Flight and Flying [Friday morning]

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

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 a slightly strained smile "I've heard from home. You might remember that last semester the flight workshop students got to come back with me to Coruscant. I've heard from the Jedi Council and they're open to having you come and visit as well."

He turned even more 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?"

[OOC: Up early for work-ness in the morning that will keep me mostly AFK until 2PDT or so Here!]

Comments

Sign In

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Collapsing-ness, yay!

Re: Sign In

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean signs in.

Re: Sign In

[twohalvesofaphd.livejournal.com]

Zack signed in.

And gulped.

Practice Run

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Before you work with your partner, get a feel for how the controls work on a run where no one's shooting at you.

You still have to wear the stupid hat, though.

Re: Practice Run

[untouchableskin.livejournal.com]

Marie has no issues wearing the stupid hat if it will keep her alive.

She looks around for a partner.


[warning! i'm on major slow play through 2p EST and then offline completely until tomorrow!]

Re: Practice Run

[saltandammo.livejournal.com]

Dean approached the simulators today with a sense of relief. The F-16s last week had been a horror show and he'd be happy if he never saw one of them again. So the fact that this wasn't an F-16, or even an Earth aircraft was enough to make Dean happy.

The fact that it was a space fighter and he'd actually enjoyed flying the spaceship two weeks ago made him if not exactly enthusiastic about today's lesson at least open minded.

Even if he did have to wear a stupid hat.

Re: Practice Run

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin gave Dean a reassuring smile. "This'll be a piece of rhyshcate," he said.

Re: Practice Run

[bridge-carson.livejournal.com]

Bridge takes the stupid hat with no questions- because, well, it's Bridge. He's a little hesitant at first, but gets better as he goes along. By the time the practice run is finished, he's feeling pretty confident.

Re: Practice Run

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Nice work," Anakin said, smiling.

Re: Practice Run

[x5-alec.livejournal.com]

Alec can deal with the hat. And the practice run goes smoothly from the get-go, though he's faintly alarmed being unable to tell which way is up.

Re: Practice Run

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"A good rule of thumb--towards the planet is down, away from the planet is up," Anakin said. "The rest of the directions don't really matter."

Re: Practice Run

[dude-its-jude.livejournal.com]

Jude was an expert at stupid hats.

He was also still having a lot of fun with this, but the idea that he might actually get to pilot something like these was making him a little more nervous. And a little more determined.

Re: Practice Run

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Nice job," Anakin praised.

Re: Practice Run

[threeweapons.livejournal.com]

Alanna somehow made it through the run, but was a faint green color. And she was still going as slowly as she could.

Re: Practice Run

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Do you need a glass of water?" Anakin asked, looking worried.

Re: Practice Run

[twohalvesofaphd.livejournal.com]

Zack made it through the practice run without crashing. Go him!

Unfortunately his trying out the weapons, suggested his aim still needed a lot of work.

Save Naboo!

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Pair up, take down the Trade Federation's droid control ship.

Watch out for the stupid droid starfighters--they'll sneak up on you.

Re: Save Naboo!

[dude-its-jude.livejournal.com]

Jude looked around for a partner. Because whee, flying!

General chatting

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

...as you do.

Talk to Anakin

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Ask about Coruscant if you'd like. Or complain about the helmets. Whatever.

Re: Talk to Anakin

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory showed up after everyone else had cleared out, a small bag and two iced coffees in hand. She tentatively poked her head in, prepared to leave if he was terribly busy.

Re: Talk to Anakin

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Hey," Anakin said, smiling.

OOC

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Quick thing about the trip to Coruscant: it'll be played through the magic of Fandom flex time, so the students'll be gone for a couple of days on Coruscant, but still be out of class that Friday afternoon.

This'll be taking place on August 18, if you feel compelled to mark your calendars.

And yes, there will be guest stars. Including Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Mwahahaha.

Re: OOC

[multiplez]

But I'll be at the beeeeeach.

Re: OOC

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

WOE! We will miiiiiiiss you!