Beyond - Legends Fighting Fire-One shot (Complete)

Timeline: Sometime after episode 9. (Would that be after the nonology? Exact timeline not significant at this time.
Author: Me, of course, with an alpha read by WarmNyota (THANK YOU!)
Characters: All OCs. Main characters are Jan, also Draviticus Feth
Overview: I'm introducing Draviticus as a potential protagonist for another story. This is where he gets his start.

I'm happy to receive constructive criticism. I'm attempting to re-hone my writing ability, and my creative drive.
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Using the last of her adrenaline, Jan carefully used the repulsors to back the large fire-fighting ship into its berth. Her dream to become an elite pilot of an FFS was nearing fruition; all she had to do was score high enough to get into the advanced academy.

I don’t need fire-suppressant foam cannons she thought to herself. All I’d have to do is wring myself out over a fire. I’ve sweat so much, it would go out instantly. She couldn’t hold back her sigh as the landing struts gently took the craft’s weight.

“Nicely done,” her examiner—a male human named Broond, tapped in notes in his computer pad. He had bright green eyes, pale skin and muddy brown hair that was severely cut. “Give me just a moment here and we’ll get your score.”

She couldn’t hold back the anxious bob of her knee, nor the fresh trickle of perspiration that slid down her temple. Kriffing sweat glands.

The computer beeped as it spat out a final figure.

“Congratulations! On your FFS competency exam, you earned positive thirty-two.” The man was far too cheery in his announcement.

“Thirty-two.” Jan’s jaw gaped. “Thirty-two. Out of a hundred?” Her voice pitched alarmingly. “Thirty-kriffing-two?!”

Broond had the gall to chuckle at her as he flapped his hands in a placating fashion. “A positive thirty-two. That puts you…” he scrolled through his pad with practiced hands—he knew exactly where he wanted to go. “In the top sixty-eighth percentile. You did better than the vast majority of applicants.”

Jan’s confusion warred with her mollification. “So that’s good?”

He nodded cheerfully. “Good, but not great. That lets us know you’ve got potential, anyway.” He opened his mouth to continue, but his comm crackled. The examiner wrenched it out of his pocket and answered. “Broond here.”

“Broond?” The voice was deep, croaky, and echoed. Probably the voice of an Ithorian, speaking basic out of its two mouths simultaneously. “Broond, you have to see this. Open drone frequency Bravo Charlie six-three-three. Another applicant, named Draviticus. He has passed the turbolaser battery and he’s running plus ninety one! He’s doing things with his FFS that I’ve never seen before.”

Broond’s eyes popped wide as he bent forward to tune the holo to the frequency.

“That’s…not possible,” Jan muttered. She had lost forty-five points alone going through the turbo-laser portion of the exam and had no idea how she could have possibly dodged any more of the simulated attacks.

“Hey, I’m inclined to believe you, sister. Maybe it’s a computer glitch.” The holo sprang to life, showing the blocky FFS. Really, it was more of a cockpit connected to a barely streamlined block on massive engines with fire-suppressant foam cannons jutting out at regular intervals. “I’m going to rewind to the start of the turbolaser trial, if that’s all right.”

While not easy, the first half of the course had only seen a few points docked from her score. It was boring, in a future-endangering sort of way. Jan nodded.

Broond increased the size of the display to max, which filled the entire cockpit with pulsing blue light, crafting the turbolaser portion of the exam. The object was to rescue a simulated escape pod, trapped behind a malfunctioning or hostile atmosphere-bound starship, without taking too much simulated damage.

The applicant’s FFS came in from the left and was a few hundred meters out of range when the barrage of harmless red blasts began pouring out of the right side of the hologram. The pilot stopped—which struck Jan as odd. Moments later, she realized that the weapons fire was diffusing, giving whoever was flying time to analyze the pattern. Then, abruptly, the FFS rocketed forward, as though the pilot locked the brakes on, throttled to max, and then let the brakes go.

