Beat by a..... Oh Hello!

[Judah Lesan]

Sim scores... it was how every hotshot pilot competed with each other. They were the ever important numbers which separated the ones that would likely survive, and the ones that would likely get shot down. Ric had been putting up good scores all week in his qualifiers, and for the most part, coming out on top. Ric liked coming out on top. The exams were what separated him from actually getting behind an X-wing with the "Angels," or getting stuck behind a desk, or worse, getting put in as a convoy pilot. Ric had to qualify! He wasn't just competing with those around him, but he was competing for what he wanted most.

This simulation was pretty straight forward. Most had been games, fly through the ring, collect the most coins type stuff. They were designed to test response time, and piloting skills in situations that had little stress to them. Today's routine though was a full on battle simulation. The objective was three fold. Obviously the first two were survive and kill as many TIEs as they could. The final objective was to protect a stalled capitol ship from being blown out of the stars. This was going to test responses under high stress, and high pressure situations. For the Corellian this wasn't going to be too hard.

Weaving in and out of enemy TIE's, taking shots when he needed to, Ric was putting up a pretty decent score yet again. The beauty about this particular sim was that everyone was running it, but not together. The wingmen were all computer controlled, and took hits based on whether, as a pilot, one could work with a team or not. All of it was tested.

A defensive position was taken around the capitol ship, and Ric orchestrated a pretty good zone system where each fighter took care of the combatants that entered their area. Ric could have been more aggressive perhaps, but the goal was to protect the ship before it was to rack up kills. There were still plenty of kills to rack up though. Three TIEs came at him head, easy pickings. Rolling right he took out another set of three. Back left, and then forward, Ric continued the dance until the time on the simulation ended.

Hopping out of the Sim, Ric ran to the main monitor where the scores would be displayed soon. The Corellian felt pretty good about his chances to hit the top of the pile yet again. Watching as the names and scores lit up from the bottom up, his face did its best to hide the disappointment he felt at coming in second. Ric was beat out, and by....

"Glitz... who the hell is Glitz!?"

[member="Tela Uolmi"]

 

[Tela Uolmi]

Heaving herself out of the sim cockpit, she loosed the collar of her flight jumper, zipped down the torso about halfway, and fished within, pulling out a mangled packet of gum. Within a few seconds, a stick of the stuff was divested of its wrapper and crammed into her mouth, the closed-mouth chewing accompanied by some semblance of a poodoo-eating grin in secretive response to the quasi-silence-splitting exclamation that took her name in vain twice.

The mangled packet was shoved back in some inner pocket, the wrapper folded up with idle near-perfection and stuffed into a trouser pocket of the ghastly orange jumper before she moseyed up to the scoreboard, glancing sidelong at the other guy when she came to a stop, 'Could be worse. I could suck and beat your ass,' between chews before tilting her head to the scoreboard, confirming her placement, and wandering off, hands in pockets, towards the exit.

[member="Ric Ardellian"]

 

[Judah Lesan]

Ric heard the voice, and clearly knew from the get go it belonged to a female. Part of him was incredulous he got beat by a girl, and the other part found it interesting. He didn't mind it when a woman came out on top from time to time. There was some kind of Corellian quip coming to his tongue, but the moment he turned to look at this "Glitz," it was gone. She was feisty, a redhead, and by the looks of her hair cut, she meant every bit of whatever attitude she was giving too. She wasn't messing around.

Eyes dipped below her waist as she walked off. Even with the god awful orange of the flight suits they had to wear, Ric could tell she had a nice ass. Boy would he like to get his hands on those cheeks. He'd likely have to eat a large piece of humble pie, but the cocky Corellian was pretty sure the reward would be well worth it. She was getting away fast, and Ric started to chase after her, but then he heard his name.

"Ardellian!"

It was Fisk. Ric stopped in his tracks and turned to face the officer.

"Nice work on that sim. Seems like that's the last one you needed for your qualifiers. I'll be passing these scores on to your C.O. Expect to get your flight assignment by the weekend."

Grabbing the certification from Fisk, Ric offered a quick salute as he was dismissed. His legs carried him as fast they could to catch up to the exit were Glitz had just passed through. If he let her get to far ahead of him, she'd be long gone and force only knew when he'd run into her again. Hands pushed on the panic bar to open the manual door so fast, Ric didn't notice the pilot on the other side. He knocked the rookie over onto their backside. Ric made a quick side step, turned and walked backwards a few steps as he mouthed an apology. Turning to chase after the redhead once more, Ric barely avoided a head on crash with another pilot. A bit breathless, Ric finally caught up to Glitz, called out.

"Hey Glitz, wait up," he said catching his breath. "That was pretty nice flying to get a score like that... and my last sim to qualify. Shenanigans is having a two for one night, ladies drink for free with accompanying male purchase... and if you like karaoke... well tonight is the night. Interested?"

[member="Tela Uolmi"]

 

[Tela Uolmi]

She didn't turn, just kept meandering along, chewing the cud that was her regular stick or two of gum. She'd hear the scuffle of his harried attempt to catch up with her, which made her lips curl in a half of bemusement, 'Hey.' Out of breath already? That couldn't bode well. She pulled one hand out and fished within her jacket, producing the current packet of gum and holding it sideways out to him.

It was what she did instead of cigarras, 'Gum?', and after escaping the filth of Kessel and breathing fresh clean air on a few worlds, it'd been enough to make her quit, cold turkey. She'd gotten into a hell of a lot of fights at first, the withdrawal being particularly nasty, but she was strong-willed with some things, stubborn. She listened to him talk and resumed chewing, 'Interested? Sure. I got a pretty good parody of that one song...'

She spat the ball of gum into a trash receptacle as they wandered past, ''Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but let's get drunk and you can try to lay me'... and that's it.' One corner of her mouth upturned in some semblance of a grin and she glanced sidelong at Trix, 'Some dumb grunt tried that one on me, my first night here.'

[member="Ric Ardellian"]

 

[Judah Lesan]

Ric took the gum but wasn't sure he was gonna pop it in his mouth just yet. He was gonna go to the bar with or without Tela, so gum now would be a waste. He nodded a thanks. She was pretty for sure, but her spunk kept Ric following when clearly she was broadcasting that ther was no way she was going to be some quick pick up. Just because Ric's reputation was that of a one night guy, didn't always mean when he asked a girl to drinks he was trying to get laid. Well, okay, most of the time, but he also knew when to play it cool.

"Now you're just putting words in my mouth sweet heart. Besides, I prefer it when drunk isn't involved. I like remembering the night, and how I woke wherever I wake up."

Ric smirked. He was a cocky Corellian, but he wasn't so cocky that he didn't know when to stop. Though some women were hard to read. There were those who wanted a guy to keep trying and those who only seemed like. Ric had gotten to be fairly adept at reading the clues, but he didn't always get it right.

"Pretty sure I said drink, by the way, and I'm not dumb enough to assume that getting you drunk is gonna work. I can be perfectly fine with a drink or two, some karaoke, and calling it a night. If you happen to want to have sex with me after, well that works too. Just call it me trying to make up for being such a sore loser back there. They got the best burnt end sandwich around too... like a little bit of what's left of Corellia."

They were about two blocks from the pub at this point, and headed in that direction. Sure the thought had occurred to Ric he was the dumb grunt she referred to, but he'd rather not go there. He turned toward the door when they walked passed the bar and held it open, looking her way as he did.

"Comin in with me?"

[member="Tela Uolmi"]