] that just recently qualified on the sim, but she needs to be checked out before she can be certified for dynamics testing. Pair of uglies are already waiting on the standby line."

Marcello exhaled slightly. "Alright. Get her down here."

"You got it boss."

Once the other Jedi had departed, Marcello made his way back to his spacecraft to tend to R9 and ensure his personal vessel was completely secured. Accepting this job on Kuat as a temporary Chief Test Pilot was an easy enough distraction for the Jedi Master. However, he already grew tired of it. Hopefully, the specifics of a specialized unit he'd proposed would be ironed out sooner rather than later. Hopefully.

Some five minutes later, Vanya's name was announced over the PA with instructions to report to the hangar deck, flightline holding position two. It was the exact location of Marcello's personal vessel and the XA-5 Mark 91 that had been flying with him.

 

[Vanya Belkit]

Vanya suited up as the com spoke her name and grabbed her helm. The elevator was swift but offer no music. She kinda appreciated little things like that. As the doors folded open the blue-haired woman reminded herself to bring an Apple-Pod next time. Easy listening.

She approached Matteo's fighter with a perking interest. That wasn't an X-spec. It was a custom-paint Interceptor. Fascinating.

"Test Pilot Belkit reporting. TerraCom number 559. Where's the Boss?"

Another jockey motioned to [member="Marcello Matteo"] 's vessel and Vanya raised an eyebrow. Looks like things had just gotten more interesting.

 

[Marcello Matteo]

Marcello had turned around just as another pilot indicates him to a woman with...super blue hair. She reminded him of a Jedi he'd met on Coruscant not terribly long ago during the rebuild for the Circle of Healers. Arching a curious eyebrow, the large Jedi Master approached [member="Vanya Belkit"] as he ran a hand through his long strands of hair.

"Belkit huh?" Marcello gave the young woman a very brief, harmless once over before offering a small chuckle. "One question...you going to get yourself or me killed during this check ride, blue?"