When Pigs Fly! Wait...

[Lugus Porkins]

Lugus was one of the last ones in the hangar for the day. He did this all the time. When he wasn't playing pilot, he worked on the ship lending an extra hand as a mechanic. His engineering degree gave him a bit of extra knowledge to throw around but he didn't flaunt it. He was just a regular guy. Patient even when it came to showing the other mechanics how to add a little boost of performance to ships even show them how to give the engines a little more life. At times Lugus was even picked to train some of the new hires.

This day wasn't very different from others. He took the time to run a few checks of the ships designated for the angels going through his mental check list. It was the least he could do. No one should be lost in a freak accident from a ship malfunction. He was almost done with check when he heard a loud bang and a bit of yelling. It startled him a bit but then he became curious. What could that be? He moved through the hanger toward the commotion.

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

The Jedi world of Ossus.

For over a thousand generations, Ossus was the home to knowledge and the mysteries of the Force. A time-honored companion for the Jedi and Galactic Republic alike, Ossus was a world captivated by a beauty which inspired patience, an antiquity which fostered a sense of humility, and an Academy which instilled in those who gave of their time a lasting gift of learning.

...and then there were the Jedi Younglings.

As the crate rolled away from where the boxes of all various size and shade had been cobbled together into some roughshod semblance of a stacked order, the small green amphibian lay on the ground where he had tumbled from off the top of the make-shift mountain.

That hadn't exactly worked out the way that he'd intended it.

[member="Lugus Porkins"]​

 

[Lugus Porkins]

As Lugus turned the corner he watched the hangar supervisor shout at several crates. Well it was an odd sight to say the least. Maybe the man finally snapped? As Lugus got closer he finally saw the Nautolan Youngling on the ground. What was the kid doing in here? The supervisor obviously didn't care as he threatened the throw him on a ship and drop him of on Mustafar. The kids last swim being in a lava bath. Lugus was sickened by the threat. Lugus ran, or more like a half jog power walk, up to the boy lifting him up and brushing him off.

"You okay, champ?" Lugus then turned his attention to the supervisor, "Hey, I'm sorry. He's my nephew. He wanted to see where Uncle Lugus worked." His hands covering what he thought Zak's ears could be, "His mom died a few years back. He's struggling with bullies and identity, but he's a good kid. I'm just showing him he could be someone."

The supervisor grumbled before throwing his hands up and walking away. Lugus followed him with his eyes until he was out of sight, "And that is how you do it. Give me some knuckles, little man." Lugus put his fist out for Zak to bump.

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

What was he doing here?

What was he doing here? This was Ossus! These hangars were even part of, and connected to, the Jedi Academy complex. And Zak was a Jedi Academy student. Plus, he lived here.

So the question was, what was a non-Force-using nerf herder doing here? But, let's table that discussion for a moment. Because the whole lava comment thing?

One, so not appropriate.

Two, so completely unnecessary.

Three, Zak could totally take this guy. It was with this thought in mind, that the Nautolan started to push himself up to his feet. His mouth was already in the fight even before he was off the ground. "Why don't you go ka--"

He'd been about to suggest that the supervisor fornicate with a Wookiee. He didn't quite get that far. Instead, someone was picking him up. And then cupping hands around either side of his head.

Which, if they were trying to cover up his gills... they were doing a good job.

Ears? That was more complicated.

"He's my nephew."

At that suggestion, the Nautolan fought against the hands that were pressed against the side of his head just so that he could turn enough to get a look over his shoulder at what species was speaking.

Pink skin. Furry face. Definitely human.

There was no way that this was going to work.

...and the supervisor? Dude just threw up his hands and walked off.

That had worked?

The Nautolan just blinked in amazement as the supervisor walked away. Turning to look at the strange, round arboreal alien, the youngling found himself eye-level with the familiar 'fist bump'. "Give me some knuckles, little man."

Tapping the man's fist with his own small hand, as Zak pulled back he opened his hand out to mimic an explosion as he uttered, "Ska-DOOSH!"

Giggling lightly, the Nautolan's dark eyes blinked as the boy returned to the question in his mind. "How did you do that?" the child inquired curiously. "Was that... like, did you just Mind Trick?"

