Jedi Council Forums - The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Author's comments up 9/9+more

Jedi Council Forums » Fan Fiction » Beyond the Saga »

Post Reply | Active Topic Notification | Previous Active Topic | Next Active Topic

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 » - Previous | Next | Reload

Author	Topic: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Author's comments up 9/9+more
Stroja Registered: May '08	Date Posted: 6/13 8:37pm Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) - Date Edited: 6/13 8:44pm (2 edits total) Edited By: Stroja
	Not everybody can be a Rogue, I guess. He's found his place in an A-Wing though, and I'm sure the misfits will be entertaining. Having a Mrlssi in the story is a nice link to the X-Wing comics, too! I'd forgotten about them completely. -----signature----- Causality - A Far-future saga: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28556597 Will engage in repartee for gourmet food.
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Jedi_Perigrine Registered: Apr '08	Date Posted: 6/14 10:54am Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO)
	princess_of_naboo posted: A-wings, very interesting. I'm very curious to see where this will go. It's going a lot of places. But it would ruin the surprise if I told you in advance! Thanks for reading! darth mcclain posted: Nice update, Peri. A-wings are interesting, indeed. Keep up the good work! Thanks! I intend to! We'll see if it works out that way. Darthxan318 posted: Haha! I thought it might be something like A-wings. If only he could see Brosh’s face when he discovered what a bunch of misfits the Colonel had brought together. cackles Can't wait to see that. Nice update! I love A-wings. So sleek and streamlined... Once my wife finally lets me get that $50,000 sports car, I'm going to see how A-Wingy I can make it. So...does anybody know how to make a repulsorlift? Thanks very much for the compliments. We should briefly meet a member of Pascal's squadron in the next update. stroja posted: Not everybody can be a Rogue, I guess. He's found his place in an A-Wing though, and I'm sure the misfits will be entertaining. Having a Mrlssi in the story is a nice link to the X-Wing comics, too! I'd forgotten about them completely. Aye, not everybody wants to be Rogue either. It's just too bad that Brosh's dreams couldn't come true in that sense. But maybe it will work out for the best! I came across an image of a Mrlssi by accident on Wiki and instantly fell in love with the species. What can I say, I'm a fan of avians. Unfortunately, I've never read the X-wing comics (I suck, I know ). Someday soon though, hopefully! Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for Tuesday's post! -----signature----- TIS Rules. Check out: Soon to be continued: Choices-- http://boards.theforce.net/before_the_saga/b10475/28767048/p1 A Jedi must make a difficult choice when he runs into an old crush Odd Happenings: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=29123443&
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
VaderLVR64 Title: Fan Fic Manager in Combat Boots Registered: Feb '04	Date Posted: 6/16 5:31am Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO)
	A-Wings? Nice. I love how you're moving the story along, your pacing is wonderful. I look forward to the next post. -----signature----- If you have to choose between tears and laughter, remember that laughter burns more calories. Proud New Army Mom - off to bootcamp!
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Jedi_Perigrine Registered: Apr '08	Date Posted: 6/17 7:59am Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO)
	VaderLVR64 posted: A-Wings? Nice. I love how you're moving the story along, your pacing is wonderful. I look forward to the next post. Thanks MammaV! I appreciate your very kind words, you always make me ! Today's segment is a little shorter than most because of the way the story's divided up here. I'll make up for it by giving you a longer post on Friday! I'll shut up now. Here's the next installment! _______________________________________ Brosh completed his seventh run, feeling like he was starting to get the hang of the A-wing’s insane capabilities. Each manipulation the throttle, afterburner, pitch and yaw was starting to give him fairly predictable results. Wanting to see if he could control the ship through the rings at full velocity, he hit the reset button one more time. He focused on the first ring, then mentally reviewed the entire course. With a deep breath, he slammed the throttle to full, blasting the afterburners for two seconds, giving him an even quicker boost off the starting line. For a moment, Fang thought he was going too fast and was going to lose control, but with a minor heading correction he zipped through the second ring, well on target to skewer the third. He reactivated the afterburners again, hurtling at the fastest speed he could coax out of his A-wing. Just before he went through the third ring, he slowed slightly, yoinking the stick around for the fourth ring that was an awkward angle off to port. Once he was back on target he slammed the throttle to full again. Brosh passed through that halo, turning hard to starboard, intentionally letting his ship fishtail a little, then blasted the afterburner again, which put him right on target for the fifth ring. So it went, until he maxed the A-wing’s velocity through straightaway and past the last of the two dozen rings. During the run, Brosh never let his throttle drop below ninety five percent, and his liberal use of the afterburners kept him on target and spinout free. It was some of the most intense concentration he had ever