Faction Starlight, Starfight [Open to Jedi Pilots]

[Loske Treicolt]

Peace Station ​

Peace Station was a massive, orbiting, sphere of mystery. How it had come to be was as curious as the parts of it that were abandoned. As far as discovery went, the spot was a psychometerist’s dream. Although Wyatt seemed to be the speaker of the station, he was welcoming to those of The Light traipsing through its corridors and maps.

Loske was one of those benefactors. The map of Peace Station was slowly being filled out, as more Padawans, Knights and Masters wandered through its halls - but there were some shadowed spots. She had an inkling, based on some of the scans she’d picked up on arrival, there were some parts of Peace that were abandoned more hastily than others, and may have some vessels from the past that could benefit them.

Another Padawan was with her - or, would be. Frank had sent a correspondence to Maynard Treicolt under the vague information that this fellow had a similar aptitude for spiralling through the stars. Should he pick up anyone else of interest on the way, they'd all rendezvous outside the primary hangar where the unidentified ships had been discovered. No Jedi had come along to claim them thus far, so her curiosity begged the question of where did they come from? And given there were a few that seemed to match...what potential could they have for the Jedi of now?

 

[Ryv]

Ryv heaved a heavy sigh as he lifted a decent-sized crate with a couple dozen books resting inside. He'd never seen a book outside of Peace, given the known galaxy utilized technology in all things. He, of course, heard stories of the more scholarly Jedi coming across them regularly in their study. He just wasn't one for excavating tombs, examining bones, and finding ancient relics. So, books and all the other stuff he'd been loading around the station for weeks? Well, the padawan was getting tired of it. It had been weeks since his last mission for the Imperium, and neither Cedric or Wyatt made time to train him. The crate was set down, giving him a few seconds to sit down and take a sip from his nearby canteen, though it didn't quell the rising temper within the kiffar. Fortunately, the series of beeps and chirps sounding from beside Ryv on the bench caught his attention.

"What you say, BD?" Ryv furrowed his brow and studied the little exploration droid. Wyatt had assigned it to help him map the facilities for a comprehensive display, given Ryv had been at the forefront of most tasks. The little droid had quickly captured his heart. Though, at that moment it was chirping angrily at the padawan for not listening. "C'mon, man, you know how I get about work early in the morning," Ryv scooped the little droid up with one hand before setting it to rest atop his head. A swift string of pleasant chirping rained down upon Ryv, which stopped him in his tracks. "W-what do you mean Loske is here? She's usually doing Imp-" the BD-unit bounced up on down to get the kiffar's attention before pointing down a hall a few dozen feet from there. Ryv was just able to make out her form as it disappeared down a connecting hall. "Oh man, is it weird to follow her?" Ryv was already walking in the direction he saw her go. "I mean, I don't think so. We're co-workers, but also students under Cedric. It's normal to wan-" once more, the droid atop his head interrupted him as they passed the threshold into the corridor they first sighted her. "I'm not nervous, B, just pull up the map."

The droid descended from his head and straightened on the floor. A holomap of the explored regions of the station spun before the duo. Ryv knelt and looked closely for a minute before grinning "Alright, here we are," his finger and eyes trailed along with the map before halting at the desired location. "Bingo, BD, we've hit the jackpot," he recognized the room as a recently discovered hangar. "I heard a group of younglings was skipping out on storytime with Quill for a bit of adventure, huh? Can't blame em," the duo laughed as Ryv once more returned the droid to his shoulder and they set off down the corridors. After a few twists and turns, he arrived at the hall leading up to the hangar. Seeing Loske ahead, Ryv snapped back around the corner and straightened. "Alright, boss, we're gonna do this," the droid chirped its agreement as Ryv once more took to the hall and waved her down.

"Hey, should you be back here, miss?" a grin formed on Ryv's face as he dropped his arm and jogged up. It was a stupid joke, but you couldn't expect something better out of Ryv. "I'm not surprised you're checking out the ships given your rep, Blue. Guess I'm just surprised you got here so fast."

Loske Treicolt | Maynard Treicolt​

 

[Maynard Treicolt]

"Hoh man! I could fly this all day!" The Jedi padawan yelled out in glee as he sharply veered the starfighter in another direction in pursuit of an identical vessel. The 'scyk' was an ever unimpressive vessel. With a proper pilot behind the sticks just about everything about the ship might've been aggravating. The lay out of the controls were an ergonomic nightmare and the engine stalled out not long after you pushed it to its maximum atmospheric speed. But to a young Maynard ; it was a fresh breath of freedom. The regimented lessons and training of the Jedi were all he'd known since his Kel'dor master found him a wayward child on Concord Dawn ; his parents petty farmers who'd made enough to get by whilst Maynard picked through a meager ship breaking yard for electronic components.