[member="Lugus Porkins"]​

 

[Lugus Porkins]

A little delayed Lugus opened his hand to create a counter 'explosion' for the kid. That was definitely something new that kids these days came up or maybe Lugus was just that much in the dark when it came to being actually cool. It didn't really matter. In Lugus' line of work he didn't see many younglings which was a shame considering how much he loved kids. He was a child at heart himself in constant play with words most of the time and action sometimes. As people get older, they learned to filter themselves. Unlike adults, which was the one thing he loved most about children, the filter isn't programmed in yet. They do thing because it's what they want to do them, not because it's what others say one should do. Lugus grinned at Zak admire how he simply did.

"How did I do what? Ohhhh... no it's not a mind trick," He motioned with his hand for the boy to follow as he walked back to the ship he was checking. "When you look like this and you aren't a skilled warrior you learn to talk your way out. I have a few things going for me. First off I'm fat. Something about chubby people is trustworthy. My voice as well. It's not that deep kinda 'girly' so it isn't threatening. Finally what I said was extremely important. If you want someone to cut you some slack, you play them a sad song. Give them a sob story and they'll let you off. You're a kid. You're voice is still squeaky. That combined with a little pouting and a pity inducing excuse, and you can get yourself out of any harry situation."

It wasn't until after Lugus gave him the advice when he realized he was teaching the child something bad. Yeah, hopefully this never got back around to him. Well he would deny it of course. Nauto-what? No, don't remember him sorry. Why would they let such a youngling wander off alone in the first place. They should be ashamed. This was a sound plan in case that happened. Blame reversal. It wasn't Lugus fault it was theirs. He wasn't going to teach that one to the boy at least.

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

Something about the way the man spoke made the youngling giggle.

It was a mannerism. Or maybe something to do with tone, or the familiar way in which he spoke. The Nautolan immediately liked him, even though he couldn't have said why. The fact that he didn't know the man was now the furthest thing from the boy's mind, as though they were instant friends.

Even so, the limits of the boy's attention span were tested as he tried to follow how complicated and involved this whole mind-trick-but-not-mind-tricking thing.

In contrast, a Jedi Mind Trick seemed a much simpler approach.

As the man finished, and the Nautolan realized that he hadn't even been paying attention for the last couple of words, the boy's mouth dropped open as he spoke. "You... you kinda put, like, way too much thought into this."

Wasn't that the Jedi way? Or there was a saying or something on that? Do or do not. There is no think!

Something? Maybe?

"What... like, what do you do here?" the Nautolan asked next, dropping the topic for a far more interesting question.

Than the last one.

That he'd thought of in the last two seconds.

"I've never seen you around the Academy before," the boy noted aloud, to put his question into a frame of reference. The man was an adult, and all the adults were either students or knights here. And knight was kind of the same thing as teacher in the Jedi sense.

So was he a teacher?

[member="Lugus Porkins"]​

 

[Lugus Porkins]

"You... you kinda put, like, way too much thought into this."

Lugus laughed. Leave it to a youngling to be so brutally honest. The man liked to talk. The only problem was he wasn't all that interesting when he did. Funny. Yes, at times, but interesting... no not really. The little Nautolan seemed interested in him at least asking what he did and then mentioning how he had never seen Lugus before at the academy. It was at this moment Lugus finally noticed the robes on the child. He was a Jedi or Jedi-in-Training at least. He doubted such a boy would be considered a Jedi yet.

"I'm not part of the academy. I'm a pilot," he bent down slightly to get more on the kids level then reached out his hand for a hand shake. "Lugus Porkins. I go by Porkins the most. My callsign is Porkchop. Now that is a funny story if you want to hear it. Are you a, uh... Padawan, right?" He drew a blank for a moment but that word seemed right.

"I met a Jedi once. Even saved her life, too. If you can believe that. Most people don't. Shoot even I'm a little skeptical and I was there," he grinned.

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

So his name was Porkins.

Or Lugus.

...or Porkchop.

No, wait, that wasn't a name. That was a call sign. Which begged the question, "What's a call sign?" The young Nautolan just looked at the man curiously as the question rolled off the boy's tongue the same moment in which it had come to mind. Was it like a nickname? Was it like a title?

Count Lugus Porkins, of Porkchop.

His Royal Porkchop, Porkins the First.

Lugus, the Lord Porkchop, of Porkins.

Wait, wasn't a porkchop something to do with meat?

Spending all this time around arboreal aliens -- typically human -- the Nautolan should have had a better idea about what meat or meats were called. He didn't. He tended to stay with a seafood diet. Or, a see fish diet anyway. If he saw fish, he ate it. Or seaweed. Or mollusks. Or krill. Or plankton...