With slaloming movements, the FFS zipped in, somehow managing to twist around the blaster bolts. Draviticus made that space-slug dance in ways that seemed improbable. A few shots hit the ship, but most of them simply missed—victims of the pilot’s brazen approach and extremely erratic flying. Jan had no idea how he made his graceless ship move so well.

Jan saw that Draviticus had another problem. With the speed he was approaching the target, he was in real danger of plowing through the pod he was supposed to be saving. While distances were hard to gage in the holo, it seemed like a collision was inevitable when the FFS flipped a full 180 degree turn. The thrusters had to have been slammed back to maximum, but this time focused on stopping. When the insane maneuver had ended, the ship was parked extremely close to the “enemy” starship hull, in a dead area that the turbolasers couldn’t reach. The weaponry was still firing madly, launching what had to be hundreds of bolts per second, but that achieved nothing except creating a pretty red light display.

The fire ship’s tractor beam snagged the escape pod. While they were safe from enemy fire, Dreviticus took the extra minute to bring the pod inside the FFS’ hull.

Jan was impressed, but how could the ship escape the trap it had made for itself? She was about to find out because the FFS began creeping forward at a slow pace. It was so close to the enemy ship’s hull that the holo emitters couldn’t differentiate one ship from the other, the display lurched a few times. There was another anomalous graphic that the holo was projecting, little bursts of blurriness. Jan realized it had to be the fire-suppressant cannons.

“He’s hugging the ship to stay away from most of the guns,” the examiner exclaimed.

“And using the FS Cans to baffle the turbolasers that could potentially hit him,” Jan finished. “Brilliant.”

The FFS zipped away from the last streaks of simulated danger and to the second-last trial, which was a simulated atmosphere-scraper fire.

The pilot tipped his craft, cockpit down, so that it was very close, and parallel to the building it was supposed to be extinguishing. The holo struggled to show six of the eight FS Cans washing blurry goo into the flames as the FFS hovered around the structure.

Jan could only imagine how disorienting it would be to fly around a building while staring at the ground.

There was an odd quiver at the top of the building. While she watched, it happened again. The FFS was already in motion though, snapping another 180 so that the nose was pointed towards the building’s top.

“What’s happening?” Jan asked.

“Random additional challenge,” replied the examiner. “The top of the building has become unstable and is threatening to fall off.” Broond pointed at some of the structure as supports slowly bent. “These are starting to buckle. He’s supposed to—oh, there he goes. He’s using the tractor beam to stabilize the top. Oops. Too much. It’s hard to see unless you know what you’re looking for, but while he was supporting the top, he used too much power on the tractor beam. It collapsed a level or two. That’ll cost him, but not much, since it looks like the rest of the building is stable.”

Jan was dumbfounded. “How can he fly with that kind of precision? I don’t know if I could fly like that, even without using the tractor beam. Seems impossible.”

“I have no idea,” the examiner said. “But that’s what separates the good pilots from the amazing.” He glanced at her suddenly. “Er. No offense.”

Jan realized that her chances of getting in to the elite fire-fighting pilot academy were slim. She had tried her best, and no matter how much she wanted it, she might not have the level of skill that this other pilot had. She knew she didn’t have his guts…or insanity or whatever it was that drove him.

“None taken, I guess,” she muttered.

Broond gave her a reassuring grin, his green eyes flashing compassion. “He’s coming up on the free-fall test.”

The holo scrolled out a long ways, highlighting a large ship that fit with an inter-planetary cruise liner that was plummeting through the air towards the ground. Lacking the hesitation to redline the engines that Jan had, Draviticus aimed his nose at the potential disaster and raced up towards the distressed craft. It took less than a minute for the FFS to reach the cruise liner. Immediately, the FS canons reached out to spray down the damaged ship’s flaming exoskeleton. Both ships lurched as the tractor beam locked on.

“Based on his performance, I bet he’s going to get more random challen—yep. See, the testing system disabled half the FFS fire suppression cannons. He’s got to…damn, his reflexes are incredible. He’s already twisted the ship so that the greatest amount of FS Can foam hits the hot spots. Oh, they did it again. Cannons deactivated. Ship’s twisting, and max available foam spread.”