It was there that his eye for star vessels grew. He quickly learned to identify each one even if from a mere hull panel. The coat of oxide red ; an Old Republic Venator or that shade of brown a slaver's ship from Trandosha. An encyclopedic knowledge continued to grow as he fumbled heresay knowledge between the other scrappers before soon enough he was set unto the path of the Jedi.

"Patience ; padawan. We must only focus what is neccesary for the day. You'll need to man a starship on your own someday but for now your training continues elsewhere on the path." The already muffled Kel'dor muttered through the ship's comms back to Maynard.

"I know...I know..." The padawan said solemnly, his hand readjusting his grip about the controls as he peered over the many lights and switches of the ship's control panel.

"Perhaps the day will be kind to us and we'll fly again after your training is complete, yes?" The Kel'dor offered; bargaining with the eager padawan.

"You got it master!"

---

The droid's message wasn't anything the wayward cared to expect nor was it anything he recognized. If there was anything that Maynard garnered in his short tenure on Peace it was his inhibition for the sticks. This was so perhaps in no due part of because he wasn't any youngling or budding padawan. He was well into adulthood ; having severed his ties to the force save for the imbued instincts he'd tempered for piloting. The past few years saw him live the tenuous life of a spacer, a smuggler or even a mancatcher if the money called. By now a blaster served him far better than the saber ever did.

The two who'd gotten into the hangar before Maynard's arrival were quick to be set aside in favor of the dustied star-fighters. With an astromech in two he clamored to the fuselage of one of the mothballed X-Wings, wiping a gloved hand along the hull to wipe away long gathered dust.

"Well I'll be damned...this isn't any Incom fighter but still - An X-wing...son of a- I mean ya'll know what these things are right? Heard the stories n' all that?" Maynard let out ; barging into any nearby conversation with outright enthusiasm.

"Couple pairs of twin linked laser cannons, proton torpedoes...this thing has the works...you know if they're still up n' runnin'?" Maynard asked, pointing a thumb in Loske's direction hoping she'd offer quick answer.

---

Loske Treicolt ; Ryv

 

[Loske Treicolt]

It was the echo of hurried footsteps that caught her attention first, and she turned in time to catch Ryv 's salutations after the temporarily jarring salutations. "Oh hey! Ha, funny, I feel like it took forever.." she admitted, contrary to Ryv's suggestion of speed. Peace was massive, and full of Jedi things she felt pretty indifferent about.

Quickly, Loske glanced over his shoulder, as if expecting someone else to appear, but didn't see anything. A brief quizzical expression contorted her features and she returned her focus to the other Kiffar. Her hand made vague pointing gestures to support the question "Do you..have a ship here? Do you fly?" In their brief psychometric interaction on Anaxes, she hadn't seen anything that had suggested an affinity for the vacuum of space. In fact, quite the opposite. Most of his operations had been insular, working with shadowy figures and spending time with company that wasn't..at all like the company he'd fallen into recently.

Any follow-up question was terminated by a click-shut of her teeth and Maynard Treicolt , or, who she assumed was Maynard, rushing by the pair at the entrance. Immediately, his trajectory B-lined for the dusty old X-Wings, and she picked up her own feet to cross toward him, a shrug of her shoulder inviting Ryv to follow. Frank wheeled alongside her, a cerulean line projecting from his dome and scouring over the parked starfighter to index it.

A smile twitched at her lips at Maynard's appreciation for the ships. She was beyond familiar with the stories, and the vessels themselves.

"No, I..they look really sleepy."

This one has reserve fuel, and a damaged torpedo. Otherwise in working order. Will have to assess the others. Frank confirmed.

"There we go! Sounds like they'll run." She wandered in closer , looking upward and following the trajectory of dust that had been moved by way of Maynard's actions. "Also hi - I'm Loske. You must be Maynard." With a sweep of her arm, she indicated her dark-haired friend forward to Maynard as well - a new fellow by comparison. "This is Ryv."

The model was older than anything she'd seen before and Frank whirred off to assess the remaining five. This was the only one uncovered, there were two with their noses peaking out beneath a tawny tarp, but otherwise only the rough shapes were recognizable as infamous X-Wings.

"I wonder what their last mission was.." she cast a wayward, sly wink at the fellow with the affinity for the past. A query that could be answered by either technology (assuming the navlogs were in working order), or The Force.

Peace Station seemed ample with both.

