Fandom High School

Students in Jaina's class would have received an email this morning canceling class thanks to everything going on. But in case anyone missed it, there was a sign on the door to the flight shed stating the same:

Class is canceled today. Stay unattacked, will you?

Meet at the rocky bits for your final next week.

Because she was always thinking ahead like that. It was a good thing class was out today, anyway; a halfway-powerless Jaina was a cranky Jaina, and you add in that stench and it wouldn't have been fun for anybody.

[Whee! Free day! Jaina is around for first period if anyone needs her, though.]

It was back in the Danger Shop today, where the students would find themselves on the bridge of a certain ship instead of looking at a sim. Jaina just hoped she could hold their attention before they started looking around. "So I went home last week, which got me a chance to pick up some new stuff, which is why you're here. This is a ship near and dear to me, called Trickster. Not its original name, but it's the name I gave it and it suits it much better. It's a frigate, a long-range reconnaissance ship, 150 meters long, so it's smaller than most ships of its kind. It's made of yorik coral and is a living ship, meaning if you don't take care of it, it will die and then where will you be?" she said. If she was being careful not to use the name of the species they'd stolen this from, well. "The version you're seeing of it is also post-modifications because of that. When I first got it, you had to fly with a cognition hood, for instance, which isn't very handy for most pilots. It's been refitted with more typical controls and a communications system, and so it's slightly more user friendly now.

"So today for class, you get to play on the ship. It's Thanksgiving week, I know most of you probably don't care, so you can take turns trying to pilot her, or you can go digging around and explore some," she told them. "Just, be careful if you're looking too closely into what might pass as controls. I take no responsibility for anything you might end up covered in." Said she who'd been covered in more ship bodily fluids than she ever cared to discuss.

When Jaina figured out she still felt just as restless as she had yesterday, and then she heard radio, she figured she should maybe rethink today's class. Rather than making them learn something that might frustrate anyone, she'd just let them choose their own comfort level. "I'm going to take a wild guess and say most of you probably have some energy to burn off. So today we're going to have a bit of a refresher class. Choose a ship we've covered, and I don't care if you just want to redo a simulation you've done before to get some extra practice, or if you just want to blow something to bits. Sometimes that's cathartic.

"Oh," Jaina added, "and if I see anyone doing more than making googly-eyes at each other in my class, I have a water pistol and I will hose you down."

"Hey, guys," Jaina greeted the class when everyone had shown up. "We're going to be changing things up a little for you guys today. I know most of you have experience with X-wings, and if you don't, don't worry. But we're not going to be flying them today. You're going to be flying against them."

She activated the projection of this week's ship, and continued, "This is a clawcraft. It's originally an Imperial design, now best known as Chiss ships. No, you're not expected to know who the Chiss are. They look a little different than you're probably used to. They're built with some impressive shielding, which protects the pilot in the cockpit, and the way they're built means they can manueuver really well. I've been shot down in an X-wing by a few of these; they're good ships." And she could actually say this like it was nothing, go her. "I also have to add the disclaimer that while I have a lot of experience flying against and alongside these, it's one of the few I think I haven't flown, because some people won't let you take their ships out for a joyride no matter how nicely you ask."

She adjusted the the projection to show an X-wing to those who might not know. "You're going to be dogfighting today, which means you're in the clawcraft going head to head with the X-wing. The objective's simple: blow them up, don't get blown up yourself. If there are no questions, let's get the first person in."

Jaina had handwavily sent the students notice to come meet in the Danger Shop today, throwing off her entire mental schedule for the class but know what, she was just going to have to deal. Considering the room was done up to look like the interior of a Star Destroyer when they got there, she figured they would be okay with that.

( *insert Imperial March here* )

"So," Jaina greeted the class, if that was really considered a greeting, "I hope you were all paying attention last week, because you know those ships attacking you? You get to fly one today."

Showing them the holographic display of the ship, she continued, "This is a TIE fighter. It's an Imperial starfighter, and while they definitely have limitations, they can do a good bit of damage. They don't have shields, so you're going to take more damage if you get hit. They don't have a hyperdrive, so you can't jump to another system or follow an enemy or jump away if you need to escape. They don't have life support systems, which should be self-explanatory. If you get hit too bad to go on in one of these, you're pretty much stuck. But they're fast, and they're light and maneuverable.

"Good thing, too, because you're going to be running an asteroid belt today. This was a real run in the Dubrillion System, a competition run by a friend," Jaina said, keeping it vague. She was the leader in it, too, but she wasn't the type to brag about that sort of thing. "Your job is simply to get through the asteroids for as long as possible with your weapons disabled. When you get hit too hard to go on- and you will at some point- you're out. Whoever stays in the longest gets... well, you get bragging rights."

Jaina was standing in front of the flight shed's simulator when the class arrived, a holoprojector set up next to her. When everyone had finally showed, she said, "Welcome back. And your reward for showing up again today is that you're actually going to get into the sim today. Most of you don't have experience with the kind of craft we're dealing with in this class- and before anyone gets offended that they've flown this or that, there may be idiosyncrasies between things from my galaxy and yours, that's all." She knew how pilot egos could be. "And because of that we're starting a little slow, with a passenger transport."

( more talky lecture )