Jan felt numb inside. Her dream seemed out of reach, now. But she felt a sense of awe, too. This pilot, whoever he was, had a gift. The sheer artistry of his abilities made her respect him. She wanted to learn from him. She wanted to touch him, in the sheer hopes that she might be able to leech some of his ability by osmosis.

The examiner cleared his throat. “His docking berth is the space right next to ours. He’s a minute out, if you want to go meet him. I uh, I know I do.”

Jan’s answering smile was strained. “Me, too.”

As she headed toward the airlock, Jan let her hand run along the passageways of the FFS, resolving to try again. She felt an odd attachment to the ship—a ship that she felt like she let down, through no real fault of her own. The pair of them stood just inside the airlock, near the ramp down and watched Draviticus back his boxy FFS into its spot.

She heard an odd whine not connected to the FFS’ repulsors. Seemingly out of nowhere, a convertible, golden-hued luxury speeder careened around the corner and crashed into the front landing gear of the parking ship.

Speeder safety systems engaged, protecting the driver, but not before the golden craft spun around three times and bashed tail-first into a support pillar.

The other pilot and his Bith examiner were down their exit ramp and by the vehicle’s crushed chassis before Jan could move. Draviticus was a slender, quite short man barely coming up to Jan’s shoulder. As dark as black could be, his skin made it difficult to tell where his skin ended and his long dark hair began. It hung in thick dreadlocks tied into a tail, reaching well past his shoulders. His face was just on the wrong side of homely, with a too-large nose and a too-wide mouth.

“Sir!” Draviticus shouted in a deeper voice than Jan expected, pulling on the speeder door. “Are you all right?” He grabbed with both hands and yanked. The door fell off, though more from crash damage than strength. The only one in the vehicle was a Quarren, wearing a sea-green shimmersilk suit.

Jan jumped as Broond, her examiner came to stand next to her. “Oh shavit,” he said softly into her ear. “If that’s who I think it is, Draviticus is in trouble. He’s got a legendary temper and can hold a grudge like nobody I’ve ever heard of. This is not going to end well.”

The Quarren’s face tentacles writhed like a nest of starving serpents. “Who was driving that ship? Who pulled out in front of me?”

The petite man shifted the door so the Quarren could get out. “I was flying. But…doesn’t that sign indicate no speeders allowed in the hangar?”

“You hit me!” the Senator repeated. “Don’t you know who I am?”

“I didn’t hit you, you ran into me!” The man stepped back, stunned. “And does it really matter who you are?”

“I am Senator Graudyist, tertiary advisor to the Chancellor himself! And you will never work on Coruscant again!”

“Sir,” Draviticus’ Bith examiner said, stepping between them. “This gentlebeing has the second highest score in the elite fire-fighting pilot academy trials in the last 500 years. Surely that counts for something!”

“He will never work again, if I have anything to say about it! Never, never, never!” The Quarren lurched to his feet.

“Senator, your vehicle does not belong in here and, wait…are you intoxicated?”

The Quarren stood tall. “So what if I am? I am a Senator. What is your name, human?” Graudyist pulled a comm out.

The short male had his hands clenched into tight fists. “Draviticus Feth.”

“Tressa, take note. Dravidicus Feth is blacklisted. No jobs for him in the core worlds. Ever!”

Before anybody could react, Draviticus had shouldered his way past his examiner and had punched the Quarren in the face. As Graudyist crumped to the ground with a cry of shock, the human straddled him and began a rabid flurry of punches while screaming in rage.

“Oh dear,” was all Jan’s examiner could think to say.

One month later…

“So you’re going test again?” Draviticus asked, pushing a morsel of food around his still-full plate. It was a moderately busy restaurant, but the two of them were tucked away, alone in the corner booth.