mustered, and thick rivulets of sweat streamed down his face. It was one of the hardest things he had ever done, but beyond a doubt it was the thrill of his life. “Yeeeeah!” he cheered as he finished. That had to be a record, he thought to himself. ______________________________________ “Congratulations, Cadet. That was very impressive,” the Colonel’s voice echoed warmly through his sim’s speakers. “You’ll be pleased to know you now hold a record.” Pascal let the cadet ponder that. As most pilots who thought they had mastered the A-wing’s abilities, he suspected that Brosh figured he was on a top-ten speed board. He gave the young man a few seconds to revel with his ego. Cadets were all the same, in their own way. It really was rather cute. ____________________________________________ Cadet Fang didn’t know how anybody could possibly top his time, so when he heard that he held a record, he thought that meant he held the record. He congratulated himself thoroughly with overenthusiastic clapping, grinning like a dolt. “You’ve just cracked the top four hundred fastest times.” Pascal told him, completely ruining his celebration. The human’s jaw dropped open and his mind reeled. His hands stopped clapping instantly and he stared at nothing in particular. “Top four hundred? How is it even possible to go faster than that?” “Practice, Cadet. A lot of practice. Fly the A-wing for a decade and then you can try again. You’ll be surprised. Besides, your flying is good, but you’re still sloppy around the edges. Don’t worry, we’ll clean you up and give you the training you need so some bogey doesn’t make you starfood on your first engagement.” Disappointment threatened to eat a hole in his chest, but he tamped it down. “Yes sir,” he answered, failing to keep the dejectedness out of his voice. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Brosh. Out of the thousands and thousands of runs of all our A-wing pilots, being on a list in the top four hundred is really quite a compliment. Especially considering you’re in the cockpit for the very first time.” That cheered him up a bit. “Yes sir,” he said with more enthusiasm. “Good.” The simulator’s instruments winked out and the cover started opening. “I’m afraid it’s late and I can’t allow you to start another program. However I have asked my mate and she has allowed your presence at our evening meal. Care to join us?” “Sir, is that appropriate?” “No.” Brosh heard the smile behind the answer. “But we’re A-wing pilots. We’re fearless and more than a little crazy. We do whatever we damn well please.” “Then I’d be damn well pleased to join you for dinner, Colonel.” He couldn’t keep a delighted tone out of his voice. “Splendid. Meet me in the control room and we’ll get going.” ______________________________________ Brosh lay on his back in his bunk, hands tucked behind his head, staring at the dull sheen of chrome that made up his ceiling. It had been a most peculiar day, though he meant that in the best way possible. Dinner with Pascal and his mate Prlishr’hrrr—after many attempts to pronounce her name, she asked Brosh to call her Pearl—had a comfortable apartment one building over from the main simulator house. The meal was an interesting mixture of meat and vegetables, cooked in intensely spicy sauces. Apparently Mrlssi had insensitive taste buds, which required more seasoning in order to give anything a taste. Brosh’s tongue was still numb, many hours later. His stomach burbled angrily, as if still filled with boiling magma. Stranger still were the three who made random appearances during the course of the meal. The first two were obviously offspring. Their feathery covering was very plain compared to their father’s; grayish feathers coated their limbs rather than the brilliant green, and they had no colorful crests yet, though he saw signs of fresh feathers coming in on both youths. Pearl was colored similarly to the hatchlings, as the male Mrlssi were much more brightly plumed than the female. The two young Mrlssi walked/hopped/ran into the apartment at the beginning of dinner, announced they had eaten at school and needed to do some homework before disappearing into their rooms. It surprised Brosh that they were only 5 standard years old, yet they were fully grown and going through classes with humans and other youth approaching their teens. Apparently they matured extremely fast. The stranger visitor was a Dug who walked in as though he owned the building. Neither of Brosh’s hosts seemed surprised by his startling entrance. He paused only long enough to salute Pascal before walking on his hands to the table, hopping up on top of the table before grabbing a bowl and eating utensil with his feet. His only words were, “How hot is it today?” To which Pearl answered it was “human hot.” This in itself was surprising, since at the time, Brosh felt like he was breathing flames and his mouth was blistering. The Dug only nodded, loading up his bowl and strutted out the door on his hands after giving the human an unabashed piercing glare that seemed to carry more than a little rancor behind it. After the Dug had made his exit, the Colonel mentioned only that the strange little sentient was in his squadron and wandered through his kitchen from time to time. Of his past, Pascal had said only that he was hatched, named and raised in a human-run orphanage, which was not a reputable beginning at all, according to his Mrlssi heritage. He preferred to speak of his exploits in the cockpit, weaving only single threads of the sadness of a friend and pilot lost, with whole tapestries of excitement and implausible encounters. The end of the meal brought a somewhat tongue-cooling frozen dessert, and the story of Wedge Antilles and his disbelief at the handling capabilities of the A-wing prototype, all those years ago. “I was one of the test-pilots for the A-wing, you see? So I challenged him to a ring-race, similar to what you did earlier today,” Pascal said. “Only we didn’t have the money for simulators then, you see?” Snorts of laughter erupted suddenly, slowing the story’s telling. “I told him I’d give him a thirty second head start. He said ‘no no no, I want this to be fair!’ I insisted, he counter-insisted. Finally I gave in and we started at the same time. Wedge made it to the second ring before me, but that was when...” the Colonel doubled over in a fit of laughter, pounding his talons on the table in a human gesture. “That was when I passed him doing almost half again his speed. He was so startled that he lost control and clipped the only solid portion of the ring.” Pascal shook his head in a very avian fashion, his beak whipping around to one side, then the other very quickly as if he were trying to give himself whiplash. Brosh realized later that his eyes were tearing up from laughter and he was trying to fling those tears away. “He had somehow crushed two of his engines and twisted the other two at such an angle that no matter how he yanked on his controls he could only make minor adjustments to the diameter of the circle he would fly in. Part of the mechanism that controlled the throttle had been damaged too, so poor Wedge’s engines were stuck in circles, at full thrust!” Pascal demonstrated with a talon, making very rapid circular motions as if demonstrating the general’s flight path. Meanwhile he was laughing maniacally. “Around and around and around he went, you see!” Another spurt of guffawing. “And he couldn’t eject because he didn’t know what his ship was going to do, and he didn’t want to get fried by his own ion trail.” Brosh joined in this time, finally catching on to the humor and laughing at the Mrlssi as he chortled uncontrollably. “There wasn’t anything he could do, he just kept going in the same circles, over and over and over. I looked at his cockpit window and it was completely covered in the chunks of his last meal. I was close at hand to blast his last two engines with my lasers, once we got a ship with a powerful enough tractor beam to keep him still. The second I could, I docked with the ship while the tractor pulled Wedge in. “I’ve never run so fast in my life as I did to make it into the main docking bay in time to see Wedge miss his ladder completely and fall out of his cockpit. He was as green as Ithor. His inner ears were still spinning so fast he was too dizzy to even get up on his knees. As he lay on the ground I could even see his head wobbling—“ Pascal demonstrated by spinning his head in jerky circles. “I don’t think I’ve seen him walk in a straight line, ever since!” The Colonel sniggered to himself for a while after Brosh stopped laughing. Pearl simply smiled as though this was about the thousandth time she had heard the story. Brosh got the impression she probably hadn’t approved the first time Pascal told it, either. Shortly after that story, it was time for the human to leave. He thanked Pearl for the meal and shook the Colonel’s hand. Pascal said he would call Brosh to the simulator again the next morning to continue his education. Brosh shook his hand once more and found a cab back to his studio apartment. -----signature----- TIS Rules. Check out: Soon to be continued: Choices-- http://boards.theforce.net/before_the_saga/b10475/28767048/p1 A Jedi must make a difficult choice when he runs into an old crush Odd Happenings: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=29123443&
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
princess_of_naboo Registered: Nov '00	Date Posted: 6/17 10:38am Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/17
	Poor Wedge! I think this group is going to make Wraith Squadron look like it has Imperialistic behavior standards. -----signature----- Reports from the Corellian Conflict - updated 11/22 http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/24309725 Princess of Naboo's Drabbles - Wk 7: Han; Wk 8: Tenel Ka http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/244319
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Darth McClain Registered: Feb '00	Date Posted: 6/17 3:05pm Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/17
	princess_of_naboo posted: Poor Wedge! I think this group is going to make Wraith Squadron look like it has Imperialistic behavior standards. I second the notion! But I do like when people have fun at Wedge's expense. This Dug character should be interesting to formally meet, too. I'm looking forward to the next installation! -----signature----- Once a Talon, always a Talon Talon Intelligence Squadron: Book 2! http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28489742 Tales from the Intelligence Gala! (TIS spin-off!) http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/28600431
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Stroja Registered: May '08	Date Posted: 6/17 6:45pm Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/17
	Jedi_Perigrine posted: After the Dug had made his exit, the Colonel mentioned only that the strange little sentient was in his squadron and wandered through his kitchen from time to time. I don't know why, but the thought of some random person wandering through the kitchen from time to time made me laugh - reminds me of my college days when I would just show up at my parent's place and invite myself to dinner -----signature----- Causality - A Far-future saga: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28556597 Will engage in repartee for gourmet food.
