Higher (SJO/Mandalorian)

[Vaux Gred]

Taanab

Vaux looked out from the cockpit of her GF-2B, painted with a red and maroon scheme and the marks of kills added to its tail, to spy the agricultural world that she hadn't seen since the Concord Dawn evacuation. She sighed a little, not knowing if she could trust coming to the world now that the SJO controlled the region. Mig seemed to trust them though. Enough to hand over the last eight GF-2s and an Enigma-class. She mocked the idea of even trying to deal with the Jedi, but even she had to admit they were fair. The defenses weren't even a requirement. Just her brother wanting to keep Taanab safe. She shook her head as one of the Enigma-classes jump into the system next to her.

"Ready to go, ma'am?" She sighed, looking back at her droid before answering, reminding herself that Tal was still there, and that they saved many of her clan. The Jedi were more than fair to Clan Gred. It would be ok. She put her hand on the throttle, nodding.

"As ready as I'll every be." She then pushed the throttle forward to enter the atmosphere. Destination, the Clan Tal "Stronghold." More of a massive medical facility. Kind of ironic that it was also the only place with the hanger space for the ships. As she flew there, the pilot took a slight detour to make a flyby of the small Clan Gred settlement that had begun to be built. Simple, but nice enough from what she could tell. That wasn't her stop though.

She fighter soon landed near the older model ships. Each hand it's own livery, but there was one that Vaux seemed to have to look at. It was mostly black now. Last she saw it though, it had a very similar paint to her current fighter. The old girl had saved her life, and it wasn't something she'd forget out of a ship.

[member="Kyra Perl"]

 

[Ezekiel Breaker]

Taanab was always a planet that Ezekiel thought he could retire to if he felt like it. As a matter of fact, the man has come here a few times and tried to live a simple life. Something always called him back to action though, always something he couldn't ignore.

Now Ezekiel was here to brush up on his pilot skills. He wasn't a terrible pilot, but he wasn't a great one either. Now hopefully he wouldn't be turned away. Ezekiel wasn't very known in the SJO faction, but that was by design. Most people probably think he's a simple soldier at best, with only a very small amount of people knowing his real position. In reality, he wasn't anyone special and he preferred it that way.

As his thoughts wondered a bit, the operative saw the GF-2B land in the hanger. Thinking it was time to make his way over there, he got up from where he was sitting. The man had a grey shirt and pants on, boots, and a holster on his belt that contained his blaster pistol. All in all, he didn't look like anyone worth noticing.

[member="Vaux Gred"]

 

[Acaadi]

An astromech grumbled at Acaadi as he stepped too close to a Twintail. It was not the first time that it had happened. The mirialan had held a slight obsession with starfighters ever since he was a young boy.

Some of his favourite holo-films were about the x-wing pilots winning battles he had heard about in his history lessons. Back home he had a sizable collection of models he had spent many hours building. He had grown out of spending time sticking pieces of plastic together when he could spend his evenings out, but he had kept the models.

Acaadi had a shuttle license and he had been flying airspeeders for years. Over the last few months he had been throwing hours into the simulators. The first time he hadn't even managed to get the ship off the ground. He was getting quite good, but it wasn't the same. They could use artificial gravity to make it feel as real as possible but it wasn't the same as being in a real ship.

These were very real ships.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra approached Acaadi as she spotted him absorbed over a ship. The little zeltron made it a point to stop her robs from rustling. Her new combat boots pressed on sore blisters. She ignored the pain, her footsteps light and soundless.

"Whaaaaatcha doing?" She chirped over his shoulder, her face a hair's breath from his.

She pulled back to avoid being jabbed by his expect fright, a wide grin plastered across her face. Mwahah! Got 'em.

 

[Vaux Gred]

Vaux looked out at those who had come, letting her helmet hide the questioning look she gave everyone. The first wasn't anything impressive. She wasn't even sure if he was a Taanab citizen or not. He didn't really look official. The next was a Mirialan who seemed to be admiring the TwinTail. It was interesting the actually see someone so interested in the fighters, but it didn't change the questioning look. The last was a Zeltron, who seemed to be friends with he fighter lover. Vaux looked down at her weapons, then walked into position to begin there lesson. She finally pulled off her helmet, keeping the stern look. She clipped the helmet to her belt before speaking up, loud and clear.

"If everyone's here, then we can begin. First, to get some important things out of the way. First: I am a Mandalorian, and I know some Jedi still aren't too trusting of us, but I'm one of the most qualified to train you in these fighter, with those victory marks on my fighter to prove it." She left out the part on where she got the marks, but she hoped no one would ask. "If you aren't comfortable with me as a trainer, then no shame in leaving. Second: I don't care what your rank is. Right now, I'm in charge." She watched everyone to see their reactions. She knew she probably put at least one person off, but she wanted to be sure they were ready for this.

