Faction Flying Inverted [RTL + Friends]

[Ishana Pavanos]

IMPERIAL + PILOT
RIMWARD TRADE LEAGUE
X A G O B A H


​

What a spot, Ishana thought to herself as she stood on the deck of what felt like an antiquated surface ship. Xagobah wouldn't give the Rimward Trade League anything more than that a few of them to practice with. It was going to have to do, no matter how many strings got pulled. Which was just fine for her as she watched the rookies attempt their landings on the ship's deck. Ishana had requested a unique suit for the job, while she might be helping a group that had more association with the Rebel Underground than one could shake a stick at. The Balmorran figured to include a bit of Imperial black into her suit. The pilots today would be training under more unique circumstances than was usual, newly delivered X-Wings courtesy of Primo Victorian made the situation all the more strange to her.

"You owe me one helluva cigar, Bloodborn," remarked Ishana as she observed the landings, as one by one, the pilots landed on the deck. "But damn does it feel good to be back doing this again."

Pilots from around the Rimward Trade League and in systems bordering the nation were all invited to participate today. Of course, right after they were notified that a non-disclosure agreement would have to be signed, those who wished were offered the chance to join the RTL's service. Officially as part of the defense force. Unofficially they were all preparing for a massive operation that would be undertaken sooner rather than later. "I understand we're supposed to break every single one of these rookies into a pilot, and hope that when we launch this thing, they won't die at first laser cannon to the canopy, am I gettin' that?"

Ishana's face grimaced at the notion and watched as a poor pilot nearly splattered themselves on the deck of the ship. "Shit."

"Let's hope we have enough instructors, otherwise... " Another close call happened on deck, with the recovery somehow sloppier than the last, "it's going to be a long day."

Kurayami Bloodborn | Rhiza Dural | Mig Gred | Liam Sedaire








​

 

[Vaux Gred]

Vaux smiled a bit as the blood red Tal'galaar dipped into atmosphere. An excuse to do... well anything other than sit around Tanaab? Yes. She'd even stand her brother reaching out to offer some pilots as instructors, which lead to why she was here. She'd be helping train some rookies. Well this brought back memories for sure. Her clan drifting system to system and needing anyone they could get a hold of. Now though, she could maybe teach a thing or two to these pilots.

As she spotted the surface vessel, she couldn't help herself. The Mandalorian dove a bit lowing and blazed by before turning and landing the larger, X-Wing based craft. She'd then jump out, all her weapons with her: her Trayc'kal, Electro-Whip, Bando Gora, and the Flare. Did she actually need any of this? Most likely not. This was training after all. But she wouldn't go anywhere with here weapons, including her two close range trophies. Her droid VK would follow, rolling behind as Vaux approached Ishana Pavanos .

"Hope I'm not late. Vaux Gred, but my callsign's C.T. Ner tat (My brother) said something about being an instructor today?"

Kurayami Bloodborn Rhiza Dural Liam Sedaire

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

RIMWARD TRADE LEAGUE
X A G O B A H​

Here he stood, dressed in his normal armored flightsuit, helmet off to the side right now, in the literal middle of nowhere, sipping from his flask, standing on the deck of an...antique would be a kind descriptor for a ship that seemed to be held together by spotty welds, spacer's tape and more than a few prayers. It still wasn't the wors he had seen though. no, that honor went to the nuggets in the newly christened X-wing based fighters that were bumping into literally everything in sight. And then some. This was just landing practice which did not instill a great sense of confidence in the man for what came after the fact. Sure there were the few amongst them who managed to figure out 'up' and 'down' were opposites as were 'left and 'right' now if only the others would so kindly work out the same basic issues with their flight controls. He sighed when Ishana mentioned the cigar, he was pretty sure he still owed her from the events surrounding a certain someone's reappearance on the galactic stage...they had both helped the woman rise from the dead after all. Shaking his head he replied. Yeah, yeah. Just put it on the tab, Ishana. Besides think I still owe ya one from way back when ya helped with navigating the Dead Nebula that one time..." He winced slightly as one pilot had a bit of a rougher landing than one would hope for and almost needed help from a nearby tractor guidance system to keep from totaling the ship. "Glad to have someone else to help me out with this batch. Last time I got a squad dumped on me in the middle of a combat zone. Thankfully they were good enough to get back alive. So ya know, nothin' like this group."