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
VaderLVR64 Title: Fan Fic Manager in Combat Boots Registered: Feb '04	Date Posted: 6/18 6:01am Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/17
	Once again, I have to say your characters are extremely well done. Believable, complex, real people. You've got a real talent for writing, Padawan! sniff...they grow up SO fast...sniff “Practice, Cadet. A lot of practice. Fly the A-wing for a decade and then you can try again. You’ll be surprised. Besides, your flying is good, but you’re still sloppy around the edges. Don’t worry, we’ll clean you up and give you the training you need so some bogey doesn’t make you starfood on your first engagement.” Disappointment threatened to eat a hole in his chest, but he tamped it down. “Yes sir,” he answered, failing to keep the dejectedness out of his voice. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Brosh. Out of the thousands and thousands of runs of all our A-wing pilots, being on a list in the top four hundred is really quite a compliment. Especially considering you’re in the cockpit for the very first time.” That cheered him up a bit. “Yes sir,” he said with more enthusiasm. “Good.” The simulator’s instruments winked out and the cover started opening. “I’m afraid it’s late and I can’t allow you to start another program. However I have asked my mate and she has allowed your presence at our evening meal. Care to join us?” “Sir, is that appropriate?” “No.” Brosh heard the smile behind the answer. “But we’re A-wing pilots. We’re fearless and more than a little crazy. We do whatever we damn well please.” “Then I’d be damn well pleased to join you for dinner, Colonel.” He couldn’t keep a delighted tone out of his voice. Awesome! -----signature----- If you have to choose between tears and laughter, remember that laughter burns more calories. Proud New Army Mom - off to bootcamp!
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Jedi_Perigrine Registered: Apr '08	Date Posted: 6/18 8:16am Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/17 - Date Edited: 6/18 8:21am (1 edits total) Edited By: Jedi_Perigrine
	Hi Everybody! Thanks for reading! princess_of_naboo posted: Poor Wedge! I think this group is going to make Wraith Squadron look like it has Imperialistic behavior standards. Quite likely they will. It's also quite likely that anybody who knows anything about the real way flight squadrons work will cringe so much they'll start coming apart at the seams! darth mcclain posted: I don't know why, but the thought of some random person wandering through the kitchen from time to time made me laugh - reminds me of my college days when I would just show up at my parent's place and invite myself to dinner I did the same thing to my best friend's family. The only good news is I didn't hop on the table, and serve myself with my feet. vaderlvr64 posted: Once again, I have to say your characters are extremely well done. Believable, complex, real people. You've got a real talent for writing, Padawan! sniff...they grow up SO ** Thanks a lot Master! You can tell everybody you're such a good teacher that you just had to show up, bop my nose with your magic spell-checker, and POOF! Better writing. I really appreciate you all for taking the time to read and comment! Thanks so much! -----signature----- TIS Rules. Check out: Soon to be continued: Choices-- http://boards.theforce.net/before_the_saga/b10475/28767048/p1 A Jedi must make a difficult choice when he runs into an old crush Odd Happenings: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=29123443&
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Darth Muis Registered: Mar '00	Date Posted: 6/19 3:16am Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/17
	Why didn't anybody tell me this was here? Great stuff there Peri! Wonderful believable characters. I'm very impressed by your writing! I especially like the way you write Colonel Pascal with all his avian mannerisms. I'm a bit of bird nut and I must say, you're really doing a great job. Also, I'm very impressed by the way you write the differences between snubfighters and your general technical insight. That will really come in handy in Talon future... Can you put me on the PM list? Thanks! -----signature----- Talon Intelligence Squadron: Book Three! http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28952461 Tales from the Intelligence Gala! (TIS spin-off!) http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/28600431 "Once a Talon, always a Talon."
