Flight and Flying [Tuesday, June 2, 4th period]

[sith_happened]

When the students entered the flight shed (thankfully no longer smelling of bleach), they would notice a sequence of lights spread across the ceiling.

"Meet Drol," Anakin said, waving his hand. "The god of the moon of Iego, who brings destruction to all those who attempt to leave." He snorted. "In reality, Drol is a system of laser emitters programmed to track onto a ship as it hits orbit and blow it out of the sky. That same technology was later used to exterminate entire planets. We'll get to in a few classes. For today, you will be piloting a G9 Rigger freighter, which is neither sexy nor particularly speedy, but it's your first time flying in space, so you need something that can take a little beating up."

He flashed them a tiny smile. "For you beginners, you will only have to navigate around the asteroids in Iego's atmosphere. People with a little more experience will face off against Drol. Figure out how to disable the system without exploding, please."

He clasped his hands together in front of him. "Begin."

Comments

Sign in [6/2]

[sith_happened]

Drolly!

I kill me.

Re: Sign in [6/2]

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Zayne Carrick

Re: Sign in [6/2]

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

Rose Hathaway

Practice run

[sith_happened]

Get used to the ship's controls--and being out in space--before attempting the exercises.

Re: Practice run

[momslilassassin]

"This thing is old," Ben complained, wrinkling up his nose. "Like, antique."

Re: Practice run

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

"I think I like gravity," Rose said under her breath as she examined the controls, trying to figure out exactly how to get this started.

Re: Practice run

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

Zayne hadn't ever piloted a freighter like this before. But he had flown in space before. Not particularly well or anything, but still. He felt that gave him some advantage.

The way his practice run was going ruined that illusion. "At least I haven't wrecked the ship yet," he muttered.

Re: Practice run

[weetuskenraider]

"Wow," Tahiri muttered under her breath as soon as she'd climbed into the freighter (which was a while after she'd recovered from hearing Master Skywalker describe something as "sexy"), "this thing might almost be as old as the temples on Yavin."

Once she'd gotten the feel of the controls, though, she discovered that this was easier for her to handle, somehow, than last week's F-16 had been. Go figure.

Re: Practice run

[kestrelswolf.livejournal.com]

Space was... different. Which Firekeeper was thankful enough for, because different meant she didn't have the same reaction in space as she did out on the sea.

Re: Practice run

[bitten_notshy]

Jack concentrated hard on the controls as he tried to get used to the feeling of being in space.

Re: Practice run

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

"You're being clunky," Anemone practically whined at the controls. "Oh come on, you've got to have more manueverability than this. Just try!"

Someone was a wee-bit spoiled, yes.

Re: Practice run

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

Jon was used to the space bit, but frowned at the way the ship manuevered. "This thing is slower than a tel'tak. I miss the 302s."

Fly through the asteroids!

[sith_happened]

Yes, Anakin thinks this is the easier route. Various bits of space debris float past you: ships blown up by Drol, mostly, with some satellites and rocks tossed in for flavor. The way is fairly clear if you don't drift too far to the left or right. Or down.

If you're new to thinking in all dimensions, you're probably going to ding the freighter up some. The weapons are live, too, if you want to attempt shooting your way clear.

With the engines at full speed, you can get through the mess in about five minutes. If you're going slower, it'll take longer.

Sometimes a lot longer.

Re: Fly through the asteroids!

[weetuskenraider]

This wasn't the first time Tahiri had been in a situation similar to this; it was just the first time she'd been at the controls when it happened. (Okay, so last time it had been Yuuzhan Vong ships, not asteroids, but they looked pretty much the same. Close enough.)

At least I don't have Corran hyperventilating at me from the copilot's seat, she thought wryly. A third of the way or so through the route, she thought she was comfortable enough with the controls to try out the weapons systems and get herself some more breathing room.

Yes, the freighter did get dinged up thanks in part to the debris she'd vaped on the way, and it wasn't until just over seven minutes later when she was finished with the run that Tahiri realized she'd actually done . . . pretty well. Huh.

Astral. She was grinning broadly by the time she climbed back out of the sim.

Re: Fly through the asteroids!

[cataclysmicluck.livejournal.com]

A slow march through possible death in a huge freighter or risking likely death by trying to outmaneuver lasers in a slow and bulky ship? The choice seemed pretty obvious to Zayne.

It took him a bit to get really comfortable piloting a ship this big and clunky, but he did a pretty good job not wrecking the ship. He made it through in about seven minutes, which he was pretty happy with.

Re: Fly through the asteroids!

[bitten_notshy]

Jack started out going quickly -- which worked until he ground the bottom of the ship against an asteroid he swore hadn't been there a second before. He cursed in Greek, pulled back to get the ship a little higher, and resumed his flight path at a slower speed.

Re: Fly through the asteroids!

[guardianborn.livejournal.com]

By the time Rose had gotten used to the whole space thing and stopped trying to overcompensate for the sluggish response, a few minutes had passed. She pushed the engines, trying to speed up and managed to avoid the bigger pieces of debris. The freighter was pretty dinged up by the time she'd finished, but at least it hadn't exploded.

Re: Fly through the asteroids!

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

Jon wasn't about to attempt the light show in this thing, so the asteroids were a better bet.

"It's like trying to do a road course in a cargo van," he muttered as he finished.

Disable Drol!

[sith_happened]

There are various bits of debris around for you, too--ship segments and asteroids mostly--drifting away from an asteroid that seems suspiciously free of stuff in its way. It's also round and vaguely Death Star shaped. The canon, it isn't subtle. Use your tractor beam to fling some debris out to discover where Drol starts killing ships (you can't outrun the web, not that Anakin has exactly mentioned that), then disable where the laser emitters are coming from so you can fly awaaaaay.

Re: Disable Drol!

[momslilassassin]

Ben blew himself up before realizing that no, he couldn't outrun the web.

The second attempt he used the Force (while flying, not something he was really adept at) to fling a piece of shuttle out into the black and tracked Drol back to its originating asteroid. Carefully flying between asteroids--and blowing up another two times when he got too close to the web--he managed to blow up the asteroid with the ship's laser cannons.

"That was ridiculous," he said, wiping sweat from his eyes.

Make with the small talk!

[sith_happened]

Watch your fellow classmates bump into things or explode. Ahh. Fun.

Re: Make with the small talk!

[weetuskenraider]

No way was Tahiri going to ruin her good mood from her successful asteroid run by attempting to disable Drol, since she was about 99 percent certain that way lay flamey death in a billion microscopic pieces if she tried it. (The other 1 percent, for the record, involved going EV and then ignominious death by slamming into a chunk of debris.)

So once she got her boots off she just hung out near the sim, watching everybody else go through their runs and just grinning. A lot.

Talk to Anakin [6/2]

[sith_happened]

This was an experience he had during the Clone Wars. Anyone mentioning angels coming from Iego will get smacked.

Re: Talk to Anakin [6/2]

[solo_sword]

At the end of class, Jaina came by the flight shed as Thursday was just. not. happening, noting, "Well I don't get a headache from the fumes in here now..."

Talk to the TA!

[sith_happened]

Who is still alive! Who would have thought?

Re: Talk to the TA!

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

John was alive and well for the time being. He'd never run through the Drol sim, but that didn't mean he wasn't looking forward to trying.

OOC

[sith_happened]

Ah, thank you Clone Wars cartoon, for giving me new canon things to shoot at.

Re: OOC

[missed-the-gate.livejournal.com]

...like Ahsoka?