While the Corellian was being harsh outwardly, it wasn't out of lack of sympathy. He understood everyone started somewhere and that the ones having the most trouble likely had little to no experience with a fighter and adapting to a new control layout took time, they didn't have simulators so they got thrown to the wolves on this one. NDA's were never fun, but for this it was absolutely necessary. Kurayami nodded to her when she sccinctly described their mission parameters. "Dead on. We have to take this amalgamation of people and pilots and turn them into a cohesive fighting force. Hopefully they won't get vaped at the first sight of a blaster shot towards their ship, but that falls to them and how well they take to our training. We give them the tools and what they do with it is up to them." He took a long swig as the recruit slammed the ship down, hard into the deck. They would likely feel that one even with the inertial dampners on. While he was replying came yet another near miss of a recovery. "Again, even just having you here to split the workload with is nice. I say the more the better though, and the more who know how to fly an X-wing, well shit that'd be great."

Ishana Pavanos Rhiza Dural Liam Sedaire Vaux Gred​

 

[Roth Tillian]

Surrel-Class Starfighter
Wild Knights Flightsuit
Ishana Pavanos Vaux Gred Kurayami Bloodborn

Roth strode along the deck of the ship, frowning as he adjusted the fit of the new flightsuit. He wasn't entirely sure who had commissioned them, but he suspected it was Nathan Bloodscrawl . It was fancy, for sure, and he appreciated the bacta injectors, but it wasn't broken in just yet. It would probably take a few weeks and some slight modifications from the tailors, but it would be better.

"Any pilot would die from a laser through the canopy," Roth said, approaching the other group of instructors. "We can teach them to fly, but we can't turn them into invincible super soldiers. Nobody can do that."

He watched the next batch of pilots come in, wobbling as they worked to adjust both speed and altitude. "Any pre-op briefing before I head aloft?"

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Xagobah
Equipment: Flight Suit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Sling Bag
Ship: The Buzzard, with V-2 Minimech 'Skid'
Tags: Ishana Pavanos Vaux Gred Rhiza Dural Liam Sedaire Kurayami Bloodborn Roth Tillian

Preflight​

Lossa hung her head quietly as other pilots mustered to their x-wings.

She was still feeling nauseous, but the swelling had gone down in her hands and feet which allowed her to even get in the flight suit. The anti-nausea medicine was slow to act but it was at least letting her keep food down.

"Stay down please. Just stay down." A quiet mantra to herself to calm the rolling grumbling of her stomach.

The thump of a starfighter against the deck didn't help as she imagined herself doing much the same.

"Oh feth." The groaning of an upset stomach making her run to the head before she had detail duty for the flight deck.

Currently​

Her gloved hands cradled her helmet covered face.

She felt better after she had scampered off, but hoped no one mentioned the time she had taken getting back. Her eyes peering through the spaces of her finger to watch the display as it translated the beeps and whirs of the little droid in the socket of her ship.

"Yeah. It's just a practice. Nothing serious... I think. But," A deep breath in had her sitting back and pulling at the straps to secure herself. "I'd rather get downed in practice than in an actual fight."

The same sentiment from the droid made her frown.

"Hey. I haven't flown outside the hyperlanes really. Don't be mouthing me." Her threat short lived as the chortling trill from the droid further drug her flying ability through the mud.

Rolling her eyes, she made sure to firmly press against the tape holding her note up against the flat panel above the control yoke.

She'd griped about the controls, but had told to learn rather than adjust since that was standard for most every starship in the known galaxy. She made a popping sound as she flipped switches, waiting for the gauges to rise before pressing the ignition and feeling the whole ship rattle as the engines came to life.