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Jedi_Perigrine Registered: Apr '08	Date Posted: 6/19 12:09pm Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/17
	Darth Muis posted: Why didn't anybody tell me this was here? Great stuff there Peri! Wonderful believable characters. I'm very impressed by your writing! I especially like the way you write Colonel Pascal with all his avian mannerisms. I'm a bit of bird nut and I must say, you're really doing a great job. Also, I'm very impressed by the way you write the differences between snubfighters and your general technical insight. That will really come in handy in Talon future... Can you put me on the PM list? Thanks! Consider yourself PM'ed! I love birds... I've had at least one for about 22 years. They all have such unique personalities, yet deep down in their hearts, they all share a lot of the same mannerisms. From a finch to a falcon, they both groom their feathers the same way (and probably at the same time of day). Thanks very much for tracking me down, Muis. I didn't want to spam all over the TIS thread. -----signature----- TIS Rules. Check out: Soon to be continued: Choices-- http://boards.theforce.net/before_the_saga/b10475/28767048/p1 A Jedi must make a difficult choice when he runs into an old crush Odd Happenings: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=29123443&
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Jedi_Perigrine Registered: Apr '08	Date Posted: 6/20 8:05am Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/17 - Date Edited: 6/20 8:08am (2 edits total) Edited By: Jedi_Perigrine
	I've got a nice, big post for you lucky buggers today! Hope you enjoy! As always, comments are welcome. So is concrit, though preferably through pm. __________________________________ A couple of weeks later, Brosh was finally in the simulators again. “As you know, today will be the first of your inter-squadron exhibition battles. I’ve done my best to divide the class equally, where skills are concerned. I will not always divide you in this manner, however, because battles are never fair. Either you have the advantage, or they do. Either way, it doesn’t matter. You fight your hardest, do the best of your ability every time and that’s all you can do to prevent yourself from turning into atomic fragments.” As always, Colonel Albanas’ lectured with the deep voice of a man who had lost a lot of friends over the years. Despite the depth of his loss and his strong emotions, he couldn’t help but drone on occasionally in monotonous fashion. “All units, check in and verify readiness,” The class was broken into two units, Orange and Green. One by one they sounded off, until it was at last Brosh’s turn. “Green Six ready.” “Let the battle begin.” As the colonel activated the simulators, he cut the communication off so that Orange and Green Squadrons couldn’t intercept the ‘enemy’s’ transmissions. Brosh’s fighter came to life as he left a simulated star destroyer, barely maintaining control of his ship as it spat him out. “Are you drunk, Six?” “Never, Five.” “Then get over here and form on my wing.” With half concentration he punched up his throttle and angled towards the rendezvous with Green Flight’s A-wings. While his hands did the flying, Brosh checked his scanners to see where the enemy was. Despite being launched from a capital ship, that ship had disappeared, leaving the blackness of space completely empty except for the six units of Green squadron. “What kept you, Six?” Vlad Posen was the second best student in Albanas’ class. For no other reason, he was chosen as flight leader. Greigh Armo was a Rodian and reported to be one of the best pilots currently enrolled in the entire A-wing academy. He had been assigned as Orange One. “Sorry Lead, I thought I saw a razorfly.” Fortunately for Brosh, the colonel didn’t count his experience outside of class. Otherwise it would have been Brosh leading Green squadron and he had zero desire to be in command. “No sign of Orange Flight. Execute container formation around Three. Makki, you know what to do.” “I’m on it, One.” Given that Green Three had experience modifying sensors, it was pre-decided that he would be the one to boost his scanners. As the other five ships formed a defensive screen around him, Makki decreased the amount of power devoted to his shields and weapons in order to boost sensor gain. “There they are. I count three blips coming in from 7 o’clock low. Can’t tell if they’re singles or doubles in very tight formation.” “Come about, Green Flight. It looks like they want a jousting match. Shields to double front.” Green Three reallocated his power resources to combat norms and the six ships fluidly switched to a triangular-shaped formation. “I’m guessing the second flight of three ships are hiding directly behind the first. Begin firing at the middle ship the second they get into range.” As the two units hurtled towards each other at thousands of kilometers per hour, Brosh finally felt his first twinge of nervousness. The computer opponents he had faced initially as he worked with Pascal were easy, but the difficulty level was continuously raised with more intelligent pilots. This was the first time he was going against non- artificial intelligence. “Fire!” The