Flight and Flying [Thursday, July 12, 3rd period]

[sith_happened]

Anakin stood in front of the door of the flight shed and waited for the workshop students to arrive, his hands tucked into the sleeves of his dark robes.

"Welcome," he said, giving them a nod. "I'm Master Skywalker, and I'll be your instructor for flight this session. I'm from a space-based culture, so my expertise is primarily in those sorts of aircraft, but we'll also be working with the way people fly on this planet. We'll begin with simulators and if you convince me of your attention to detail and your ability not to die in stupid ways, you'll eventually be allowed to fly the real things." He pointed at Rory with a soft smile. "This is Rory Gilmore, and she'll be the TA for this workshop. Rory's from this planet and time period, and she took this workshop last year and is now familiar with most of the aircraft we'll be using." His smile took a turn for the teasing. "She's mostly here to make sure I don't make you all cry with my ridiculous expectations."

That was probably more true than he'd like to admit.

He waved a hand lazily at the doors and they slid open to reveal two podracing simulators sitting side-by-side.

"All right," he said, pointing at the controls, "everything you need to fly a podracer is located on the handlebars. You push them forward to go faster, pull back to slow down, and pull one or the other towards you to turn." He pointed at the buttons in the center of the console. "That controls the engines," he said. "You push the big button to light them up, and on these two models, you can push it again for an extra burst of speed." He looked at the class. "Which burns your fuel very, very quickly, so save that until you need it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Normally, these are attached to enormous engines--6 or 7 meter long engines--but these aren't real, and the simulator won't really give you the noise that's normally associated with the podracer. But the simulator has been programmed to go very, very quickly." He pointed to the simulator on the left-hand side. "This one, properly piloted, can get up to 950 kilometers an hour. The other can get up to 900. To fly a podracer at those kinds of speed requires iron nerves and split-second reflexes."

He clasped his hands in front of him. "Today you can take a turn learning how the simulators work, then pair up to fly against each other." He gave them a slightly predatory smile. "If you choose, you can fly against me. I built the real version of this podracer," he patted the left-hand simulator, "and used it to win a race when I was nine years old. And I won't give you a head start."

Comments

Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

He's here before and after class.

Re: Talk to Anakin

[solo_sword]

Jaina wasn't sure exactly why she was here, especially when she hadn't even been able to tell Luke yet that everything was okay. But after- or maybe despite- her talk with Mara, she thought she should at least try a little.

"I leave for a couple months and you replace us with a new class?" she greeted him. "Tsk."

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

Anakin gave Jaina a genuinely pleased smile. "Well, you know, I had to move on. I have six new grandchildren now and a few second cousins. Half the school's from Tatooine."

He stopped teasing. "Welcome back."

Re: Talk to Anakin

[solo_sword]

"All pilots?" she guessed. "Thanks. I heard I didn't miss much. Aside from all my new relatives."

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

"Even the Hutts," Anakin said with a nod. "It's terrifying."

He leaned against the nearest simulator. "How was home?" he asked, watching her expression carefully.

Re: Talk to Anakin

[solo_sword]

"Interesting," she said slowly. "I got into Rogue Squadron."

Important things first.

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

Anakin beamed at her. "Really? That's wonderful news. Now I can brag about both of my relatives here being Rogues." He winked at her. "There was a girl in class today trying to use that as her name. I set her straight."

Re: Talk to Anakin

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

"Sir? Do you have a moment?" Anemone hung back nervously, looking around to make sure no one else was watching.

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

"Of course," Anakin said, looking attentive. "How can I help you?"

Re: Talk to Anakin

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

Blunt, blunt is good. Besides, teachers can keep secrets, right?

"I'm not human." Anemone winced, and almost smacked herself. There's a difference between blunt and stupid! "When you asked earlier about TheEND and symbiosis...that's why. I just didn't want to tell you with other people around. I started out human, but the scientists at Joy Division played with my DNA. I'm part Coralian now - the same as TheEND. I can hear them, and practically smell them. I was built to hunt them. That's why I could interface with TheEND so well, we were created to be partners. None of the other girls they re-built to work with TheEND even survived the process."