"Now. On to the fighters. These are eight Concord Specialized Technologies GF-2 TwinTails. They're pretty average speed and defense wise, but have an edge in maneuverability and armament. Armed with quad heavy laser cannons, and a pair of Strill Universal launch tubes, that allow you to load practically any ordinance in these birds. Defense wise, they have shields and ablative armor, and have a permanently mounted V-1 astromech. These are some of the most reliable fighters I've ever flown, so I know that, once trained, they'll serve you well." She looked at everyone, seeing what they were thinking. "Now, who here has any sort of flight experience? Simulator or true flying."

[member="Kyra Perl"] [member="Acaadi"] [member="Ezekiel Breaker"]

 

[Ezekiel Breaker]

Ezekiel could tell he, and probably the two young ones that were in the area, were being examined by the pilot who had landed their ship just a bit ago. Their face was hidden behind a helmet, so he couldn't make any assumptions on what they were thinking. He was glad when the helmet was removed, making it less difficult to guess what they could be thinking. She looked like a young adult, maybe Ezekiel's age, give or take. Was pretty, though the serious look on her face gave him an unsettling feeling. The look of a warrior who doesn't like to be taken lightly.

The pilot was a Mandalorian apparently, which wasn't surprising in the least. Ezekiel didn't much care about the Jedi not trusting the Mandalorians, he was here on business after all. He had no reason to distrust the pilot in front of him. The pilot talking about her being the one in charge made Ezekiel chuckle, though he quickly stifled the chuckle and cleared his throat, hoping the chuckle wasn't noticed. The operative had no problem recognizing who was in charge, it just brought back memories of those who expected respect from those they couldn't control through normal means. Back when he was in league with a group of Bounty Hunters, he was punished severely by one in particular when he didn't recognize their leadership. They didn't get to lead much and for good reason. They were the most detestable out of the group of thugs, which was saying a lot. He quickly got out of the habit of rebelling against them, though he was young then. The mistakes he made then wouldn't be the mistakes he made now.

Ezekiel paid close attention as the pilot spoke about the birds they were going to train with. It was clear the pilot had experience the the birds and she knew what their strengths were. Establishing their credibility, good. He expected the lessons they would learn to be of good quality. "I've had some real flight experience." Short and simple answer. Nothing new from the operative. One thing he did notice that was bugging him a bit was that he never got the pilot's name, nor did she ask for theirs. Was that on purpose or did they just not think about it? No matter. Ezekiel would ask for the for the pilot's name when appropriate. It was good to know the name of a person in case their name popped up again somewhere down the line.

[member="Vaux Gred"] | [member="Kyra Perl"] | [member="Acaadi"]

 

[Acaadi]

"Bah!" went Acaadi, covering his mouth to stop himaelf from drawing attention to them. He rounded on Kyra with stern eyes but a huge smile.

"I'll get you for that!" he hissed. They both new he wouldn't. He never seemed to get Kyra back for anything. After the events with the trandoshan slavers he had even forgotten about the incident he still owed petty vengeance for on the branches.

When their trainer spoke up he had to quickly wipe the lopsided grin from his face. He turned sharply and tried to pay attention.

He didn't have to try. Once she started started listing out the components he was immediately hanging off every word. He couldn't imagine anyone walking out because she came from the same culture as a group of people who had attacked Kashyyyk.

Acaadi hoped Kyra hadn't fallen asleep yet.

"I've got a type three shuttle license and a...few hours in the sim ahead of this," he offered quietly.

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra stood stock still, resembling a cornered animals as she quickly realized she had walked in on a class.

And now she was in it.

"Uuuuuuuh," she looked back and forth between Acaadi and this new teacher of theirs, wondering exactly what she had just become a part of. "I... Crashed a speeder once?" She offered, not entirely aware that that probably wouldn't start her off on good graces here with new teach numbero uno. She sliiiiid a step closer to Acaadi, her petite shoulders leaning into his frame.

"The whose whatsa goes wheresa?"

It was correct to assume the mumble jumble had gone over her head, the girl more caught up with being caught up than anything in this moment.

"Arewegonnabeflying?"

 

[Vaux Gred]

Vaux kept her eyes on all three, listening carefully to there reactions. The boys there both had some experience. That was good. She thought this would be somewhat easy until she heard.... Osik! She forgot to ask for names, or introduce herself. Well... either way she just had someone tell her their only experience was crashing a speeder. Oh boy this would be interesting. She sighed, looking at everyone again.