extreme distance caused a majority of shots to go wide, coming nowhere close to hitting the other ships at first. They were all firing on computer target estimates anyway. At their current distance, the human eye couldn’t make out even the orange glow of the enemy crafts’ engines. Still, one of their units was fairly accurate despite the long range. Their opponents waited just one second more to retaliate. Red bursts gleamed everywhere around them, zinging by with similar inaccuracy. Orange Flight wasn’t focused on one target. Green Flight’s was however, so their concentrated fire started slamming into the lead ship. From the great distance, Fang could see the tiny flashes as half a dozen bolts poured into the enemy A-wing. None of the shots must have penetrated the shields, since there was no explosion. “They’re using shield pairs!” Green Three shouted. “No.” Brosh countered, realizing that even if two A-wings combined their shields together they wouldn’t be able to withstand that sort of firepower. “I think they’re all sharing shields.” It was a very risky tactic that essentially crippled their ability to maneuver, since if one ship left formation they could collide with a squadron mate. However they would be able to take a great deal of incoming fire without taking damage that way. They were getting close enough to be able to see the enemy A-wings, now. “Break out, stay on target.” The six ships of Green Flight all slid free of the wedge formation, juking as they saw best to avoid the incoming fire. “Concussion missiles, just fire! Detonate manually on my mark!” Without waiting for a missile lock, everybody fired, sending six blue-plumed rockets racing towards the enemy formation. As one, Orange Squadron all maneuvered slightly, moving so that the missiles would just pass underneath them, realizing Green Flight couldn’t have managed to score any missile locks. Red beams continued to flash between the twelve ships, and the rockets had only gotten half way to the targets. “Lead, detonate?” Green Four asked nervously. “Negative.” It took Brosh half a second to see what Vlad was up to. Realizing that if all of Orange squadron was likely sharing shields, and those set to double front, an explosion from behind would decimate them. “Not yet,” Green One repeated firmly as the six friendly A-wings juked and dodged fire. “Now?” Fang saw the missiles just barely reach their targets and he detonated his at exactly the same time One did. “Now!” Four other explosions joined the first two, ripping shockwaves and shrapnel into the enemy’s flanks. “Scatter and engage!” The order to avoid fire was pointless. Orange Flight was hamstrung, with only one damaged ship left, trying to limp away. He was persistent and almost took down Green four, but the undamaged ships were easily able to finish the enemy off. Green One’s strategy had worked; they were victorious. “Interesting idea, Orange,” said the professor’s voice. “I wouldn’t recommend doing that again unless you’ve all learned how to communicate telepathically. Being able to maneuver is your greatest strength and tying yourself up in that manner isn’t a good idea. Bombing squadrons have used that tactic for a while, though. And of course the Yuuzhan Vong had some difficulties with that defense as well, but you have to keep in mind that we lost a third as many lives due to collisions than the Vong would have taken in combat. Those losses were always hard to swallow for me.” He seemed to catch himself on the verge of another lecture, so he stopped and took a breath. “I’m going to leave you in the same teams for the rest of today. Tomorrow I’m going to let the computer randomly group people. Usually that makes for some really uneven teams, but like I said before…war is never fair. “And speaking of never fair, here comes your next random simulation. Be ready for anything in three…two…one.” The screens flickered and suddenly changed. In the split second it took his brain to register that the A-wing directly in front of him was an enemy, Brosh blasted him, sending a surprisingly lifelike spurt of flames and debris into space. Before he was even sure he had finished that hostile off, Brosh slammed on the accelerator and rolled out to starboard. If he had been half a second slower, the energy beams that were fired at him from behind would have hit and he’d have been the next cloud of virtual debris. Fang checked his scanners as he flew in random directions as though he had an enemy on his tail. The moment he glanced, it looked like all twelve A-wings had been arranged in a straight line, alternating Green and Orange units. But in two seconds, the line had degenerated into a melee, with friendlies and hostiles swarming around like angry gnats. The computer was still sifting through the battle data so that Brosh couldn’t tell which enemies were still threats, and which of his allies were still in action. Fortunately, Green One was still in one piece and he rallied his troops. “All units report status!” His voice was strained, as if he were flying evasive maneuvers while trying to talk and assimilate the information from all his senses and sensors. “Green Three, chasing a bogie.” “Green Five clear. I was at the head of that mess but my tail shot past me