Anemone scuffed one foot. "They changed my reflexes, my sight, even my facial structure." Anemone tapped the receptor just under her ear. "That's why I have this, it's for the drugs I had to take. It's why I'm a little, ah, strange, sometimes. If I get too intense with the machines, just shake me, or make me go cool down. If I start acting scary, I promise I don't mean it, and I'm going to feel really stupid once I'm back to normal. Ish. Normal for me. I thought I should tell you, since it's your ships I'm flying. If you don't want me flying them, I understand. Lots of people think I'm a freak once they know." The last bit was a bit dejected. Anemone was quite used to people finding her...unnatural.

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

Anakin didn't even blink. "Of course you can fly my ships," he said quietly. "And we just strange on a different curve around here. If you start behaving in a way that I think is dangerous to the equipment or the students, I'll do something about it, but that applies to everyone else here as well."

He put some pieces together. "That was why the military was trying to get rid of you? Because you worked and the other girls didn't?"

Re: Talk to Anakin

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

"They didn't need me anymore." Anemone's face wrinkled up. "They were going to replace me with a less 'troublesome' pilot, but the other subjects kept dying before they were useful. But once the military got their hands on their stupid 'ultimate weapon', all they needed us for was one last mission. Once they had confirmation I had succeeded, I was an acceptable loss. My consolation is that the man who ordered my death was trying to destroy the whole planet, so at least I know it wasn't personal. He was just insane."

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Another ultimate weapon? Bigger than a breadbox, smaller than a moon? Bonus points if it has 'death' 'cataclysm' or 'destroy' in the name?"

Re: Talk to Anakin

[the_merriest]

Rikku walked up to Anakin nervously after class was finished. "I, uh, I kinda wanted to say thank you? For ... for, uh, helping with ... everything."

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

"It wasn't a problem at all," he replied quietly. "People were wondering...is there anyone to send cards or flowers to?"

Re: Talk to Anakin

[the_merriest]

Rikku looked away for a moment. "I ... I called Horatio this morning. His mom, his uncle, and another friend of his, they're all ... gone, too. It's a distant cousin of his who's King now. He's ... he's at the Roksilde Cathedral, and ... maybe they should send things to Horatio. He was his closest friend, I think, and ... there's really nobody else."

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

Anakin blinked. "Nobody?" he repeated. "Oh, Hamlet."

Re: Talk to Anakin

[the_merriest]

"His m-mother drank something poisoned," she said, voice wavering, dammit, stop that, "and he and the other guy, they had p-p-poisoned blades, and he ... he killed his uncle. Horatio said ... it all h-happened fast. And ..."

She stopped to squeeze her hands into fists and take a focused breath and not cry. Better. "And then Fortinsomething showed up and Horatio had to tell everyone over and over again and he sounded awful on the phone."

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

Anakin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "The poor guy," he murmured. "When's the funeral?"

Re: Talk to Anakin

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

At some point, Kawalsky hit his phone hard enough to finally receive Anakin's voicemail. Anakin didn't call him. They only knew each other in passing, through other people, so for him to call meant that something was up. He waited for Anakin to pick up the phone.

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

"Skywalker," Anakin said into his comlink as he flipped it on.

Re: Talk to Anakin

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

"Anakin, it's Kawalsky. Got your message. What's up?"

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

Anakin held in a tired sigh. "Hey," he said. "I have some bad news. Hamlet died in Denmark last week."

Re: Talk to Anakin

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

There was silence on the phone for some time before he spoke. "Damn it." Another pause. "What happened?"

Re: Talk to Anakin

[sith_happened]

"A duel," Anakin replied, sounding drained. "His uncle poisoned the tips, the cowardly bastard."