Cleared for takeoff, runway two-four-left

[Klesta]

Yula was grateful that neither the Kaleesh she fought on Elom, nor Elom's caves, were housing any orbalisks of any kind: her first combat sortie proved that she had enough skill to fight most of the fighter pilots of the Sith factions, which means either their pilot training standards have not improved and may, in fact, still be substandard, or she really is the second coming of Darth Vader as a dogfighter. May I never run into orbalisks ever again, or at least not until I'm strong enough for those to let me live on them, she thought. After a secret evacuation, where under cloak, her wing made their escape away from Elom, she ended up being on Maridun, where she decides to write to one of the new Sith, in hopes that said Sith will actually seize the opportunity given. She found that, in the past, Sith factions often shirked their military responsibilities and were defeated by adroit exploitation of the many military weaknesses. Then again, the same is true of the other side. And the most important of those was, without a doubt, dogfighting. Also, she would think that Sith knights and lords are too likely to turn down the opportunity to learn piloting, so Yula would think that training an acolyte-level Sith would be a better proposition.

-----------------------------------

Dear [member="Satia"],

You have probably realized that the Sith around are highly reluctant to embrace the opportunities that space provides, and that many, if not most, of the current crop of Sith, prefer to fight on the ground. Remember, the Sith are locked into a centuries-long stalemate because they were blinded by the weaknesses of their own military doctrine. By contrast, the Jedi seem to be much more readily willing to use and pilot starfighters to hunt down Sith. Darth Vader showed that the Force-tools of piloting were, well, alignment-independent: he was able to use those pretty equally regardless of which side of the Force he drew on. Also, there is nothing more satisfying than having a skill that allows you to break a chain, like piloting.

P.S.: With that said and done, I have to say that you might want to give a chance to the starfighter corps of whichever Sith faction you are in, if any: you might find yourself wielding a significant amount of power over said corps even as an acolyte.

Yula Knezevic

-----------------------------------

 

[Poe]

​Concluding my daily training regiment, I found myself to be more connected to the Force; and subsequently the Darkside. I was, though not wholly concerned, still Masterles but there were a couple of prospects lined up; and even one willingly to teach me a few tricks he believed what ever Master plucked me could not. In the meantime, I had put together a special itinerary that I would follow, such as this morning training session, without flaw. Gathering my belongings, I headed toward the Temple where I would freshen up and see what manner of mischief I could conjure up, when my datapad pinged from within my satchel. I opened my private holomail and read:

​----------------------

Dear Satia,

You have probably realized that the Sith around are highly reluctant to embrace the opportunities that space provides, and that many, if not most, of the current crop of Sith, prefer to fight on the ground. Remember, the Sith are locked into a centuries-long stalemate because they were blinded by the weaknesses of their own military doctrine. By contrast, the Jedi seem to be much more readily willing to use and pilot starfighters to hunt down Sith. Darth Vader showed that the Force-tools of piloting were, well, alignment-independent: he was able to use those pretty equally regardless of which side of the Force he drew on. Also, there is nothing more satisfying than having a skill that allows you to break a chain, like piloting.

P.S.: With that said and done, I have to say that you might want to give a chance to the starfighter corps of whichever Sith faction you are in, if any: you might find yourself wielding a significant amount of power over said corps even as an acolyte.

Yula Knezevic

​-------------------


​I remained rooted in my spot, contemplating the offer. The ideological bulb never flashed to alert me to seek out a skill in piloting. I had no qualms about flying, and it would be beneficial, as this Yula Knezevic pointed out, to learn it now rather than later. I always viewed myself to be a different breed of Sith, and learning to master piloting would certainly set me apart from them; perhaps even raise the standards for future generation of Sith. I quickly began typing a response:

​-----------------------------------

​Dear Yula Knezevic,

​I have thought about your offer and I accept. I need to shower up and grab a bite to eat. Send time and location. Thank you for considering me.

​~S~

​-------------------


​I hit the send button, then doubled-timed it back to my quarters.



[member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

So [member="Satia"] accepted Yula's offer... while, of course, what today's elite among the Resurgent Empire's starfighter forces represented would not be representative of tomorrow's, in other factions, especially the Alliance and the First Order, they would be simply regulars. And... Yula! She might have scored three kills back on Elom, she knew better than to think that she was the second coming of Vader. Piloting is as much a mental game as it is a game of dexterity or one of fortitude, she thought, even though she knew the benefits of playing such games were indirect at best. Then again, she knew both Jedi and Sith travel around the galaxy these days, but not everyone had the desire or ability to pilot. However, for those that did, that was a chain to break, even though they may sometimes end up renting ships, especially at the beginning of their lives as a Sith. She would respond back to the eager Sith acolyte, knowing that there were very few Sith capable of training other dark-siders in piloting and even less among those who flew starfighter combat sorties, let alone scored kills in dogfights, and those that did, could afford to be picky. Oftentimes Sith considered piloting as an activity best left to NFU inferiors, and Yula had a chance to actually act based on her principles.

------------------------------------

Dear Satia,

I am most pleased with your acceptance of the offer. I'm expected to stay on Maridun for the next few days, perhaps even a week or two, so meet me at Maridun Airbase in three days at 1000 hours.

