fandomhigh | Flight and Flying [Thursday, August 23, 3rd period]

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flight and flying

Flight and Flying [Thursday, August 23, 3rd period]

Anakin was waiting for the students on the top of the apartment building in town, leaning up against a Lambda-class Imperial shuttle.

"Welcome to the Virgo," he said with a small smile before giving them a quick rundown of the general specifications of the ship. "It's twenty meters long and is generally used to ferry soldiers or cargo back home," he said. "It's also equipped with a hyperdrive--which we will not be using--as well as two forward-facing double laser cannons, two wing-mounted double cannons, and a rear-facing double laser cannon." He met each student's eyes. "Which we will definitely not be using. We're going to do a quick swing around the system here--we won't go out as far as Pluto, but since it's not a planet any longer, I doubt it will be that offended."

He waved a hand towards the ramp. "Come aboard."

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Johnny waited for his turn, torn between staring out the windows (at space! the real thing!) and nervously waiting his turn to fly the spacecraft.

Anakin smiled over at him and waved him towards the chair. "Your reflexes are good enough," he decided.

And he'd move anything too huge out of the way himself, but he wasn't going to mention that out loud.

Johnny gave Anakin a weak smile back and took a seat in the pilot's chair. It was just like riding a motorbike, he told himself. A motorbike with a dozen other people on it, hurtling through the endless empty void of space.

He shook his head and refocused his attention on the controls. "So, 's this like the ones from the last couplea weeks?"

"Mostly," Anakin said, giving Johnny a run-through of the controls, paying especially attention to the proximity alert, which would go off if anything got too close.

"And I'm not going anywhere," he concluded. "You won't scratch the paint on the shuttle, let alone cause any larger damage."

Johnny listened carefully and nodded as Anakin explained all the controls in detail. He felt a sense of relief to know that the Jedi would be right there the whole time.

He pushed the controls forward. The ship lurched at first, but slowly lulled into a steady speed. Johny tried to pick a path that would avoid most of the larger asteroids, and managed to get the ship to swerve around an expected asteroid hiding behind another one. He was starting to ease into the controls, and driving the ship was beginning to feel pretty good.

"You're doing fine," Anakin said in a low voice, waving his hand surreptitiously so that a couple of dangerously spinning boulders spun out of their flight path.

"Thanks," Johnny said, noticing that the boulders had moved, but not what Anakin was doing behind him. "I guess you've done a whole lot of this?"

Anakin smiled. "Yeah," he said. "I do this to relax."

Anakin was very strange.

Johnny nodded. He was strange in the same kind of way, really.

"Can I get that. For me, though, 's usually an open road an' a bike instead of a spaceship."

"I used to be able to cut it a lot closer," Anakin lamented. "The shuttle is too bulky. I got used to starfighters."

Johnny looked back to get a quick glance at Anakin before focusing back on the asteroid belt. He felt comfortable enough to move the speed up a bit.

"So what's it like, bein' able to pilot a starfighter? Do you ever get concerned that space is so ... huge an' empty?"

"I prefer it," Anakin said. "People complicate things."

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Flight and Flying [Thursday, August 23, 3rd period]

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt

Re: Fly the shuttle: asteroid belt