 

[Ryv]

Ryv didn't fly.

To be honest, the idea of being at the helm of anything other than his speeder bike terrified him. The tight confines of most ships left little room for survival in the face of battle or a crash. There was always a part of him that wanted to learn how to, but that element of negativity nagging at his mind won out more often than not. This time could be different though. The padawan knew Loske to be an excellent pilot, likely one of the greatest in the galaxy if his visions were correct. Learning under her could provide him the opportunity to finally make headway in facing his fears. Before he could get an answer out, Maynard's sudden appearance and interruption left him unable to speak.

Choosing not to cut in on the other Jedi's excitement, Ryv went silent and watched both pilots. There was a real joy to this discovery. It radiated off of Loske and Maynard, so much so that Ryv couldn't keep his customary grin away. Joining it, however, his eyes softened and any fears he felt melted away. The sight of each of them was far too pure for the kiffar to ignore.

"I've heard some stories, my guy, but I'm not caught up on this sorta thing," Ryv answered honestly, looking over what was revealed thus far. "They look pretty sick, not gonna lie. Maybe this is my chance to learn how to fly?" the question was more to himself than either of them, though, the BD unit aboard Ryv's head took the opportunity to beep out its agreement with its usual optimism. "Well, that settles it then," he moved to take a step closer to one of them but stopped at Loske's implication. "Well, gimme a minute, Loskerino. Might be able to figure that one out for ye."

Ryv stepped up to the uncovered X-Wing, nodding to Maynard as he passed. The kiffar's left hand pulled the glove off his right before pressing it into the ship's hull. He focused his senses inward, falling deep within himself as the visions flowed into his mind.

Loske Treicolt | Maynard Treicolt​

 

[Maynard Treicolt]

"You tellin' me ya'll ain't heard about the Death Star?! Twice?! These things are legendary, man I'm tellin' ya..." He says, slapping his open hand against the side of the X-wing's hull - only serving to beat dust from it - letting it fill the air around he let out a few coughs into his hand as he used the other to whisk it away.

"But yeah that's right - name's Maynard. I'm sure you've never heard of me." The man said, letting off a laugh in good nature. Of all the Jedi on Peace he'd certainly caught wind of the other two where as Maynard tended to slip in obscurity, only ever around to work on the damaged ships of the other Jedi purely to build up the repertoire if nothing else. Picking up the lightsaber forms and honing the force once more had proved clumsy for Maynard so instead of actually working to better himself as a Jedi like just about everyone else who roamed the station - he sought to pick up a skill that might keep him around at the very least. Afterall a Jedi really wasn't that useful if they were stuck here with no means of jumping planetside.

Maynard was, admittedly, kinda ticked that Ryv manned the sticks before he was able to. But a Jedi was expected to hold his emotions and such and thus he had to find himself content inspecting the fuselage and S-foils of the thing, eventually even crouching down to find the proton torpedo port, making a characteristic.

"Psssssshh- BOOSH!" Noise in a highly professional - eerily accurate re-creation of the impact of a proton torpedo.

---

"Saber three! You've got a couple Sith on your tail - I'll try and get em!" A masculine voice pierced through Ryv's channeled force memories, drowning out the characteristic crack of the incom fighter's turbo lasers ripping through the air.

"Didn't expect One Sith to show up in pirate territory but here we are! I can only dance with 'em for so long you gotta- Oh shoot!" An initially jovial feminine tone cut harshly as the horrid emotional event of a blaster bolt biting into the hull of her X-Wing sounded out.

"R4 - think you can get it, buddy!? Saber two - I need some help!-" And with that the Kiffar was violently ripped from the sensory envelopment of the starfighter's force echo.

---

Ryv | Loske Treicolt

 

[Loske Treicolt]

While Ryv operated, and Maynard Treicolt romanticized in reflection, Loske moved to find a nearby ladder and rolled it toward the side of the X-Wing. She chuckled at the rendition of the explosive sound. "Do you do voiceovers sometimes, by any chance?"

In the meantime, Frank had a status report to share! Excitedly, he whirred over and illuminated the ground with a projection of the models that were under the covers - ready to go through a synopses of each.

I've run an inventory check. There are six ships in total. Just in need of some additional repairs and maintenance. All six are operational, save for the damaged torpedo launcher on the first model.

They'll all need a refuel, and cannot make any hyperspace jumps until refilled. Their armament is Four Fast-Response Ion Cannons, Two Self Loading Missile Tubes and two proton torpedo launchers.

The rest is fairly standard, the most intriguing are the advanced systems - Including Nightshadow Coating - these ships seem predominantly oriented for Force-Users.

