fandomhigh | Flight and Flying [Friday morning]

Anakin was leaning against the reconfigured flight simulator when the flight students arrived.

"Today we're going to do something a little different," 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. "We're going to complete an entire military mission. This planet is being slowly starved to death by the blockade set up by these donut-looking control ships and their army of droids."

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, unfortunately, is to blow it from the inside--its shields are too powerful for the starfighter's torpedos 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 against a droid army that doesn't get tired. 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, but not quite as twitchy as the Jedi starfighter. 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 pretty stupid. Watch each other's backs and you'll do fine."

He grinned. "And in case you're wondering, yeah, this was a real battle. And the exercise can be accomplished." He tossed two deeply silly-looking helmets into the flight simulator. "Those will allow you to talk to each other. Plus, they're terribly stylish."

He put his hands together in front of him. "When you successfully complete the exercise, you get a donut to make up for the ugly one you've just removed from the sky." He gave them all an excited look. "Oh, I hope to see you all on Sunday for the field trip to the Air and Space Museum, but more importantly, I've heard from home. I'd asked for permission to have an actual Jedi starfighter brought here so you could get some non-simulated flight experience."

He smiled. "They've done me one better--inviting you all to come with me to Coruscant for a few days and see how the simulated stuff measures up the real thing." He turned serious. "Of course, I'm not going to bring you all to a new planet and have you blow up because you weren't paying attention, so this week--and next, which will be an actual flying experience--I'm going to be watching your technique to see if you're ready to fly an actual starfighter."

He waved them towards the simulator. "So impress me, all right?"

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"Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," said Rory, who was totally doing flips and, through sheer luck, managing not to get shot down.

Aeryn wants to headdesk on the controls, but that would be Bad. "Rory, focus," she says. "We're blowing things up, not doing tricks."

"This is an evasive maneuver," Rory told her.

"...Yes, of course it is," says Aeryn.

"Okay, so we're supposed to shoot at the doughnut thing? Are we going to hurt stuff?" Rory wondered. "Because whatever happened to peaceful negotiations?"

Aeryn facepalms.

"Peaceful negotiations are done. They failed. Now we blow things up."

"Did we specifically talk to these people? Or just their leaders? Because sometimes people disagree," Rory said, as though Aeryn may not know this.

"It doesn't matter anymore. Now's the time for shooting things."

She shoots at an enemy ship, hitting it nicely.

"Like that."

"But what about the people?" Rory asked, dodging a little bit of blaster fire.

"First, they're simulated. Second, they're the enemy." Shooting down another ship, she adds, "Third, they don't care about us."

"How do you know there aren't two girls in two ships named...Aery and Roryn, and they're not having this exact same conversation?"

"I don't care," she says. "Just shoot at them."

"But it'd be like shooting at us!"

"This is not the time to get philosophical," she says, evading one of the fighters before continuing. "Shooting things helps more people than it hurts sometimes."

Rory tentatively shot at one of the droid fighters. "There. I shot at it."

"Next time try to hit it," she suggests.

Rory sighed and tried again. She actually hit it this time.

With one shot.

Yes. Huuuge impact there, really.

Aeryn sighs, too, for entirely different reasons. "We need to actually blow the control ship," she says. "Would you like to stay here and be evasive some more?"

"But I'm supposed to help with the blowing up thing," Rory said. "And I want a doughnut. So I'm coming too."

Aeryn knows she can't exactly wait for the slowest pilot she's ever seen, so she says, "I'll go in first. Shoot anything that tries to kill me, all right?" she asks. She figures that's the best phrasing for it.

"Okay. I'll be your wingperson!" Rory said happily. "Only, like, from back here."

She nods into her helmet and heads into the control ship, blasting one of two ships on her way.

And after a second, Rory was bored, because there wasn't really a lot of anything shooting at Aeryn yet.

So she started to sing a little song.

"I'm on tonight
You know my hips don't lie
And I'm starting to feel it's right...."