501

[Darth Banshee]

[member="Keanu Shan"]

She had design new interceptor, a ship known as the red dart. It was fast and agile ship, it also had two torpedo launchers, armed with proton torpedoes with homing devices built in. This would give it an edge, when dogfighting another ship. As it could fire them at the target, and they would home in on them with any luck. Though she need to test the designs, and for that she needed to hire a test pilot. She taken out advert for one, and waited for someone to reply to it.

 

[Keanu Shan]

[member="Dux Kotass"]
Keanu requested clearance for the corporate landing pad stating he had an appointment with Kotass. Having received authorization he lowered the old Y-wing gently on to the landing pad with ease (after all, until his recent purchase of the "Stellar Vulture" the Y-wing had been his only transportation) thus he had spent alot of hours in the old ship and was completely in-tune with every groan and creak. Green stayed with the ship as Keanu made his way to the office. He greeted the secretary "Uh... hello i have a meeting with a Dux Kotass scheduled, could you direct me please? Thanks."

 

[Darth Banshee]

[member="Keanu Shan"]

Sabrina received word that her test pilot had arrived, to try out her dart fighter. She word down to her receptionist, to send him up and to find out what he drinks. As she head down, sabrina uploaded the her contract for him to sign. In there was his fee, and a non disclosure deal. This meant he could tell anyone about her fighters, that he had tested. Thought double crossing an ex-sith lord, tends to lends enough reason not to blab in itself. As the papers printed off she looked at the window, is was bright morning and sun was shining. The smog cloud below, actually shimmered with light coming off it.

 

[Keanu Shan]

"Some frigid Ice water please" he told the receptionist. He was led to the office and made his way in. Introducing himself he held out his hand. "Keanu Shan at your service ma'am. The sooner we can get started the better...ah these are the stats? good." He noticed a long cylinder hanging from her belt. "oh... is that a ... are you, uh never mind". Keanu had heard wild tales about force users capabilities and wasnt to sure how much stock to put in them.

 

[Darth Banshee]

[member="Keanu Shan"]

She smiled and nodded, as he said oh...is that a... are you, uh never mind. He seemed to have little knowledge of her, which was possibly good thing. She then used the force to push out a seat for him, and then sat behind her maple wooden desk. She then gestured for him to sit down, and she put the contract before him. As she sipped her tea, she was trying not to get drunk or hide behind drugs anymore. She then said The document before you is a contract, you test pilot my new interceptor. Make sure it works, and make sure the targeting system are fine. In return you will be well paid, but you never breath a word of this to anyone. Do you find the terms agreeable? She waited for answer, as she wanted him to sure of what he was getting himself into. This was a contract that paid well, but had very very important string attached. If he told people what the ship could and could not do, then he would have repercussions for him.

 

[Keanu Shan]

Keanu looked in surprise at the chair moving by itself (he had never seen a display of force powers in person), and then sat down in it. "I bet that wizard stuff comes in handy in a scrape" Then he focused on the contract. He read it in completion, reading slowly, he analysed every phrase making sure thee weren't any loopholes or catches. When he finished to took up the pen "Everything looks to be in order" signing and dating the document he looked up. "Ok can we arrange for payment to go to my parents in the event of an unfortunate accident? Once we finish that I guess the next thing would be to give this thing look."

 

[Darth Banshee]

[member="Keanu Shan"]

I will do the bacs transfer know if you want? She then switched on the computer, and got up a link to her accounts. So he could tell her the details, so he could be paid straight away. She knew after that, he would not be backing out of his contract. The prototype was also being prepped for him, and armed. His mission was a simple one, go upto space and shoot a few drones. This would test the engines, and the targeting system for the new ship. If he was good she use him again on her other ship, that was almost ready for testing.

 

[Keanu Shan]

After giving her the account info Keanu stood up. "Ok I think were ready then. Lets get started. you got a prep room so i can suit up?". Keanu commed Green (his fighter astromech) requesting he meet him in the lobby with his spacesuit. "If you dont mind we can stop by the lobby to pick up my suit on the way down. by the way does this ship have an astromech, if so i would like to have him on board with me. It will help things go smoother."

 

[sabrina]

[member="Keanu Shan"]
She entered his bank details, and then sent the money to his parents account. She also added a note, it was his payment so they would know who it belonged too. So they did not spend his money, by mistake. My assistant will take you changing room, and she will bring the droid to you. When you're ready she take you the ship, I will monitor the ship from here. Also I will check with engineering, how the ship is doing. She then rose up from her seat, and said May the force be with you. She then held out her hand for him to shake it, and to let him know the time to go ship. She quite excited by this, and wished [member="Rexus Drath"] was here with her.