"How fortunate." Loske smirked, and gave Frank an appreciative pat on his dome while he sucked back the projection.

Recognizing that familiar expression of having a projection dissolved, Loske leaned against the ladder which now stretched up to the belly of the starfighter, folding her arms with a nod toward the other Kiffar padawan "What'd you see?"

 

[Ryv]

There was a strange mix of tension and excitement that gripped the cockpit as beams of energy flew past Saber-3. Whoever she was, she was a damn good pilot. The X-Wing spun about, weaving in and out of combat and avoiding shots from whatever Sith vessel assailed her. Ryv felt the excitement fade away as fear gripped the faceless pilot's heart as series of thudded impacts rocked the starfighter. She looked down for a quick data assessment before another half a dozen bolts hit. After the fear came nothing as Ryv's mind returned to the present. He felt his mouth go dry. It felt like he'd been punched in the chest and couldn't quite catch his breath. It wasn't until he heard Loske's voice from below did he shift his attention back to her.

"This baby was rebuilt, it seems," he knocked on it a few times. "Saber-3 was the pilot. She seemed pretty good, but I guess you can't always make it back from every mission," he looked back up at the ship and moved towards the ladder. "If it's not a problem, you guys, maybe I can keep this one and you can give me some flying lessons?" Ryv grinned each of them in turn. "I never learned how, though I've mostly been too scared to try, but she was sorta inspiring," he dusted off some of the lower rungs before crossing his arms to lean against it.

The kiffar felt a strange kinship to the woman. Their meeting was brief, but something ran far deeper than he realized. The BD unit Ryv brought along abandoned its perch of Ryv before climbing up the ladder. It began exploring the ship, skittering about from left to right.

Loske Treicolt | Maynard Treicolt​

 

[Maynard Treicolt]

"Saber three huh? Where there's a three there's a squadron ; the name certainly fits that's for damn sure..." Maynard offered as he made way to another one of the mothballed starfighters, grasping at the edge of one of the covers of canvas-like material draped over the craft he wrenched from the craft with a fierce pull. Waving his hand infront of his mouth he wafted the built up dust from his face with a shake of his head.

"Gee- shame these ol' girls have been marooned like this... They'll need some work but it ain't nothing we shouldn't be able to piece together." Maynard said, pulling ladder from the corner of the hanger - wheeling it to the side of the x-wing near the canopy before he climbed atop it.

"Hey buddy- hop up here see if you can't get this thing up and going-" Maynard commanded out to his BB unit who ushered over with a series of beeps before rolling his way across the hangar bay, eventually activating the astromech lift under the craft and pulling himself into the droid slot with an enthusiastic binary statement.

"You and me both ; now see if you can- ohhhh you son of a- you know me too well." Maynard said, conversing with his droid companion as the cockpit was forced open via the droid's command ; the pressure seal hissing open as the canopy was exposed only for the Jedi to not spare a moment in hopping into the synthleather backed seat. It wasn't another moment longer before his hands grasped ahold of the sticks with outward confidence even as he tried to get a gauge on how the thing worked to begin with.

"Well hell - we got the fuel for these?" Maynard asked, arching a brow as he peered toward Loske. "It's about time young Ryv here learns to fly don't ya think?" The Concordian pilot said with a grin, looking to the two. It wasn't often he got to share his passion so openly with his fellow Jedi who were more often than not obsessively training themselves in the ways of the Force.

---

Ryv | Loske Treicolt

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Everyone's hoping it will work out!
​

Flying lessons? Loske's brows arched at the same time her mouth twitched when Ryv lay claim to the X-Wing. She touched her chin in thought to Maynard Treicolt 's external correlation musings, giving a slow nod. She hadn't heard of Saber squadron before, but she had been pretty incubated with Rogue and Wraith for a temporary time. What was another circus with new monkeys.

"I'm sure she had a much more interesting monkier amongst her mates." The blonde offered coyly. The boys were busying themselves laying claim to one ship after another, and she wandered to another that was untouched. "That's the best part of being a flyfolk."

Meanwhile, there was suggestion of flying lessons and blue eyes lit up with glee. The last time she'd roped in someone to a squadron, she'd been on probation for two weeks. But Choli'd risen to join the squadron, so Loske liked to boast she'd made the right call. "Yes!

I wonder if you can learn through psychometery too. Either the ship or---I can help."

She gave a jostle to the canopy, letting the blanket quiver and slip in response before it got tangled on something jutting out. With a grit of her teeth, she gave it a bit more of a tug. In a contest of strength, Loske relinquished wrestling with the tarp out of fear of damaging the ship, and stepped backward while Frank wheeled around looking for a ladder to help his mistress out.