"Ok. First, I believe I forgot to introduce myself, and ask who you are. My apologies for that. Use to training people I already know. Anyway, I'm Squadron Commander Vaux Gred. And, if I may ask what everyone else's name is?" Once she had stumbled over that awkward misstep, and learned everyone's name, she quickly got back in step, ready to continue.

"Anyway, Ezekiel, Acaadi, good to know that you have some experience. Kyra.... we'll do our best to get you started." The silver eyed Mando then looked at everyone, thinking about what to do with Kyra not really being a pilot. She then seemed to get an idea. "Well, lucky for you Kyra, TwinTail's do have a bit of their own mind. So one of the 'mechs could help a little with this lesson. First though, may be best to start with getting familiar with the cockpit. If you've flown an Incom vessel before it's a similar layout."

[member="Kyra Perl"] [member="Acaadi"] [member="Ezekiel Breaker"]

 

[Acaadi]

"Hey," he whispered to Kyra. "After this if they let me I think the order has some two-man trainers..."

Acaadi wasn't certain how much flight time she would get today. If he was able to take a ship up on his own soon then he would be able to fly a trainer and get Kyra some more time at the controls. After all, once you had one in space it wasn't like there was much to crash into. Space was big. Really, really big.

"I'm Acaadi Tam," he said, not certain he had any rank worth mentioning here.

"Is there a manual for these?" he asked. It was getting to the point where he could almost hear when Kyra rolled her eyes.

 

[Ezekiel Breaker]

Ah, the introductions have arrived! Squadron commander Vaux, huh? Well that gave him a bit more information about the instructor and their background. They must have been in this line of work for awhile. One of the younger ones answered first, his name being Acaadi. The other one was named Kyra and seemed as though they stumbled to the hanger by mistake. "I'm Ezekiel Breaker. It's nice to meet you commander Vaux. No need to apologies though, introductions are easy to forget sometimes." The operative gave a reassuring smile that said "don't worry about it". It wasn't anything to fret over after all.


Ezekiel has seen a good few layouts for ships, so maybe the cockpit would be familiar to him like the commander said. "Alright, lets go see what we're looking at then. Lead the way commander."

[member="Acaadi"] | [member="Vaux Gred"] | [member="Kyra Perl"]

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra did indeed groan at the mention of a manual, the idea of a flying class loosing its glamour if it actually required desk work. She didn't voice that just yet, the instructor reigniting her hope of actually taking something up in the air with the mention of a new ship.

She went up on her toes, giving the two a large grin and nod of agreement. Mhm. Yup! Whatever they want! As long as she actually got to sit in a cock pit.

Kyra pressed forward, taking acaadi's hand as they went. "You really gonna let me fly it?" She grinned over at him, her eyes alight.

Hm... what was that... a little bit of.... pheromoooones in the air?

Yes. Absolutely. Without a doubt. She batted her eyes.

 

[Vaux Gred]

Vaux looked at everyone. [member="Kyra Perl"] apparently missed the question of her name, but at least she was excited, and asking [member="Acaadi"] if she could fly a trainer at some point. It honestly reminded her of trying to teach Mig how to pilot a ship. Never. Again. She figured this would go better than that at least. [member="Ezekiel Breaker"] also seemed to understand he laps of memory. After hearing everyone, she felt slightly, calm.... Dang it! The Zeltron padawan was messing with her. Intended or not. She just ignored it, walking over to one of the TwinTails and opening the cockpit.

"So, like I said, the internal layout is similar to Incom designs. You have your basics like the yoke and rudder peddles. Throttle's to the left. Trigger and weapons setting are on the yoke. That's your scanner screen, and the astromech interface. There's the engine controls and readouts to the right. Weapons readouts to the left. This includes what's loaded into the universal launch tubes." It was nice to be able to talk about these fighters, even if Vaux didn't quite trust the Jedi. She'd still make sure these fighters were in good hands.

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi listened to every word from the commander but it took longer than usual to sink in. For quite an emotionally balanced young man it didn't take much in the way of eyelash batting or pheromone dispensing to completely distract him. He felt a little shiver run up his spine.

"Well of course I will," he said with a lopsided grin. "If I get a license I can take our a two-person trainer with you."

Last time he had agreed to one of her ideas he had been left behind and then grilled by her older sister. Of course this was his idea. Somehow it felt like her idea now. None of that seemed to matter. He nearly tripped over himself on the way to his Twintail.

The astromech turned its head towards him, whistling softly. Acaadi didn't know much binary so he had to climb up into the cockpit and start flicking switched to bring the console to life. Now he was thinking that as soon s she let them take off he was going to stall the fighter and make a fool of himself in front of Kyra.

