fandomhigh | Flight & Flying [Friday, June 8, 2nd period]

Anakin was leaning against the reconfigured flight simulator when the flight students arrived, absolutely no trace of an smile--or any emotion at all, really--on his face.

"The first battle in my home galaxy in a conflict that eventually became known as the Clone Wars," he said, walking over to the television from his room and pushing a few buttons. A three-dimension projection of a world rotated in front of them, "took place on a world called Naboo." He was very proud of the way his voice didn't shake. "Today we're going to complete an entire military mission. Naboo was being slowly starved to death by a blockade set up by the Trade Federation's control ships and its army of droids." His expression hardened. "Though we didn't know it at the time, the Senator of this planet was using his home as bait to set himself up as Chancellor and gain power over the Republic. We won the battle, but lost the war."

Anakin gestured to the projection. "Working in pairs, your job will be to take off from the planet's surface, fight past the enemy's droid fighters and destroy the control ship." On the projection, the target glowed red. "The only way to destroy the ship is to blow it from the inside--its shields are too powerful for the starfighter's torpedoes to take out from space." He put his hands behind his back and paced. "You're up against a deadline as well. On the surface there's a battle taking place: your people--including the fourteen-year-old queen of the planet--against a droid army that doesn't get tired." He turned away before a profile shot of the leader in question came up on the projector. "Taking out the control ship also powers down those droids. Take too long to blow it up and you won't have a reason to go back to the planet: the enemy will have won through battle what they had been trying to achieve through blockade."

He pointed at the simulator. "You'll be flying the Naboo N-1 Starfighter," he said. "They're a little more sensitive than the F-16 from last week, and more elegant than the X-Wing, but without the engine power. And remember that once you break atmosphere, you won't be fighting gravity any longer so you don't have to yank on the controls quite as hard. The droid starfighters are faster than you are--and there are a lot of them--but they're also fairly stupid. Watch for them and the laser cannons on the control ship--and watch for each other--and you'll do fine.

"This battle was real. This exercise can be accomplished. I will not accept failure from any of you on this." He tossed two deeply silly-looking helmets into the flight simulator. "These helmets are equipped with comm units that will allow you to talk to each other."

He waved them towards the simulator. "Begin."

All That I Am - Rob Thomas

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"I see 'em," Jaina said, immediately going evasive, trying to save up her torpedoes for when she got inside.

"Puts you up on some of your classmates," Anakin muttered nastily. "Four more coming in from behind and above," he snapped.

"Relax, I've got it," she said, trying not to let him irritate her. She stayed a little on the cautious side to try and balance out the nerves Anakin was trying to lay down on her, maneuvering to dodge the shots coming at her.

Anakin frowned hard as he watched.

He frowned harder when he couldn't find anything to correct.

When a couple of the droid ships got in range of her torpedoes, Jaina fired off quick, well-aimed shots to get them out of her way, and continued toward the control ship.

"They coordinate the quad lasers with the droid ships," he warned. "One of the benefits of everyone coming from the same brain."

"Got it," Jaina said, and used that to avoid a shot from the quad lasers she otherwise might have taken. And still on her way, she attempted to hit one of the lasers to take it out.

It exploded in a shower of sparks and Anakin gave her a sharp nod.

Still paying more attention everything else around her, Jaina headed straight for the entrance ~~cuz I remember the word, yes~~ to the control ship, still not letting down her guard at all. After all, you never knew what was inside.

A whole bunch of infantry droids, as it happened. Fortunately they were very, very dumb.

"A ship!" One of them croaked. "Fire!"

"Roger, Roger!"

Really, they deserved to die.

That wasn't annoying at all. Jaina had no problem firing on them as soon as she saw them. Not that she would have anyway, but there was just something that much more satisfying about it.

Bits flew into different sections of the hanger bay in a presumably hilarious way.

"The big glowing thing's the reactor core," Anakin said. "Blow it and get the hell out."

He didn't need to tell her twice. With a couple quick, direct shots to the core, Jaina turned to head out of the control ship as soon as possible.

The sim's lights came back on and Anakin gave her a sharp nod.

It was as close as he would come to a "good job" that day.

Flight & Flying [Friday, June 8, 2nd period]

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