As all of that rolled around the inside of the boy's head, the Nautolan stammered slightly as he went to give his own name. "Uhh... Zak Dymo."

That was it. Just Zak Dymo. Well, really just Zak. Nobody called him Dymo unless he was in trouble.

So... often.

"Everyone just calls me 'Zak'," the boy noted aloud, choosing to ignore the frequency with one could hear a Master yelling 'Youngling Dymo' through the Academy. And, actually, now that he thought about it, there were a couple of other names that people had called him. "Well, that, and Darth Youngling, Sithspawn, Little Chit..."

Huh. That was more than just two names. "I guess I have a LOT of names!" the child chirped, beaming up at the man with a vibrant smile.

Then he looked confused again. "What does 'obnoxious' mean? Is that a name?"

If so, add that to the list.

His Little Chit, Darth Youngling, Sithspawn of Ossus and Obnoxious the First, Destroyer of Delicious Waffles.

Yeah. Now THAT was a name.

Porkchop. Pfffft. What was that? Step yo game up, son!

"Are you a, uh... Padawan, right?"

Blinking, the boy was pulled from out of his imaginative reverie and back into the conversation. "Yep!" he affirmed brightly.

His Lord Porkchop said something about meeting a Jedi. Yeah, okay, Zak met Jedi all the time. None of that was interesting.

Let's get back to something of interest. "Is flying... like, is flying really hard?"

Screw saving Jedi. Starfighters were astral!

[member="Lugus Porkins"]​

 

[Lugus Porkins]

"A callsign is what a pilot goes by when they're in the sky. It's always given. Some times the reason is for something great you do other times it's more of an embarrassing name like being called Porkchop," Lugus grinned at the young boy. He wore his callsign with pride however and told the story of it quite a few times.

As he lead him on he listened to what the boy, Zak Dymo, had to say. He was a hellion no doubt about it. Lugus smiled lightly as he listened to the small nautolan go on about all of the different names he had. They were bad names. They reminded Lugus of his childhood and how the other kids would talk about hocking a Lugus. They weren't meant to be nice but Zak didn't seem to have a problem with them.

"If you are obnoxious that means you are unpleasant pretty much," He shrugged surely the boy wasn't as bad as he was letting on.

Porkins perked up at Zak's interest in flying, "It's not very hard. At first all of the switches and gauges get a little confusing but with practice you get use to it." Porkins checked over his shoulders to see if anyone else was around, "Would you like to take a bird up?"

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

Take a what up?

Up where?

Up, like, up-up? Up up, and away? The Nautolan's large black eyes just blinked as the child slowly processed the question. Was he really being asked if he wanted to fly a starfighter? "I can't fly!" the green-skinned boy blurted aloud finally, as though astounded at the question. "I'm a Jedi."

It was that simple.

The Jedi was the master of the lightsaber. To master the lightsaber, the Jedi had to first master himself. Only then could he be one with the force of a lightsaber smacking Sith in the face with extreme prejudice. Nothing could distract or detract from this singular purpose of being. The Jedi and the lightsaber they were one in the...

"Wait," the child chirped a moment later, as it dawned on him that, as a matter of fact, Master Nef knew how to fly. And Mark Sage flew between Ossus and Yavin in his own shuttle. So, apparently, Jedi were supposed to have this skill.

Smacking Sith in the face with lightsabers probably required some travel, that was why.

"...why... why don't I know how to fly?" the boy asked, rhetorically it seemed, as he looked back at His Lord Porkchop. "Lock an' load, Master!" the child exclaimed with a broad smile.

They would sail into tomorrow...

...for justice!

...for the Force!

...for smacking Sith in the face with lightsabers!

"What's my callsign?" the boy inquired eagerly, peering up at the rotund pilot with large, puppy dog like eyes of coal.

[member="Lugus Porkins"]​

 

[Lugus Porkins]

The little Nautolan wanted a callsign. Lugus thought for a second. It did take any time for one to pop in his head, "Alright, first you want to know the 3 rules of call signs. No. 1: You don't chose your callsign. Your fellow pilots choose it for you. No. 2: You probably won't like it. No. 3: If you complain and moan about your callsign you'll get an even worse one."

