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

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flight and flying

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

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."

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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."

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."

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

"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.

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

Important things first.

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."

She wasn't sure why she hadn't expected that reaction. She should have. The mentality of 'hi the squadron was created to fight your side' might have been a little hard to get past sometimes.

"Really?" she asked. "Why? Has our reputation spread that far?"

"You know, I didn't ask," Anakin said. "I think she was tired of her real name, maybe? Rogue's a good word. But so's, you know, Kumquat. Or Bureau. Ooooh. Or Yurt."

Jaina stared at him.

"...Yurt?"

"Collapsible tent thing," Anakin said, "but a much better word." He smiled softly. "I spend too much time with a girl who loves language."

"You're happy," she said, almost accusing, finally placing why this was so alien.

Look, it wasn't that she was dense, but how was she supposed to prepare herself for smiles and yurts, really?

"You didn't know I could smile, huh?" Anakin asked rhetorically. "It's not that interesting. Tell me about home. How's the squadron? Have you beaten any of Luke's records yet?"

"No, but I haven't run the same scenarios. I'm the youngest the squadron's seen except for Co- Gavin, so that has to count for something," she said, and shrugged. "We've seen a lot of action already. More than I really expected to this early in. But I'm still here." Someone else wasn't, but moping wasn't going to fix that any more than it had.

Anakin's forehead creased. Young pilots, no matter how talented, didn't bode especially well for the war effort.

"How's the attrition rate?" he asked quietly, taking comfort in military euphemisms. It was so much easier to say than "turnovers because of death."

"The other squadrons are getting hit harder than us," she said, giving some vague but optimistic numbers considering the conflict. And then, almost uncomfortably, "We lost my wingmate."

Anakin hissed in a breath. "I'm so sorry," he said. "How long ago? Have you flown since?"

"A couple weeks, and yeah," Jaina answered. "I had a job to do. I could always cry afterwards."

Wow, that mentality didn't take long.

Anakin's eyes were sympathetic. "As long as you got back into the cockpit. That kind of thing can rattle a pilot."

He'd lost more than a few squadrons full of clones under his command, and it had been very hard to get over.

"I have a good support system," she said. "I had to tell my family about... here, you know."

Anakin glanced up at the sky. "Should I expect to be strafed at any point?"

"I may have talked my teacher out of it but she's pretty intent on coming to see this place first chance she gets. Be warned," she said.

"I am warned," Anakin said with a small smile. "Who's your teacher?"

Jaina took a moment to debate this. On one hand, she didn't want to mess up the timeline.

On the other, he might actually need the warning, and given that there would eventually be a visit when Parents Weekend rolled around...

"Mara Jade," she said, guaging his reaction.

Anakin choked.

"WHAT?!"

Jaina did not giggle, as she has some self-control. However, that's definitely a smile, because she's not that good.

"About the reaction I expected."

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