Yula

------------------------------------

 

[Poe]

​I spent the better half of a day doing research on the planet, it wasn't that I didn't trust this unknown woman to teach me the ways of piloting; I was sort of a historian and lore keeper and whatever I could discover about this planet now, I could add to the Ascendancy archives, and complete the entry after my return. With task completed, I next 'rented' a starship that I hoped would survive the trip. Being an Acolyte and an untested pilot, for now, the ship's presented to me from the docking bay officers were less than desirable; but I couldn't be picky or argumentative with a rendezvous deadline looming ahead.

​My final destination before heading to Maridun was my personal quarters where I packed enough supplies and fact recording devices for the trip. I filled up my satchel with several recording datapads, because at the conclusion of my training I planned to hang about learning all I could about Maridun so my earlier entry would be completed to the best of my knowledge. I made a last check to ensure I had everything I needed, when satisfied that I had, I headed to the docking bay to retrieve my ship.

​When I drew closer to the planet, I sent a message to Yula notifying of my eta. By my calculations, I would arrive earlier than we planned; which suited me find. Free time was protective time. Landing at the airbase, I was given a datacard that contained the location I was staying at. This Yula woman was most prepared. Also on the datacard, she had taken the liberty to lay out her itinerary; with most if not all the pilot lingo and terms where lost on me; for now.

​On the third day at approximately 0930 hours, I arrived at the meeting site; eager and ready to begin. I felt a new sensation wash over me, one of I had never felt before. This was, I knew, going to be a fun and interesting few days.



[member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

"I'll be on a training run with a Sith pilot today"

"What do you mean, Yula, you're training Sith pilots?" Daisy asked Yula before Satia arrived to the main hangar, with a tone that had a hint of anger in it. "How are you going to explain that to the headquarters?"

"The Sith factions are fighting each other, but neither of those factions at war appear as options on any Commonwealth background check, so all I did was to claim that she was unaffiliated at least to our eyes. True, HQ seems to be a little wary of Force-users, but there's no way in Malachor that Jedi would come to us to ask for piloting training"

Maridun Airbase was built at the location of a Confederate outpost dating all the way back to the Clone Wars. Their conversation was over with [member="Satia"] arriving on site. And with Yula's two-seater Yutan stealth fighter-bomber, loaded with dummy rounds in the bomb bay and blanks in the belt-fed magazine, being prepared for a training run, she was training a Sith pilot, not unlike what she did for Manah (although Manah received no weapons training) just before. Ugh, orbalisks! Hopefully there won't be orbalisks around these parts: the last thing I want is orbalisks latching on to our craft and forcing us to land prematurely because of that, she thought. While, of course, Yula is going to be seated at the back, Satia would be at the front, wearing the standard-issue flight suit for training fighter pilots, and so would Yula, too. Now that the two dark-siders are about to take their positions and securely fasten their harnesses, they review critical instructions:

"I'm Yula. Now, before we take off, let's review the instrument panels and the other controls: on this craft, the left one is for navigation, the center one is for targeting, the right one is the systems display and the bottom one contains the attitude, airspeed indicator and altimeter below the targeting display. The throttle lever is on the left, and the control stick is in the center, with the trigger to fire, the red button on the stick's left to fire ordnance and the button on the stick's right to lock on to a target for ordnance. Also, for takeoff sequence, pay close attention to the pitch until you've reached an altitude higher than the largest dimension of the craft"

 

[Poe]

​Donning the flight suit, I entered the ship immediately adjusting the seat to conform to my long legs. Being six foot-four has it's advantages but it has disadvantages too. In the future when I obtain my own personal fighter, adjustments will be needed for sure. Next, I fastened the chair's buckles across my frame then looked at the panel as my trainer spoke. I flew in shuttle cockpits before, but never really paid much attention to the layout. Before she explained what I was looking at, this seemed all confusing to me; but now with her thorough explanation I slowly began to understand.

​"Forgive me, what is a pitch?" ​I hoped my trainer was a patient one, because she was in fact dealing with a newbie here. However, to my credit I was a fast learner. Putting my hand on the throttle, I allowed my hand and it to become familiar with one another. Outside the viewport, a small gathering of people where watching, and I could only imagine what they were thinking and commenting to one another.


[member="Yula Knezevic"]

 

[Klesta]

"Pitch is one of the three principal maneuvering axes of a craft. It moves the nose up and down, while yaw moves the nose left and right and roll causes the craft to bank in the direction you make it turn"

[member="Satia"] truly was new to the business of flying and, unfortunately, the Sith Ascendancy's databanks have little information on the topic. But now that she thought about it, on craft that can land on planetary surfaces, it's much easier to recover from a stall because the repulsorlift would then activate if the craft stalls. However, Satia was lucky in a sense: she was learning from Yula, who could have been in command of the entire Sith Ascendancy Starfighter Corps (or its equivalent among the Resurgent Empire) were it not for her treason of the Sith Order. Yula powers up the engines, and then remains floating because she wants the student to take the craft out of the base. Hopefully Satia won't tame us through an orbalisk-filled locale; I'm not willing to live through such an ordeal again, she thought, while nervously watching for whether Satia will lead the craft to a crash or not. True, usually flight school for aspiring pilots in non-Sith factions usually lasts for months, but here it was to be accelerated to a few days.

"With that said, the takeoff sequence is usually as follows: you use the repulsorlift to move the craft until you're clear of the docking bay, landing pad, hangar or what parking space there is for the craft, and then you may attempt to accelerate beyond docking speed, to turn, climb, or any combination of the above"