He paused for a second making sure Zac heard him then left him hanging in suspense as he began to walk though the hangar looking for a good ship to practice with, "Aha! Here we go." He managed to find a fighter with a tandem cockpit. He got the ladder for the kid then helped him up into the front. A bold move, but hey the kid was a jedi. Lugus wouldn't be completely helpless from the back set should the kid pass out or something. He was missing something... Lugus looked around walking away for a second then coming back with a helmet for the kid putting it down over his strange tentacle head. It wasn't a perfect fit but it fit better than Lugus thought. He lined up the chin strap and fastened than for Zac as well.

"Ok, Shrimpy," Lugus patted him firmly on the shoulder then began to give him a quick run down of the ship going over most of the dials and switches ignoring any whining the boy might have over his callsign. Lugus put his own helmet on jumping into the backseat, "Ok now hit these two switches by you right hand. Then press this button right here that will close our cockpit." Lugus leaned forward to point at it before returning to his seat and grabbing the harness and fastening it in front. That would be a bad thing to remember after a barrel roll. "Strap yourself in real quick, Shrimpy, then grab that dial there and give it a twist. Hold it... Let it go."

Lugus smiled at the engine came to life. He got clearance from command then began to coast it forward, "To your left, that nice white handle lever, is the throttle. I'll worry about that. You can play with it when we get to orbit. For now, just keep you hands on the steering shaft in front of you and make sure you keep us straight. I'm counting on you." Of course Lugus had his hand on his own steering but he wanted the kid to feel like he was doing something important.

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

This was happening.

As the small Nautolan was introduced to a starfighter, his coal black eyes seemed to grow even larger as he marveled at the idea of flying.

THIS was happening.

As he was deposited inside of the cockpit, the green skinned youngling could barely contain his excitement. He wanted to look at everything at once. The dials. The levers. The throttles. He barely even noticed when His Lord Porkchop slapped a helmet on his head.

This was soooooo happening!

...and then he got shrimpy.

With the large helmet rolling around on his head, the boy tried to peer back over his shoulder at the human pilot. Shrimpy? Seriously? He was Nautolan. They ate shrimp!

He should be Squidy. Or Squidwort. Or Squishie. Any of the Squ- words you could think of.

But Shrimpy. Really? Really?

He refrained from complained, before His Lord Porkchop could drop something else on him. Like Kelp-y. Instead, the boy listened as the man described what to do with the two switches. As he flipped those, the internal power systems of the starfighter lit up. A smile instantly appeared on the child's face. What next? Oh yeah, the button...

The child looked up, somewhat intimidated at the cockpit sealed itself shut, encasing them inside a cockpit which now felt a lot smaller for some reason.

At the comment about strapping in, the child tucked his head down, wiggling his butt around in the seat as he realized he was sitting on top of some kind of weird seat belt thing. Pulling that out, and taking a few tries to get it right, the boy finally got himself properly secured into the seat.

Cranking the dial, the repulsor engine sent a vibration through the ship that made the small Nautolan jerk back in surprise at first, then giggled as the starfighter roared to life.

Wrapping his hands around the steering control, the boy waited for the next set of instructions. When a pause lingered, the boy finally tilted his head back to ask, "Now what, Master?"

[member="Lugus Porkins"]​

 

[Lugus Porkins]

"I'm not a master. Just call me Porkins or Porkchop," He laughed patting the nautolan's helmet. "Now we get to turn into hawkbats."

He said this figuratively of course as he lifted the starfighter up and out of the starport and into the open air he checked his gauges then switched his attention back to his co-pilot smiling at his reaction as they ascended in altitude. He didn't get them too far up in the air just yet he wanted Zac to get a good view of the temple and the academy making sure they circled back so he would for sure see it.

"If you start to feel sick focus on something in the cockpit that isn't moving. Airsickness bags are in the compartment on your left. If you're not feeling sick then your destined to be a pilot, Shrimpy," Lugus chuckled allowing the fighter to simply cruise at altitude. He really hoped the boy wasn't feeling too air sick. Lugus couldn't stand the smell. If the kid blew chunks, Lugus would be too.

"Now in atmosphere one of your biggest concerns is wind turbulence. There isn't any wind in space but there you have to worry about the gravitational pull of near by planets in masses. Where if you're in atmosphere of a planet, there isn't a flux in gravity because you're already inside it's gravitation. Making sense so far?" Lugus hoped so at least. "Ready to head to orbit?"

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

The youngling peered in wonder, leaning forward as best he could against the seat restraints to peer from over the edge of the canopy console. His face pressed close to the transparisteel windows as the boy struggled for a better view. He felt the disorientation and the sudden changes in pressure, but they were completely normal to him. In the ocean depths, especially shallow water in depths of ten meters or less, vertigo was a common occurrence among divers. And Nautolans were not any exception. They were merely accustomed to such feelings.