Jan swallowed her bite. “It would be an insult to you and your instruction, if I didn’t try. How else could I thank you?” She felt so sorry for the small man. After watching him fly, Jan imagined him having a heart full of fire. His startlingly blue eyes didn’t reflect any intensity now, only sorrow.

“With the meal,” he replied as he raised a bite of food on his fork. He had a one sided smile tugging on his lips. “And by passing that exam, this time. You’re a very good pilot. My lessons just helped your natural ability shine through. Anyway, at least one of us needs to fulfil our dreams.”

Jan reached across the table and laid a hand on his, unable to speak around the lump in her throat.

He lurched a little, patted her hand with his other, and then pulled his hands free. “Sorry. I just…sorry.”

They ate in awkward silence for a while. Jan felt like she had a big rock in the pit of her stomach. She could only imagine what Draviticus was feeling.

“Any luck with your appeal?”

Draviticus dropped his fork with a clatter. “No. No other job prospects, either, aside from planetary transport pilot, but if I wanted that job, I’d have to call in every favor I’m owed. I’d rather decapitate myself with a dinner plate. Kriffing Senator Shavit-head really did follow through with his threat.” He must have realized his language got away from him. “Sorry.”

Jan waved it off. “Well, you did give him the beating of a lifetime,” she said.

He finally cracked a smile at that. “True. My one and only shining moment on Coruscant.”

“Not true,” she replied. “Your elite FFS trial will be the stuff of legends for a long time. Don’t give up flying, Drav. I watched your trial. It’s what you were born to do.”

A full smile lit his face, finally reaching his deep blue eyes. “Thank you. Truly.” With that, he stood abruptly. “I’m going to go.”

She stood too, trying to ignore his plate of half-eaten food. “Okay. Thank you for the flying lessons. You take care of yourself, and if you need anything, you comm me.” Whether he wanted it or not, she stepped in and hugged Draviticus. Despite her average height, his forehead barely reached her chin.

He reciprocated her hug with surprising strength, squeezing her tightly.

Once he let go, Dravidicus raised his eyebrows comically. “Anything?” he asked suggestively.

Jan could tell that his heart wasn’t in it; his smile was tremulous and he had taken a step back. She didn’t know how to respond to keep his forced humor up, so she gave him her best smile.

Drav’s smile intensified for a moment before he turned and walked away.

 

Excellent action and instantly likeable characters, in vintage Peri style. I absolutely hate that the pompous officious Senator was able to derail such a promising career

Dravidicus is undeniably skilled and deserves to have a job that allows that potential to show. The dynamic between he and Jan is compassionate and caring without a romantic undercurrent, although it almost feels like there could be, but that could just be me and my mush loving focus.

I look forward to seeing where Jan and Drav each end up.

 

W00t, a new Peri story! I'm finishing a chapter for a fic that's giving me trouble, so I can't read and review now, but I watched the thread and I will be back.

 

"W00t, new Peri story!" x 2!

It's cool to see a story about an important occupation that doesn't get much limelight in the SW universe. If I lived there, I'd sure feel safer having a guy like Draviticus around to put out fires and save life and property. And it's really a shame for the beings that do live there that he isn't getting the chance to do that.

He's obviously got some serious skills and keen perception/problem-solving abilities to be able to do what he did in the training run. I'm interested in learning more about him, where/how he learned to fly like that, and basically what makes him tick. It shows a lot of maturity to be able to teach someone how to do a job you really wanted but can't have. It would be like a stab in the gut each day at the reminder of it, and I admire Draviticus for helping Jan (and by extension the everyday people she could be helping in the future if she passes) despite that.

I also enjoyed watching the gamut of Jan's reactions toward Draviticus. Going from essentially feeling like he was stealing her spot in the advanced training and thus her dream, to having a grudging respect for his abilities, to being tutored by him and fully respecting him and his instruction shows a lot about what Jan is capable of. I hope it will help her pass the test, and somehow I get the feeling that Draviticus is going to take her up on her comm offer at some point.

And I have to mention that I really, really like this line: It was boring, in a future-endangering sort of way.

