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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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...."

"No. Stop that!" Aeryn tells her, trying to block out the noise- yes, noise.

"What?" Rory asked, mid-dance. "We don't have a radio or anything."

Yes, this is wrong, but Aeryn takes off her helmet in order to go in to complete the mission.

Rory, after hearing no more protestations from Aeryn, began to sing again.

"We were drawn from the weeds,
We were brave like soldiers...."

It's easier to repress singing when your helmet's off.

Aeryn goes ahead and does whatever it is that needs to be done to blow things up, and puts the helmet back on as she's getting back out, just in time for her to recognize the song. "GAH!"

"...flowing down - oh, hi, you're talking again!" said Rory. "Nothing really tried to kill you."

Not that she was paying copious amounts of attention, but still.

If that song gets stuck in her head... Although now she has a choice between singing the brave like soldiers song and the song about the hips and and it's not a good choice. "Thanks," she says dryly.

"You can sing now," she offered generously.

"No."

"Not even a little song? I could sing Macarthur's Park. It has a cake and rain...."

"No more singing! None," she says, and now that the control ship has gone nice and boom, she's landing really quickly.

Rory sighed, also landing. "But it makes things more fun. And entertaining!"

Anakin met them once the door opened on the flight simulator holding the box of donuts.

"...interesting run," he said finally. "The singing..."

Yeah, he couldn't come up with words to express just how much that hadn't been what he'd had in mind.

He held out the box to Rory. "Pick one." He grinned at Aeryn. "And you get two. For, um, taking out the control ship so efficiently." And not killing Rory, but he wasn't going to mention that part.

"Thank you," Aeryn says, with a glance that says You're a brave, brave man and I'm not doing that again both at the same time. And takes her doughnuts.