 

[Keanu Shan]

Shaking the offered hand Keanu added "Thanks been a pleasure doing business with ya...and may the Force be with you to." He then made his way toward the ready room. After suiting up. He followed the attendant to the hangar. Keanu fell in love with the ship as soon as he lay eyes on it. His blood quickened. THIS was a thing of beauty, it seemed to call out to him. Very few ships look fast when sitting on the ground but this one did. That long sleek dark cockpit, the sweeping red wings melded seamlessly with the body. Shaking hands with the head mechanic he asked "she ready to go? Wow... I cant get over how beautiful she is. Ok I imagine you've already done this but id like to have her chained down and do a full power run up. before we get started on the flight." With that he began to do a detailed inspection of the exterior of the aircraft, running his hand along the leading and trailing edge of the wing, the control surfaces, engine vector nozzles etc. searching for imperfections and flaws. He new that the mechanics had done this multiple times but the it was standard practice that you never fly something with out checking it out, besides it was his life on the line.

 

[Darth Banshee]

[member="Keanu Shan"]

She watched him from her office, as he checked out the ship. He was not fool, he wanted to make sure everything was battened down personally. Then he would be setting off, as he did two drones were sent up in to space. These would be for his targeting later, once he was up their. The would try and dodge him, but that was the main test of targeting systems after all. She poised drinking her tea, and wondering if this was going to work or not. Though know it was all in the hands of the force, and not her anymore.

 

[Keanu Shan]

Keanu slipped into the tight jump seat. "This thing is small" he thought. "I sure would love to have one though" . Master Power switched on, the various displays lit up the ship electronics winking to life; plugging into ship comm system he did a radio check "Comm check testing...1...2...3" "Roger, comm check..1...2...3" came the reply "Ok im gonna spool her up" . He switched on fuel systems, good; Brakes; good; Engines power, on. The engines smoothly activated whirring into motion. Quickly the whirring grew into a whistling, shriek as the shiny new engines woke for the first time. OK maybe not the first but these were its first steps, so to speak. Keanu let the engine idle for several minutes letting the engine warm up and doing a complete control surface and instrument check. He hadnt thought to have the ship chained up out side so he decided to leave the canopy open for now. If something went wrong he didnt want to eject into the ceiling. Slowly he brought the the throttle up to max the shriek grew into a shrill roar (if there was such a thing). The engines really didnt have much thrust but the ship was also very light weight so it should still clip along at a good pace. He brought the throttle back down to idle, the engines returning to there high pitched whistle. She wasnt broken in yet, infact (Keanu let this sink in for a moment) he was the first to ever fly this ship. "OK back to business" he reminded himself. Giving the signal for the ship to be unchained he closed the canopy and activated repulsors. Lifting the ship about a foot off the ground he then set her back down again. OK that worked. He lifted off the ground again and slowly floated out of the hangar into the sunlight. "OK here goes...Tower control this is Test 1 requesting permission to take-off".

 

[Darth Banshee]

To [member="Keanu Shan"], this is control tower permission to take off granted. May the force be with you. The control tower then clicked off, and made sure any traffic was diverted out of the way. Dux Kotass was watching her view screen vividly, she waited with bated breath in anticipation of what was going to happen. He had couple rones to take out up there as well, though homing torpedoes should take care of that.

 

[Keanu Shan]

"This is were the fun begins". To Keanu a fighter was a ship that would be abused and run hard, frequently, as such the tests should reflect this he thought. Suddenly he pushed the repulsors and throttle all the way to the stops while he pulled back sharply on the stick. On the view screen at control the ship would have passed from view the camera trying to regain sight picture. The force was incredible, he strained against the weight pressing him to his seat as the small craft lived up to its name sake pushing...pushing , higher as thrusters began the push for space. The first thing he noticed was that after the initial thrust the, high end, acceleration slacked off. this was partly do to the emphasis on maneuverability over speed. The thrusters had quick reaction time but not a whole lot of power to back it up. Even so, a fighter craft at full throttle takes very little time to attain orbit as the ship left the atmosphere he banked, right rotating around in a kind of corkscrew turn, pulling the stick to the right and back more with every second. Easing off the throttle for the first time he applied full reverse or brakes while pulling back on the stick all the way; even the grav generators strained as physics tried to tear the ship out of the turn, but this ship was too good for that. it turned tighter and tighter winding in on its own track. Then he let up on the stick easing the throttle to idle. The sudden lack of turning made him feel light for a moment. Then Keanu mashed to full throttle again diving for the atmosphere. It was exhilarating, but he had a good reason for all this apparent madness. She had wanted to test the ships capabilities, that's exactly what he intended to do.