'Or," she huffed, poking her head out from under her ship and back upward at the two nestled in their respective seats, and putting her hands around her mouth to amplify her suggestion upward, not that there was much contest for noise in the hangar "We could do it the old fashioned way. And just gun it."

 

[Ryv]

"My old man would be unironically pissed if I used psychometry to cut corners and learn things the easy way. I could probably use it here and there to further everything along, but I wanna do this the right way," Ryv leaned to the cockpit, bracing himself with his elbows on the side. He threw a smile down at Loske and motioned towards the open expanse of space maybe a hundred or so feet away at most. "I can throw a warning Wyatt's way. Let him know we're screwing around outside and not to teleport the ship to some distance, far-off place and leave us stranded," he dusted off the side of the x-wing before sitting back in place. "BD, mind running diagnostics on this one, chief? Let's see how we're looking on fuel and the like."

BD-8 nodded up and down before clamoring atop the console. As the bubbly droid focused on it's work, Ryv dropped down from the ship beside Loske, bending his knees to brace himself. He straightened after impact and lifted a commlink to his lips. "Hey, its Ryv. I'm going to need you to keep Peace from any long-distance travel. Loske found an abandoned hangar with some cool ships that we're gonna test drive," he spoke quickly to whoever was listening before deactivating the comm, cutting off whatever was being rattled off on the other side.

The kiffar offered Loske a thumbs up and smiled. "Alright, Loskelicious, we're good to get these beauties out there if we have the fuel," he looked up at the ship as the BD unit hopped down in front of the duo. It activated its holo-display and a holographic variant of the x-wing sprung up. It detailed the ship's weaponry, defenses, fuel, and the minor amounts of damage it had sustained the last time it was likely used. "Looks like this has enough fuel for a couple of hours out there. Curious," Ryv looked away and scanned the room. He sought out evidence of passage around the ship beyond their own, but he couldn't pick up anything out of place.

"Weird."

Loske Treicolt | Maynard Treicolt​

 

[Maynard Treicolt]

"Your old man must be on to something. Force n' all that helps a ton but it don't beat practice that's for sure. I whipped around that ol' Scyk just for fun for years. Always tried to outplay myself every time. Just see those other ships flyin' around doin' somethin' and go 'shit man I'd like to be able to do that' and then dick around until I could manage." Maynard says, imparting probably the only piece of wisdom he maintained at all that didn't relate to picking out good cigarra on backwater worlds or hiding smuggled goods from authorities.

As soon as Maynard's astromech was able to iron out a diagnostic of the ship its status pulled up over the control console infront of Maynard himself. This one was certainly worse for ware internally but taking it on the astronautic equivalent of a brisk job wouldn't jostle anything too vital.

"Well shit...I'ma need to give this honey some love but no doubt we can whip it around for a few hours so that Ryv can finally learn the sticks." To the fellow Padawan's remark he narrowed his eyes before peering around the hangar bay.

"What uh...what's weird?" He asked, furrowing his brow.

---

Ryv | Loske Treicolt

 

[Loske Treicolt]

"Okay, so the old fashioned way we go." She'd run enough simulations with Rogue and Wraith recruits that she could prove somewhat useful for this rendezvous.

While Maynard Treicolt imparted memories as advice, Loske scaled the ladder that Frank brought over to her. She was wiggling out the tarp that was snagged beneath a panel when Ryv mentioned something was weird.

"Huh?" Her attention snapped up, at the same time the tarp gave way and she faltered on the nose of the X-Wing. Attempting to maintain her balance, she dropped to all fours and grimaced while the cover fell away to the ground. From below, Frank made a noise that was an astromech's equivalent of a snicker.

Loske crawled forward to the nose of the X-Wing, teetering precariously so she could lean into any conversation between Ryv , the droids, and Maynard. She squinted at the projection from the BD unit, but nothing seemed out of sorts. "You sensing something?"

 

[Ryv]

Ryv blinked as he looked back to the duo, a faint shock of electricity shooting up his spine. He looked down to BD-8, the small droid also looking up at him, head tilted to the side to show it's own confusion.

