Flight and Flying [Friday morning]

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

The flight simulator was turned off today. Instead, sitting in front of Anakin was a gleaming swoop bike.

And the silly-looking helmets from last week's sim run.

"Today, we're going to do some real flying," Anakin said, gesturing at the bike. "To make sure that when you get to Coruscant next week, you won't freeze up with genuine controls in front of you."

He smiled. "This is a modified swoop bike made from parts from the junkyard in town. The engine at home is slightly larger and louder, which means that this one won't go quite as fast as the real thing. So this can only hit 400 kilometers an hour--the ones at home'll top out around 450, 500 if you're really pushing it." He pointed at the helmets. "Thus, protective headwear. It'll allow me to listen to where you are as you take these around the island. Do me a favor and don't buzz the students over at the beach workshop."

He gave them all a serious look. "Just because it can hit 400 klicks an hour doesn't mean you have to, of course. And spinning in a swoop is a bad idea. It messes up the internal systems and is hard to stop, which can lead to sudden collisions with cliff faces and that's bad."

He gave them a quick demonstration of the bike's controls.

"But before I let you fly this," he said, "I want to give you a quick briefing on what you'll be encountering when we get to Coruscant."

He walked over to the projection screen used in last week's mission briefing and pressed a button. A brilliantly lit planet revolved in front of them. "This is Coruscant," Anakin said. "The capital of the Galactic Republic. The center, literally, of the galaxy I come from--its coordinates on space charts are 0-0-0. It's home to a trillion beings, the seat of governmental power for more than a thousand solar systems, and where the Jedi Temple is located."

He smiled. "It's very, very, very busy. Anything you could possible want to see you can find on Coruscant." He looked at them all. "And anything you could want to buy. Do me a favor and avoid the death-stick dealers and other spice smugglers. It's just not a good idea." He zoomed in on the projection of the planet. "We'll be staying at the Jedi Temple, located in the heart of Coruscant and close to the Galactic Senate, if you want to watch a bunch of politicians yell for no apparent purpose."

Anakin yanked at his braid. "But the big appeal is that there are enough starfighters in the Temple hangar bay for everyone to be able to go up into space at once--that'll be what we do on Friday when we arrive. We'll leave on Saturday, so you'll have a chance to explore Coruscant, too." He pressed his lips together. "Again, trying to remember that buying space drugs is bad."

He spread his hands. "So, questions?"

Comments

Sign in (June 23)

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Under each other, blah, blah, blah...

Re: Sign in (June 23)

[can_be_more]

Aeryn signs in.

Re: Sign in (June 23)

[once-a-king.livejournal.com]

Peter signed in.

Questions about Coruscant?

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

What to wear, what to bring, what to order in restauraunts, what "strip club" looks like spelled out in Basic? Anakin'll answer them all.

Re: Questions about Coruscant?

[can_be_more]

"What's the weather like?" Aeryn asks. Bad enough to get caught off guard in another state, but on another planet? She's not taking chances.

Re: Questions about Coruscant?

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Depends on the moment," Anakin said. "Mostly pretty temporate, but electrical storms will swirl up out of nothing." He smiled. "There are casinos that will forbid Coruscant weather forecasters from betting if they are more than 85 percent accurate predicting the weather."

Re: Questions about Coruscant?

[once-a-king.livejournal.com]

"Might be a silly question," Peter asked. "But how, exactly, do we get there?"

Re: Questions about Coruscant?

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Not a silly question at all," Anakin said. "The Council will be sending a transport for us early on Friday morning." He made a face. "Very early. It's the Council's version of a joke. A clearing near the campsite at dawn." He shrugged. "You can sleep all the way there."

Re: Questions about Coruscant?

[chasingsnitches.livejournal.com]

"Is there a language barrier we should be aware of? I wouldn't want to insult someone unintentionally."

Re: Questions about Coruscant?

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin shook his head. "Everyone will be speaking Basic--strangely enough, it sounds exactly like English. You, um, just won't be able to read any of the signs. The alphabet is a lot different. I'm putting together a quick list of translations for you--food, drink, what it says on public transportation." He smiled. "But for the most part I'll be with you, so you don't need to worry. And if I'm not, the Temple's equipping you all with comm links so you can get in touch with me."

Re: Questions about Coruscant?

[demonbelthazor]

Bel raised his hand. "Is Padme going to be there?" he asked.

Re: Questions about Coruscant?

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Senator Amidala?" Anakin corrected. "As far as I'm aware, the Senate should be in session, so it's probable. I haven't got in touch with her staff to let her know we're coming or anything. She's a very busy woman."

Fly the swoop bike

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Strap on your stupid hat, go for an actual ride.

Saying "wheeeee!" is absolutely appropriate.

Re: Fly the swoop bike

[can_be_more]

Aeryn's not a fan of stupid hats, but knows they're necessary. Also, worth it. Though there will be no "wheeeee!"ing. None. So she straps it on in order to go for her ride.

Re: Fly the swoop bike

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

With an inward sigh, Anakin puts on the other hat. "Can you hear me?" he asked, talking into the comm.

Re: Fly the swoop bike

[demonbelthazor]

Bel got ready for his turn. Buzzing the beach actually seemed like a fun idea.

Re: Fly the swoop bike

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin's voice came through the comm equipment. "Can you hear me?"

Re: Fly the swoop bike

[lovechildblair.livejournal.com]

Blair, slightly bummed at the instruction of no spinning, pulled his hair back into a ponytail and strapped on his helmet.

[zomg so late! nephewsitting and am now in my 27th reading of Give a Mouse a Cookie.]

Re: Fly the swoop bike

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Can you hear me?" Anakin asked into the comm unit on his own deeply stupid helmet.

Re: Fly the swoop bike

[carter-i-am.livejournal.com]

Sam stood waiting for her turn, stupid hat in hand.

Re: Fly the swoop bike

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

When the swoop returned from Blair's run, Anakin made a sweeping gesture towards it. "Next," he said, smiling.

General chatting

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Because that's the fun part!

Talk to Anakin

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anything non-Coruscant related.

OOC

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

The period of OCD.

Re: OOC

[demonbelthazor]

Bel's just begging for detention, so don't be afraid to give it to him. ;)