Great story, and I'm looking forward to further adventures with these two!

 

Yes a firefighter story with likeable characters in Jan and Drav and a senator that shouldn't be in that position at all

 

I am not sure if this is a nice thing to ask, but when I went on to check who you were - gender, location and all - I could not help to wonder if this was, in any way, inspired by the fires in Alberta taking place shortly before you wrote this. So...was it?

Other than that - just like everybody before me implied, this is not the kind of a story one sees every day. It's all about heroes and their big deeds, not little people trying to do something, anything in their life. And, I have definitely seen the sparks between Draviticus and Jan and the description of the manoueuvre was...quite cinematic, too.

That said, I wonder if Draviticus has the Force. This is not the time where he would have been hunted down for that, but this is also the time when he would not have been obliged to become a Jedi. He could have also failed a trial at Luke's Academy, given his temper. Or, why not, be aware that he's doing all these Death Star run stuff for a reason.

Too much of potential for an one-shot, IMHO. The only other problem I have with it are a couple of Earthisms, but that can be solved.

 

And the Gary Stu Takedown award goes to....!

A very well crafted tale. Great choreography, ingenious insertions of "random challenges" for students who are doing a bit too well on the course.

I did have the feel that your hero had studied the course and challenges beforehand, with the speed that he flipped the FFS (oh yes, explaining the acronym would have been helpful to this reader) when his foam jets were shut off, and stopping to look at the turbolaser battery to study the patterns; did not feel like he was making decisions on the fly.

Good descriptions of the hologrammatic picture in the cockpit, and when it could not separate the FFS from the hostile starship, melding the image. Nice one.

I don't know if it was deliberate, but the part when Broond tells Jan where Draviticus is going to be landing, if she wants to meet him, and because he wants to meet him too, started me worrying that, 'Ello, isn't this Stu business when a new character is great at everything, and adored by everyone and boom, Senator Shavit-head pops up and blows it all away!

Were you setting me up?

Very nice details all round. Very enjoyable.

 

Ok so I'm at work and the reply function isn't working. We'll do this the old fashioned way! (...wait, is this way old fashioned?)

This story was partially driven by the 5 seconds worth of coverage of fire ships in Episode 3, as well as a nod to Talon Intelligence Squadron's very own earlybird-obi-wan.

WarmNyota: I like mush too. In the future though, this one isn't going to squish the way you expect. At least, I don't think it is. The characters take over their own destinies sometimes. Thanks for reading twice!

Chyntuk: Come visit any time. Just know that you're the one that everybody blames that I'm back on here posting my crap again.

Thumper: Thanks, my friend! Draviticus is a man of several talents, but flying is his favorite (and mine). With reference to this, as well as your other communication, this story is going to morph a bit. I think I finally figured out how to fix the Senator problem. Your readership is always appreciated, thank you!

EB: Thanks for reading! You were partially responsible for this story.

Ewok Poet: Thank you very much for reading! I don't think the Ft. McMurry fires prompted the story, but subconscious minds do funny things. This wasn't meant to be a one-shot so much as a spring board for Draviticus. Jan wasn't really invited, but she came anyway. I may have just bounced 2 new characters and storylines instead of one. Would you please, via PM or reply here, let me know the Earthisms that snuck in? Feel free to leave any other suggestions too. This story is getting an edit and an eventual repost.

Sith I-5: I can completely see where you figure Drav had studied the course. Maybe he did, in an excessive fashion, even to the point of knowing which challenges could happen where. As far as the acronyms go, I had trouble working the definition into the story in an organic fashion. Storystorystory "dictionary definition", storystorystory. I'm editing this and will repost it again, so I'll see what I can do to make things less confusing. I'm glad you didn't see a Gary Stu. I do my best to avoid those like the plague. Just like clichés! ...wait... Thank you very much for reading!

 

Jedi_Perigrine

The very first instance that you write FFS, write it in full; then when you use the acronym, and I scan the previous text for any grouping of words beginning with an F and two S's, I will see it.