"Gonna be honest with you guys, I legit thought starfighter fuel would go bad or something, not just work infinitely," he raised a hand and just rubbed the side of his face with a hint of embarrassment. "Rookie mistake, I s'ppose," he chided himself before moving to climb back into the cockpit of the ship. The BD unit hitched a ride on the kiffar's shoulder before resting on his leg. "You know BD, I have zero idea what you're even gonna do here considering you aren't an astromech like the others, but let's hope we can make something happen," he spoke softly to the droid while running through the very basics of a ship. He'd flown a few times for the Imperium, though none of it in combat. That small amount of training amounted to him understanding how to start a ship, get it in the air, and fly in the direction of his choice. He never learned any of the fancy stuff Maynard and Loske had under their belt, but with the opportunity presenting itself, what could go wrong?

"Alrighty, I'm gonna get this gal in the air and take her out on a ride. Let's link up comms real quick, make sure we can communicate and-" Ryv elongated the pronunciation of the final word as he opened a line of communication between the two other padawan-learners. "We're a go."

Ryv pulled back on the throttle before the ship began to rise. In comparison to the others, the starfighter shook a bit more under the kiffar's guidance. He didn't seem to notice as a smile danced across his features. He gunned the ship forward suddenly, zipping out into open space without a second thought.

"Man, this is freaking cool, dude."

Loske Treicolt | Maynard Treicolt​

 

[Maynard Treicolt]

Maynard spared a second to narrow his eyes toward the Kiffar as he acquainted himself with the starfighter, the Concordian Jedi eventually peering down to his own flight console, flipping several switches and buttons to prep the fighter for take off. As he saw Ryv fling out into open space Maynard's urgency in getting control of the fighter heightened.

"Well, the kid might get himself killed out there alone- I don't s'pose you'd wanna see what these things can do, ey Loske?" He said before he reached down to grasp a pair of grey pilot's gloves, shifting his gaze to Loske with a wide, genuine grin. Shifting his gaze back over the controlls he snapped his fingers to signal his astromech in lowering down the glasteel canopy over the cockpit. Pulling the gloves down over his wrists he clenched his teeth tightly in anticipation as the pink glow of the X-Wing's four engines sparked to life with a loud hum and hiss of the power generator within.

"Ahhh- shit! That's what I like to hear, buddy!" Maynard lets off with a jovial laugh before soon enough the star fighter began to slowly repulse itself up from the hangar bay floor, rearing itself toward the hangar bay entrance before eventually jetting off into space not too far behind Ryv.

"Damn this is smooth flyin', ya'll..." Maynard let out as appraised the maneuverability of the X-Wing with a few twists and turns of the starship.

---

Ryv | Loske Treicolt

 

[Loske Treicolt]

Seemed like nothing was amiss -- and within seconds, Ryv had belched out into the stars and she cringed. There was no flight clearance in the abandoned hangar, but that would have to be part of the lesson. Coordinating with other outbound vessels.

At his departure, something in her cockpit blipped. Deployment protocol.

Loske backward-crawled back to the pilot's compartment. Hers seemed a little rustier than either of the boy's. Her fingertips pried at the canopy, strength willing it would pop open with little effort. Alas, it required a lot of effort and she almost fell off the body of the fighter again when the top popped open.

Frank made a hooting noise down below while a metallic arm near the fighters extended and clasped his dome, lifting him from the ground and into his astromech compartment.

While she reoriented herself, and slid into the seat while Maynard Treicolt called out to her - encouraging the trio to take flight as a group. Her curiosity was insatiable, and she eagerly responded with a thumbs up and casual: "More than anything, May." It might have been too early to be assigning nicknames to someone she just met, but Maynard was one syllable too many for this one chin-dip group.

Sinking into the seat, she went through the typical motions of firing up a vessel. The well-practice routine evidenced the ship's status for her, fuel levels, armaments, shields, all that. Frank operated in the back and confirmed they were green to go. She dusted off a helmet that happened to be in the cockpit and pulled it over her blonde hair, reaching inside the visor to wipe away any obscuring dust. Maynard was now out the door. A few more requirements passed, and she too made the transition from the hangar to the vacuum of space. The joy from the pair cackled through their shared channel, and she grinned madly; finding their delight infectious.

Like them, she tested the maneuverability of the craft - pleasantly surprised by it's responsiveness. She revved the repulsors, jutting forward with impressive speed. The ship was light, too.

"Did you see this you guys?" She asked, toggling through the different settings on the screen. "Looks like there was a Saber Squadron playlist they jived to, pretty cool." Modifying some of the requirements for the broadcasted channel, she selected a song to play and infiltrate all their audio synchronously.

Buried in learning the semantics of the HUD, she reached up fiddle with a toggle she assumed was related to the hyperdrive. She managed her comms back to her isolated ones. "This seems stuck, Frank. Is it systematically locked?"

Affirmative. The compressor isn't responding.

"Can you unlock it?"

Hold on.