 

[Keanu Shan]

The Dart plunged into the atmosphere, the throttle maxed. Keanu powered up the shield to max front to withstand the onslaught of the atmosphere, as the friction super heated the air around the hull. The altimeter was a blur, as the ship rocketed towards the surface. Keanu pulled bag on the stick lightly bringing the ship smoothly at of its headlong dive. The speed he had built up was immense but due to its aerodynamic shape it made an excellent atmospheric fighter. In atmosphere it would probably out pace more brutish designs like the Y-wing or possibly even Tie Fighters. The ship leveled out at about 700 meters, racing over the planets surface at many times the speed of sound. reducing throttle to 25% he pulled back on the stick bleeding off speed and looping the ship onto its back headed in the opposite direction about 400 meters higher. Rolling right side up he advanced throttle to 50% and opened comms "Activate combat sequence, weapons hot, I repeat weapons are hot" he hoped the drones would be a challenge evading and attempting to engage. Flipping open the Weapons Master Lock he turned the key. Unlocking missile arm he ran a diagnostics check to make sure all was well. "Ok, lets see if we can pick up targets on the passive sensors first" he wanted to try to locate them with out announcing his presence first "If his sensors couldnt pick them up he planned on activating the sensor array.

OOC: I double posted but I figured it would be ok since its a Dev Thread

 

[Darth Banshee]

She sat back in her chair, looking at [member="Keanu Shan"] as took her new ship up to space. She would soon see how it performed in battle, she was hoped it would be as good as she thought it would be. Though these test would be what prove, what it could do. Ass he sat back she took a sip of tea, and waited for the firing to begin. He already tested it flight capabilities, know all what was left was ability, to shoot straight, and fire those proton torpedoes. She wished [member="Rexus Drath"] was here to see it, but he was else where.

 

[Keanu Shan]

With passive sensors Keanu detected 2 of the 3 target drones flying in formation in orbit. Pushing the throttle forward to max he began to close the gap to the targets approaching from the least scanned sector, behind and below them. Keeping an eye out for the extra drone. he closed withing max missile range. Slowly he brought the ship closer until at optimum range, then quickly he switched on active scanning, Targets locked onto the already jinxing drones. he fired off 2 missiles at the first ship separated by a second, he then repeated the process with the second ship. Scanning he noticed a blip at extreme sensor range , the other drone was closing from behind. Keanu switched off active scanning and maxed throttle and spun the ship around to reduce closing time. Meanwhile #1 drone effectively evaded the first missile but was caught mid turn by the second missile. #2 drone was hit and destroyed by the first missile and the second missile detonated in the expanding rubble cloud. Racing towards each other the drone maintained a steady course, however Keanu was rapidly randomly jinxing to make sure the hypothetical targeting system wouldnt be able to lock on. this jinxing had a secondary purpose. Once combat was closed he would merely continue a random turn into a full turn to ensure that he could turn more rapidly to get on the targets tail. Suddenly they had rushed by each other both turning hard to engage again; however this was where the darts turning ability showed through for Keanu was also at turning speed and the drone was trying to bleed off all that extra energy. Thrusters now full reverse the Red Dart swung round easily before the drone was even at 90 degrees. Keanu again advanced throttle closing to within 20 meters, he then let loose with the dual laser cannons shredding the ship in moments pulling up to avoid the debris, Keanu let out a whoop. opening the comm channels he said simply "mission success". Keanu turned for base......

Back on the ground Keanu opened the hatch as the ground crew gathered around. Climbing down, he shook hands with the crew chief. "excellent, excellent...wow that was fun! I know shes a little warm i ran it like a banshee almost the whole way." He spent some time talking to the mechanics and admiring the ship. He wished he could take some pictures but that would probably violate the non-disclosure agreement.....

In [member="Dux Kotass"] office.
"I would be willing to take one of those ships instead of the payment" He said with a grin. "a mighty fine ship youve got, thyre are some things that could use some changes but it a pretty good ship I will submit an in-depth report before I leave"

OOC: I apologize for my writing skills if the doesnt make alot of sense, for some reason im out of it today. Anyways i have several comments to make about performance issues and different strengths and weaknesses im not sure if you wanted those here in the open or privately.

 

[Darth Banshee]

[member="Keanu Shan"]

That ship would be of no use to you, as it does not have a hyperdrive. Though if you like to try out my strike fighter prototype, we might come to a deal. She need her other ship testing as well, so she was more than happy to let him try it out. She then leaned back in her chair, and awaited his answer. He would be paid as well of course, but she need to recruit pilots for the order. He seemed like some she might be able to recruit.

 

[Keanu Shan]

"well ill fly your strike fighter but (no offense ma'am that thing is less maneuverable than my y-wing). And as far as hyperdrive goes, my home ship has a hangar so no need for one. I fyou dont mind i can get right to work testing your new fighter and well get it all done today."

 

[sabrina]

[member="Keanu Shan"]

Well then I better make some improvements to it, She replied, she then tipped her head as sign of respect. As he left the room, she asked her, engineers to make improvments.