"Skid, if, and I do mean if. If I forget, remind me to pull the landing gears back so we don't have to replace them again." The same mocking trill sounded as she clicked her tongue in annoyance.

The guage clusters were in the green. Or at least they looked like they were good, if she remembered right.

The Buzzard rose sharply off it's designated landing pad, easing into a more acceptable speed as it made for the end of the queued x-wings for landing drills.

 

[Nathan Bloodscrawl]

Wearing: Wild Knights Flight Suit

Armed With: Nathan's Lightsaber

Flying: Surrel Class Starfighter


Nathan had been studying the systems of the X-Wing he had gotten his hands on for about two weeks in between doing missions for the League. The gap between the fighters of a more ancient era and the bells and whistles of a modern one wasn't so daunting to overcome as he had first thought. That and he was a quick study.

Flying exercises were being used to draw in new pilots for the League. As a Wild Knight, he was all but obligated to participate.

Nathan walked into the hangar, wearing a Flight Suit he designed anonymously with the help of part time engineers following his instructions via proxies like Moya Virtu . If there was one thing he definitely had in common with what was left of his daughter, it was the paranoia over opsec and making sure no one knew who actually pulled the strings in a company. Nathan would never openly admit he designed anything for the League's use, preferring the relative obscurity of his current station. Some random guy that had gotten ahold of a Lightsaber and Force Powers. No context as to how he had gotten them. No context as to what he had been doing before being first encountered at Sullust by a team of Jedi in the ruins of a temple. Even his last name wasn't known. He was just Nathan, an at times eerily quiet, unnaturally motionless Force User when standing still, seemingly unable to express joy or mirth.

Nathan spotted the one in charge of the Wild Knights, Roth Tillian .

Nathan approached, head already covered by the flight suit helmet, movements almost stiff. He stopped, waiting for the Colonel to finish talking to the other instructors before he would proceed with his own questions.

Ishana Pavanos

Vaux Gred

Liam Sedaire

Rhiza Dural

Kurayami Bloodborn

 

[Rhiza Dural]

Location: Xagobah
Objective: Assist in training pilots
Tags: Ishana Pavanos Vaux Gred Kurayami Bloodborn Lossa Aureus Nathan Bloodscrawl

Spoiler: Equipment and links

Personal Equipment

• White bladed dual phase light saber
• Electro-whip
• Riftblade
• Viper mk1 skinsuit
• Ashlan Rosary
• Energy Bolas
• throwing shuriken
• Sairenro Shuriken pistol
• Empyrean Gland
• Morðingja-class Personal Cloaking Device

Starships

• Oubliette class transport
• Sciss class stealth fighter
• Ballerina Interceptor mk ii

Wearing: FAE-A-09 flight suit
Flying: Surrel Class Starfighter

Rhiza had come to Xagobah to help in the creation of a new batch of fighter pilots for the Rim. Rhiza had been one of the crusades most talented pilot's so it made sense for her to assist here, even if the intention was not for her to become a permanent member. She walked across the flight deck and looked at the group of... nuggets? Is that what she had heard them called? Apparently there had been several collisions on the flight deck, that was a concern to the Jedi Master, simulations should have ironed out the basics of not colliding at low speeds, how green were these pilots?

Rhiza looked up at the X-wing she had been assigned, it didn't have all of the advanced systems of her little Ballerina but it was a handsome craft and looked very well made. It made more sense for her to fly the same ship as the rookies.

The Jedi spotted someone behind the engines, she recognised the colours of the Wild Knight and went to have a look and she spotted a young man, cradling himself and eagerly puffing on a cigarra. "Rookie?" she asked, crushing the burning end of his cigarra with the force. "Why are you hiding here and smoking next to a refueling starfighter?"

He looked a little stunned at her spotting him and and stuttered his words. "I... I.... I... forgot... i'm just nervous."