Within seconds, something on her HUD activated in a flurry of binary digits and rotating spheres. The digital movement drew her gaze from the ceiling to the screen. "Wha..?" She murmured, squinting at the information that sprawled across.

I've bypassed the compressor.

The Starfighter lurched, sounds revving up that were familiar, but unwarranted. It sounded like it was preparing to make a jump to lightspeed. On her dashboard display, the digits coordinated across the vessels, sharing the flightpath between all systems and overriding.

"Aah, looks like you didn't just override mine." She grimaced, fervently pressing buttons that would reject the plotted route to no avail. The starfighter was locked on it's course. Loske flicked back to the shared channel "Uh, hold on you guys. We're about to go for a ride. Stay close."

Her ship quivered and quaked before Ryv and Maynard would see it snap forward and away, disappearing into the blackness of space at a velocity that forced the stars to turn into blurry white streaks in an insular tube.

These are old coordinates. Frank explained, keeping his droid cool. Looks like the last expected mission logs were taking the squadron to the Savareen Sector, Koobi systems.

 

[Ryv]

Ryv went silent for a moment, ignoring most of the coms as he focused on the vast openness of space around him. One hand clenched the stick before him while the other reached forward, assessing the panel. There were a dozen or more buttons and switches, each lit a blue or red color, flashing before his very eyes. Confusion hit hard as a wave after wave of anxiety crashed against him with each passing second. So much could go wrong if he made even a single mistake behind the stick. The kiffar knew he should just reach out to his friends and ask them for help considering they agreed to teach him in the first place, but panic paralyzed him. His free hand hung in the air, shaking wildly until the small frame of BD-8 slid beneath it. The droid's little head peered up at the pilot, wearing the trembling hand like a hat. It chirped happily, though kept its voice somewhat low.

"Y-Yeah, you're right, little dude. No reason to stress, we're in this together," Ryv smiled and stilled his hand before taking it back. "You linked up with the ship earlier, right? What should I be doing now?" he posed each question back to back before looking back to the BD unit. It chirped a tad louder, clearly excited by the lack of tension in the cockpit. "Okay, so uh, I don't need to worry about any of them cause we aren't in combat or landing, I gotcha," he took the stick in both hands and directed the ship downward in a sloping dive. He evened the fighter out as music began playing before slowly rising back up to even out near the other padawans.

"This is a lot better than what I'm used to flying. The Imperium always assigns me some run of the mill fighter and astromech. These X-Wings are crazy maneuverable and smooth; I dig it, man," Ryv voiced his enjoyment to the others once more before offering BD-8 a thumbs up. Before he could voice anything to the others, Loske's transmission cut through the silence. He looked towards her starfighter, directing his own as close as possible before she disappeared into hyperspace. He looked after her, swallowing a mouthful of nothing in anticipation. "Man, this isn't gonna end well for anybody. I'll catch you on the other side, Maynard," with a salute and a forced smile, Ryv shot into hyperspace after their missing companion.

Past trips through hyperspace were usually aboard a bigger vessel, hidden away from the beauty of the trillions of stars racing past him. He pressed his hands and face against the glasteel cockpit in awe.

"This is beautiful, BD," Ryv said softly, trying and failing to track the individual flashes of lights racing past him.

Maynard Treicolt | Loske Treicolt​

 

[Maynard Treicolt]

"May? What the fu-" Maynard said before his own BB unit cut him off, offering some degree of restraint in the tone of its beeps leading Maynard to tilt his head in consideration for a moment before nodding once.

"Nah Buddy, you're right she gets a pass..." He says before soon enough the music shot through the inbuilt audio system in his pilot helmet, a grin instantly lighting up his face as the high octane heavy music began to stream through his ears. Offering up a laugh of almost child like excitement before his eyes searched the dashboard for a moment before soon enough his BB unit piped up with binary beeps as if to point Maynard in a certain direction.

"Oh you know me too well you son of a-" Cutting himself off as he heard the hiss of the hydraulics pry the S-foils apart, creating the iconic silhouette of one of the Galaxy's most feared and effective starfighters. The X shaped shadow slowly scraping across the surface of Peace as the starfighters began to peel and drift away from it.

"Gonna just see what kind've uhhh-" Cutting himself off again he let off a short crunching volley of the pairs of twin-linked blaster cannons into open space, hearing a less than pleasurable whir from the star ship's power plant after he did. The firing straining the vessel for some time afterward.

"Alright well- we know what we're dealin' with..." Maynard said to himself more than anyone else.