and got away.” “Green Six here,” Brosh answered, swerving his fighter in unpredictable arcs, anxious as enemy fire came close to his hull. He did his best to not let the strain show in his voice. “I’ve got one on my tail.” Finally the computer sorted out who was who. Little numbers adorned each of the remaining Green units, making it easier to figure out where everybody was. Red blips marked out the enemy. “Six, I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine.” “Copy that, One, I’m on my way,” Brosh responded immediately, twisting his A-wing into a climbing, looping barrel roll which he terminated prematurely, coming about to starboard. Just as he finished the turn, he saw Green One heading directly for him. Vlad dropped a couple of meters giving Brosh about a second to orient in on the enemy glued to One’s tail and fill him full of deadly energy. Quickly, Fang pulled up, out of the way of the speeding debris and then dove back down, making sure he never gave his own tail a chance to make an easy kill, assuming One didn’t get him. “Sorry Six, I missed. He’s still on you. I’m coming back around.” “I got one!” Green Three shouted gleefully. “I got-“ Makki’s celebration was cut short and his comm fizzled out as he was pasted by a completely unnoticed enemy ship. “Vengeance is mine, sucker. I’m going after Three’s killer,” Green Five said, breaking off. The score was three to three. Each squadron had lost half their pilots. “Six, break starboard!” Brosh peeled right instantly, pouring on the afterburners to make his turn less predictable. The enemy’s blaster bolts passed through where Brosh would have been without the added thrust. “Damn it!” One swore. “He’s still on you. I think you’ve got Orange One, Brosh. He’s slippery!” Fang dove a slaloming left and right juke, flying for all he was worth, trying to keep from getting vaporized. Realizing there were still three enemies out there, Brosh found the missing hostile coming in behind Green One. “Look out, Vlad, bogie on your-“ There was no point in finishing his sentence. One’s scanner blip was gone. “Great,” Brosh muttered to himself, maneuvering for all he was worth. “Green Five are you done with that guy yet?” No response, no friendly dot on the sensors. To make matters worse, the third bogie was closing in on him in an angle that would give him an altogether too easy shot. Brosh faked a heading that would take him away from the newest enemy—which would have probably made more sense--then snapped hard to his right and slowed down at the apex of his turn. That slid him around just enough so that a long burst of the afterburners had his opponent angled directly in front of his crosshairs. Caught by surprise, Brosh’s three shots went unanswered, and another Orange pilot was feeding the virtual stars. Dancing around what was left of the destroyed A-wing, he only had two opponents to worry about now. Yeah, only two, he thought to himself. Let’s try to even up the odds by doing something ridiculously crazy. One of the most wizard things about the latest generation A-wing was the three hundred sixty degree swivel of his blasters. Instead of being in a mostly fixed position, the A-wing could shoot up or down. Or backwards. Brosh angled them so that they were facing directly behind him and leveled out his flight. He gave his opponents a second to level out as well, hopefully sliding into his angle of fire. Then he jammed the fire button down while slamming on the breaks and reversing thrusters. Best-case scenario would have been taking out one enemy, and being able to hone in on the tail of the second. This wasn’t the best case. One opponent did get chewed up and spat out by his blasters, but the other got clean away and was trying to reorient on Brosh. Unfortunately, Brosh’s ship crashed through the debris left behind by the other fighter. What was left of the enemy A-wing hull smashed into his port engine, severely crippling it and taking out the stabilizer. Now his ship listed heavily to starboard and it felt more like he was flying a pokey old Y-wing than the fastest ship in the fleet. His only chance was to end this dogfight quickly. He reoriented the guns to face forward. Guessing how his ship would react to a snap-one eighty, he goosed the throttle and hauled the stick over. He was almost facing the assailant for a shot, but the other A-wing was just too fast and well flown. Harmless sparks flashed out of his console and his viewscreen went dead. Brosh had just been iced. He stared at his black simulator cockpit in slack-jawed surprise. He had never been killed before in any simulation. Sure, there were some hectic moments against computer-controlled opponents while he trained with Colonel Pascal, but none of them had managed to get him before. Brosh shook his head, bringing him back in focus to hear the end of the Professor congratulating Orange One. “-ly done, Greigh, very nicely done. That quick one-eighty you pulled was perfect. Even if Brosh hadn’t damaged his engines with the insane move he pulled, he probably wouldn’t have been able to come around in time to get you. And Brosh, next time you feel the need to fly maniacally, you need to angle your guns twenty or thirty degrees up or down, then reverse your thrusters the