It was disquieting to experience it out of the water, but still familiar enough that it didn't distress the youngling even as he was aware of the dizzying sensation.

Hawkbats.

It was a strange creature for the boy to imagine. The iconic imagery of his imagination was usually based on the sea. The whaladon. The krakana. Of course, it seemed that most terrestrial species were similarly endowed with creatures of familiarity. Zak had been taught the basics of lightsaber combat, which were known as the Way of the Sarlaac -- a ground animal. His own youngling clan was named after another, the womprat. Its sibling clan was known as Clan Bear.

Sitting back, the boy tried to turn to look over his shoulder as Lugus spoke behind him. With the oversized helmet on his head, he just got a look at the inside of his own helmet from the effort. Looking forward again, the boy stared out over the controls in front of him as he listened to the brief explanation.

"Aren't there... there, like, solar winds, Master Porkchop?" the child asked, falling back on the habit of addressing Lugus as master. Everyone was 'master' to Zak. Teachers? Master. Knights? Those were masters too. Masters? It was in the name! If it was older than he was, it was a master.

The comment about wind not being in space didn't sit right though. Hadn't they had to watch, like, the most boring holo ever in science class about this? "Like, so... so the sun... an' like stars an' stuff, don't... don't they like shoot out cosmic rays an' stuff?" the child inquired. Yes, he actually paid attention in science class. When they were watching holos anyway.

"Don't you hafta worry about that?"

[member="Lugus Porkins"]​

 

[Lugus Porkins]

"You're relativally safe in the cockpit. If there are any that are harmful your gauges will let you know," Lugus took the moment to flip a couple of switches and examine the gauges one more time. "Ready to head on up? Go ahead and grab the steering column and pull it toward you. I'll keep us steady."

Lugus' hands didn't leave the column as they pressed upward and away from the planet. The atmosphere and gravitational pull offer a little of resistance but it wasn't anything Lugus hadn't experienced before, "Go ahead and give us more throttle."

Not too long after that they broke into orbit. Lugus pulled the ship around so that Zak could get a glimpse of the planet. Seeing a planet from a bunk room port was one thing looking at them from a cockpit always gave Lugus warm feelings.

[member="Zak Dymo"]

 

[Zak Dymo]

Ready to head up?

Where were they now? Down? "Up, up, and away!" the small Nautolan chirped, singing out as he raised a fist triumphantly up into the air. As small as he was, it didn't reach all the way up to the top of the canopy.

Lowering his arm back down, the boy took hold of the flight controls as directed, and then looked around for a moment to find the lever which functioned as the starfighter's speed control. Taking the throttle in hand, the boy rocked the switch back and then gave a yelp in surprise - which quickly dissolved into giggling laughter - as he felt himself being pitched back into the seat with the power of the vessel thrusting forward through the atmosphere.

"Now this is podracing!" the Nautolan chimed aloud, before having to pause and reconsider that statement. "...or starfighting. Or something."

As the Lord of Pork took the controls and swung the starfighter around in its orbit, the small Nautolan tried to crawl up along the side of the cockpit as the world below was mirrored in his black eyes. "Oh, cool," the boy breathed aloud, seemingly forgetting all about piloting as he instead enjoyed the view.

[member="Lugus Porkins"]​

 

[Lugus Porkins]

Lugus grinned as he caught a glimpse of the boy's reaction to seeing the planet. Maybe this young nautolan would one day grow up to be a great pilot. Lugus could only hope the boy would find such a love in piloting as Lugus had. If he didn't that would be alright as well. He still had a bright future ahead of him Lugus was sure of that.

"Controls are all yours, Shrimp," Lugus had to break the callsign in. He leaned back lightly then stretched. "Just fly around and have yourself a good time. You'll see how the ship can handle and then you'll get the hang of it. Just make sure to stay a piece from the planet or else we'll have to climb back up again."

Lugus patted the boys helmet then went on to admire the planet. With as many planets as he saw, he still stared in wonder at the planets. To think thousands of feet down stood the jedi academy and all of its occupants. Hopefully their little field trip didn't get back to the wrong ears. The last thing he wanted to do was explain why exactly he let the child fly a republic ship. Of course, he would thing of something to use as an excuse. He was good playing things off however bad the habit may be.

[member="Zak Dymo"]