Being the last to jump to hyperspace his eyes widened before soon enough he'd reach down to pull forward the charging handle of the hyperdrive, sending it whirring through the streaming blue starscape after the two. Having made about a hyperspace jump a day for the past ten years and even still the sight was captivating.

As soon as the trio left the bright blue whirl of hyperspace only to enter the orbit of a frigid world. The exit was marked with an audible bang sounding out from behind Maynard's head in the core of the ship as flames began to flicker, the hyperdrive evidently poorly maintained and not primed for the journey, managing a jump only to outright combust. Recoverable...for now the fighter's systems were faltering and the craft itself threatening to stall as they neared the upper crest of the planet's orbit, a bright see of bluish white beneath them.

"Alright ya'll...not gonna lie but um...we might need to make a stop down below..." Maynard said, outwardly confident even if he might've been nigh paralyzed at the prospect of being stranded in the frozen planes beneath.

---

Loske Treicolt | Ryv

 

[Loske Treicolt]

The rotating pearl below didn't look particularly welcoming. After a few helpless hours, they were back in real space. Loske's sensors reported the arrival of her wing mates and she craned her neck to get her own visual on them.

"Whelp, I guess that crosses off your first hyperspace jump in an X-Wing, Ryv ." Loske offered sheepishly over their shared comms after finding satisfaction that everyone had arrived in one piece and not tried to escape the tunnel of light.

We're looking at Nelvaan. Frank answered the unasked question. A winter tundra planet, with primitive natives. Well beyond the influence of any Republic, Confederacy or other organized government. This is Wild Space.

"I wonder why the coordinates were mapped here.." She intoned thoughtfully, traipsing her fingertips across the dashboard to get sensory readings of the atmosphere and try and see if there were mission logs. "We can jump back, now that we have the route. If you reverse the origin and destination coordinates ---" she was cut off by Maynard Treicolt 's admittance that they might need to land. She winced. He sounded okay, nothing majorly critical. No traceable panic.

"Copy that.. down we go. What do we think, land as close to a civilization as possible or as far away?"

Uh oh. She levelled her starfighter out and angled it forward, preparing to dip down. There were no shields, it would be a typical atmospheric entrance -- though she was detecting some strange geothermal readings. She shared the data to the other two, so they'd be equipped to contribute to the decision on where to land.

"Next lesson will be entering the atmosphere and landing I guess. "

 

[Ryv]

To be honest, Ryv's trip through hyperspace lost its luster after about ten minutes. Having brought nothing to do, he pulled out his holodevice and attempted to connect to the HoloNet. When it failed to pick up a signal, he flipped it horizontally and tapped at the screen. His thumb lazily flicked the screen for several pages of apps up until he found a means of entertainment. He activated the app and watched it load up in silence. He couldn't remember the last time he loaded up an idle game, but it didn't matter at this point. Rise of the Dark Side: Fate of the Galaxy proved to be a typical idle game. His thumbs flicked out against the screen, collecting credit chips of various amounts to upgrade his party of Sith Lords. The first chest he managed to open had Darth Revan, one of the rarest villains in the game. Everything following him didn't measure up, with Count Dooku, Darth Sion, and the fallen Sith variant of Maul.

Hours passed in relative silence, the droid having shut down to recharge while Ryv continued his game. He managed to max out his Darth Revan, choosing to spec into duel-bladed Niman, versus the force sorcery crap everyone else seemed to pick. Putting him inside the vanguard beside the Darth Sion Undying Juggernaut spec made up a powerful front line. The Juyo spec for Maul and Makashi Master spec for Count Dooku created a powerful midrow that could shred through even the tankiest Jed Masters, such as Obi-Wan. Another chest he won in a random raid caught him the weakest variant of Sidious, Sith in Disguise, but he still outclassed most sorcerers in the game, making him a powerful backline option.

By the time they were exiting hyperspace, Ryv had finished the main run of Sacking Coruscant, as well as the two side quests, Empty the Archives and Not the Younglings! With a treasure trove of Jedi artifacts and credits put away, he reactivated BD-8, plugged his device into the small droid, and took hold of the stick once more.

"Alright, chief, you're gonna need to help me plot a course back to Peace," Ryv reached out to the navicomputer as Maynard's voice came over the commlink. "Ah, well, nevermind. I guess you just relax a bit longer while I get the bird set down planetside," he hummed as he moved to activate the deflector shields. When he flipped the switch and nothing happened, the kiffar cursed loudly and facepalmed. "Yeah, I'm S.O.L. over here as well, Loske. You take point, I guess. I'll stick back with Maynard, make sure I can catch him if his fighter blows apart."

Maynard Treicolt | Loske Treicolt​