 

[Ezekiel Breaker]

Well, it definitely seemed like the two younger ones knew each other. Ezekiel didn't pay them too much attention though, deciding to follow Vaux to the TwinTail ship cockpit. He took into account everything that was being pointed out by the Commander, making sure to take in every detail of the ship interior. With his excellent memory and the fact that the ship was indeed similar to some crafts he's seen, it wasn't hard to remember where everything was.

"This is definitely a nice ship here, I look forward to seeing how it flies." The operative continued examining the contents of the cockpit as he spoke. Eventually, he decided to hop into the seat and get a feel for the ship. Comfortable. Not too difficult to reach the controls, nothing here that was overwhelming. What Ezekiel said about wanting to see how it flied was more true than he thought, the operative feeling a bit more excited to get the ship off the ground. "What else can you tell me about the ship that makes it different from others Commander?"

[member="Acaadi"] | [member="Vaux Gred"] | [member="Kyra Perl"]

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra tried to climb up in after Acaadi, at the very least hefting herself high enough to peer in as he settled about sitting down. "Is there space for me in here?" She chirped, trying to catch sight of a seat. She pulled herself up onto her forearms, her chin resting on a piece of metal as the instructor rattled unfamiliar words behind her. "Which one's the gas?"

Her arms stretched out, fingers grasping shakily to tug at the throttle while still supporting herself on her forearms.

 

[Vaux Gred]

Vaux watched everyone's reactions. [member="Acaadi"] seemed like he was already ready to go. As he turned on the cockpit, the astromech interface came to life with it, translating the astromech's Binary into Basic. Even without the Force she could see he was nervous.

The there was [member="Ezekiel Breaker"] , who wanted to see these birds in the air. Vaux actually gave him a slight smile, then heard his question about what makes these ships different. The pilot nodded, looking at the operative. "Well, both advice and something different, don't get cocky with that ablative armor. It will save you from a few shots, but it doesn't make you invincible. Be careful." It was then that she realized just how little [member="Kyra Perl"] . Vaux looked, not too surprised to see what she was doing sadly.

"It's the throttle lever that you have in your hand, Kyra. The fighters are also single-seaters, no thanks to the Sith, which is why them having mounted astromechs is kind of a good thing. If you want to try flying the same TwinTail though, it'd probably just be more difficult to fly." She pointed towards one of the other fighters. "That one's mech is more forgiving though."

 

[Acaadi]

Acaadi reached for the headset that was inside the cockpit and pulled it over his head.

"Alright, I'm not flicking any switches to put the power on til you stop playing with controls!" he laughed at Kyra. "And these are single seaters so you're either going to get taken out by an astromech droid or you're riding on my lap," he added.

He was trying to seem cool in the situation. In reality he was utterly thrilled to be in the seat of a genuine starfighter.

 

[Ezekiel Breaker]

Good advice indeed. Ezekiel has met many amateur pilots that thought they could make it through anything because they had a durable and fast ship, which gave them the idea that they could take more risks. Sad to say, that wasn't the case. "So you're telling me not to act like I can take on a fleet by myself while flying this ship? I think you're underestimating me here commander." Ezekiel grinned to relay that he was joking.

Ezekiel started up the cockpit of fighter he chose and looked at the astromech mounted on the TwinTail. "Hey buddy. How about you watch my back as I fly this bird, huh? What should I call you?" The droid responded and the interface helped the operative understand what it was saying. A V-1 series. "I'll just call you V. You can call me Zeke in return, sound good?" A response of acceptance from the droid was displayed on the interface. Good.

[member="Acaadi"] | [member="Vaux Gred"] | [member="Kyra Perl"]

 

[Kyra Perl]

Kyra turned, half sliding back down the fighter to the ground when their instructor's words reached her next.

"I get my own?" She exclaimed. Her face lit up, the accidentally student abruptly reengaged with the class and teacher. Fortunately for Acaadi there would be no more mischievous Zeltrons clouding his judgment or yanking at his throttle, because Kyra went scrambling eagerly to the fighter Vaux recommended.

Suddenly it was not just Acaadi who was excited about ships. Kyra clunked and clamored her way up into it, once again ignoring the fact that a simple force jump would do her good enough. She practically spilled into the seat, where she was met by a set of welcoming beepboops.

"And a droid toooo?" Her voice reverberated. "Look Acaadi!" Her head popped back up over the ledge, the girl grinning wildly. "I'm a pilot."

And with a strange twist of luck, the first buttons she pushed started it up.