same way, not straight back, understand what I’m saying?” “Yes sir.” That made perfect sense. As he gained or lost altitude, the enemy debris would go under or over him, hopefully preventing a similar collision. Not definitely, though. If the other pilot tried to evade and happened to pick the same direction he did, there could still be a messy explosion. Well, it was a crazy maneuver, no doubt about that! Colonel Albanas went in to a moderately pointed lecture aimed at the members of both squadrons who managed to get destroyed before they had a chance to react. “You’ve got to be ready for anything. That’s all for today, boys and girls. Hit the showers and get ready for tomorrow’s exam on Scimitar Squadron’s exploits against the Yuuzhan Vong.” The minute Brosh’s boots hit the ground as he scrambled out of his simulator, Vlad was there, slapping him on the shoulder. “You flew very well, pal.” Vlad was the tallest human Brosh had ever seen crammed into an A-wing cockpit. His skull was shaved completely bald, showing off his nice caf-colored skin. Most of the squadron agreed that if he had even an extremely short, fuzzy layer of hair, his helmet would stick up too far and he wouldn’t be able to close his cockpit. “Thanks.” “If Vlad could shoot straight, you would have won easily,” Greigh teased, joining them. “Of course I came about this close to being impaled when you hit the brakes.” The Rodian held two long blue suction cupped fingers about ten centimeters apart. “You almost got both of us.” Brosh grinned. “I’m sorry I didn’t.” Both the other sentients laughed with him. “I don’t know who was flying better, Brosh for being able to stay alive for so long, or Greigh for staying out of my crosshairs and still keep you in his sights,” Vlad said. “Definitely Greigh,” Fang answered. “Dodging and targeting is more challenging than just flying erratically.” The Rodian gave him a curious glance. “I was going to say Brosh. He made three kills with me on his back the whole time.” “Yeah, but I’m dead.” Greigh grinned widely. “That’s true! I accept the best pilot of the day award.” The two humans rolled their eyes at the Rodian’s arrogance. Together, the three pilots strolled out of the simulator room discussing tactics and maneuvers. They only had room in their brains for flying, and they were happy that way. The only thing that would have made them happier would be flying actual ships. -----signature----- TIS Rules. Check out: Soon to be continued: Choices-- http://boards.theforce.net/before_the_saga/b10475/28767048/p1 A Jedi must make a difficult choice when he runs into an old crush Odd Happenings: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=29123443&
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Thumper09 Registered: Dec '01	Date Posted: 6/20 7:31pm Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/20 - Date Edited: 6/20 8:26pm (1 edits total) Edited By: Thumper09
	Great story so far! A-wings are sweet. The ring sims brought back some fond memories of playing the X-wing computer game and dumping all of my energy into the A-wing's engines to see how fast I could get through the gates in the practice course. You've got some fascinating characters here, from Brosh to Pascal and everyone in between, and I'm looking forward to getting to know the rest of the squadron as well. The story about Wedge's not-so-glamorous flight in an A-wing was great, hee hee. He left the confused droid behind, insufficiently programmed to understand what had just happened. Brosh understood exactly how it felt. I really liked that part. Great job! -Thumper EDIT: Sorry, I knew I forgot something. You did a very nice job with the action in this last post. It flowed well and was easy to follow while still keeping the pace up. Kudos! -----signature----- "Like anything worth writing, it came inexplicably and without method." -Karen Eiffel The Way--Imperial pilot OCs, OT: http://boards.theforce.net/the_saga/b10476/28104637 OC X-wing fics: http://www.coronasquadron.com/corona.html
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Darth Muis Registered: Mar '00	Date Posted: 6/22 3:08am Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/20
	Nice update Peri! You write space combat really well. I'm impressed. Can't wait to see where this story goes! -----signature----- Talon Intelligence Squadron: Book Three! http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28952461 Tales from the Intelligence Gala! (TIS spin-off!) http://boards.theforce.net/beyond_the_saga/b10477/28600431 "Once a Talon, always a Talon."
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History
Stroja Registered: May '08	Date Posted: 6/22 2:30pm Subject: RE: The Academy: A Pilot fic. OCs, Wedge (post NJO) Updated 6/20
	Terrific action scene! Very convincing, and I really liked the intensity of him being in someone else's sights for the entire second half. -----signature----- Causality - A Far-future saga: http://boards.theforce.net/Message.aspx?topic=28556597 Will engage in repartee for gourmet food.
	Post Reply \| Quote Reply \| Active Topic Notification \| Private Message \| Post History

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 » - Previous | Next | Reload

Jedi Council Forums » Fan Fiction » Beyond the Saga »