fandomhigh | Flight Club, Monday, 4 pm in the flight shed

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!club: flight

Flight Club, Monday, 4 pm in the flight shed

Aeryn's been in the flight shed for a while today, and she looks a little more cheerfu when everyone arrives, just for today's material. Well, cheerful for Aeryn. Which means she doesn't look like she's ready to kill you.

"We're going back to something some of us have done before," she tells them. "Today we're working on the Jedi starfighter. Normally built for use with an astromech droid that helps you fly, today the instructor will play that part. They're no longer in use, but as someone who's tried one, that really is unfortunate. I'd like you just to try it out, take it for a run, and those of you who have flown one before, feel free to show the new people how it's done. I'm sure no one will have problems showing off."

[Replies may be slow due to the fact that my Gmail is broken. Will ping as soon as I can, though.
OCD is up, go play.]

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Luke watched everyone run through the simulator before he felt like he was really ready to try it.

He swallowed hard as he strapped himself into the cockpit--he was sure it was only his imagination, but his father seemed very real to him at the moment.

His voice gave him away, cracking a bit as he tried to talk. "Ready," he said, flipping through the ignition sequence.

"You all right?" Aeryn asks him gently. Yes, she can manage that sometimes.

"Getting there," Luke said, taking a deep breath.

"It's okay," she tells him, hoping she's being reassuring. And weirdly enough, she kind of gets where he is.

Luke took another couple of breaths. "Okay," he said, focusing. "Let's do this." He gave Aeryn a shaky smile. "Can I try out the weapons?"

"You certainly can," she smiles. "They're fun."

Luke's smile got wider. "The systems are kind of the same as the X-Wing," he said as he got more comfortable. "But some of them are kinda of TIE fighter-y, too." He glanced around. "And there's no way to get into hyperspace in this, right?"

"The ship itself isn't equipped with a hyperdrive, but it requires a sort of... ring," she explains. "I've never seen that sort of technology anywhere else, to be honest."

"We've fixed that," Luke said. "Well, the X-Wing has. The TIEs tend to be short-range and unshielded." He made a face. "Which gives you a good idea of just how much value the Empire puts on anyone."

"Send your soldiers off tie do, that's fine, it's what they do. Though the smart thing would be to try to prevent them from doing so if you can," she says, shaking her head. "What are their weapons systems like? Any idea?"

Luke, running through the weapons on the starfighter, gave a comprehensive summary of the pros and cons of the TIE's systems. He'd spent most of his life wanting to fly them, so he was pretty talkative.

And it helped him to not dwell on exactly what kind of ship he was flying and why he hadn't ever flown one before.

"You've done your homework," Aeryn says, though she's also really not surprised by that. "They don't sounds like bad ships, they just need a bit of work. At least better shields, either in the form of systems or even just better armoring."

"A direct hit and they melt like cheap toys," Luke said with a nod. "Except for Vader's, from what I've heard. He's upgraded his toy." His mouth pressed together into a thin line. "Or else he's just so good no one's ever gotten a decent shot off. And I refuse to believe that."

"I doubt it's possible," she agrees, shaking her head. "Even the best take hits sometimes. They may be better equipped to compensate for it, but they can't avoid it all the time."

"Exactly," Luke said, taking out a target with the lasers with a grim smile. "I can see why my father liked this ship," he said, finally addressing the issue he'd been avoiding the entire run.

"For some reason I thought it suited him," she admits. At the very least, she's always going to link him with this ship.

Luke took it through a few more spins and loops. "It handles really well, but I'm more of an X-Wing person, I think," he finally decided.

"Completely understandable," Aeryn says. "And admittedly a bit reassuring given they're what you actually fly."

Luke laughed and brought the simulator back down for a landing. "Good point."

"And this will still be around if the get the urge to use it," she promises.

Luke gave her a grateful smile. "I'll use it again, then."

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Flight Club, Monday, 4 pm in the flight shed

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