"I can tell, but try to relax, this is a training exercise you are allowed to mess up." Her voice was soft and laced with a calming effect from the force.

"I'll try my best, thank you master." responded, still nervously but perhaps less so and headed towards your ship. Deciding against lighting up another cigarra. Rhiza shook her head and climbed into her cockpit, everything lit up for her and the vessel began to whir into life. She joined the queue of ships waiting to leave the hangar.

"This is Rhiza, checking in"

 

[Ishana Pavanos]

IMPERIAL + PILOT
RIMWARD TRADE LEAGUE
X A G O B A H


​

Ishana was about to respond to Kurayami, when Roth Tillian made the driest remark she had heard since her Academy days, "you know, there's a thing called an expression, ever heard of one?" Ishana walked away from Tillian and wondered if every single Rimward veteran was as much of an ass as Tillian. If every pilot died at first laser cannon then there wouldn't be any legends to speak of. "I'll definitely put it on your tab Bloodborn." She returned her attention to the man responsible for her being here. "I've probably seen worse pilots down at Victoria, y'know the First Order's training school. So, in retrospect, maybe - just maybe we can turn these greenhorns into respectable pilots."

A quick look over at the other person who had approached introducing themselves as CT, "we could use all the instructors we can get."

She turned again to Tillian. "We don't have the luxury of explaining everything in a classroom, the mission we're assigned to is going to require these guys know more than the basics. Landing and taking off from this deck has to be accomplished, those that cannot will be washed out. Once that's accomplished they'll need to know how to really fight, we'll use drones and unmanned craft for them to chase out in the open, and we'll then take them through several canyons and narrow paths."

"From there we'll move into live exercises, and advanced piloting, such as handling yourself when you're three to one." Ishana with her hands on her hips cast a glance over her shoulder. "Now if we're all done pretending we're high and mighty, pretentious pilots. Let's go teach these rookies a thing or two." A smirk to punctuate the mood as she dismissed the briefing and headed for her own X-Wing. Ishana had at one point in her storied career ascended to Lord Air Marshal with the Sith Empire. She walked briefly beside Bloodborn, "hey Bloodborn, when we're doing maneuvers later today, how about you and I play a little chicken?"

While she normally didn't fly X-Wings, she had in her time at the very least read up on their systems and got her hands on a few. The X-Wing provided for today was about as basic as they got. Her flight suit had patches that would have seem foreign to most everyone here, from First Order and Sith Empire, and even one or two Sith or Imperial entities that existed before either of those governments. Once she was situated in her fighter, Ishana got on the horn. "Good Morning, Aviators. This is your Captain speaking, we're going to go on a fly about, each of you are assigned to squadrons to match your instructor. Each instructor is going to take a different route and we're all gonna land right back here. Consider this your final exam on the basics of flying, please keep all limbs inside the ride at all times and enjoy your stay here at Seven Flags Xagobah."

Kurayami Bloodborn | Rhiza Dural | Vaux Gred | Liam Sedaire | Nathan Bloodscrawl | Lossa Aureus








​

 

[Vaux Gred]

Vaux couldn't help but smirk a bit, though she'd soon notice some of the patches. Sith by the looks of it. It was a surprise to say the least. She took a breath, not wanting to stir up trouble right now. She could be professional for the time being. She'd look at the others there. Seemed like quite the mix, with a big job ahead of them if the rookie's... flight skills were anything to go on.

"Well.... Don't worry. My clan knows a thing or two about flying and uur cun urame (silence our mouths/be quiet)." She'd then give some nods to the others, not really sure if she was willing to remove her helmet around them yet. Some things... well she wasn't ready to true them all fully yet. This was a job. "Are you guys sure we won't lose one on that control tower before this starts?" She was only half joking, but at the same time she didn't really know what to say as far as idle chit chat. "Either way..... I'll take them through a canyon, but I'm being cautious about it. And good luck with your chicken game."

She'd listen along with the others as Ishana told the nuggets what the exercise was going to be... in a more fun way than Vaux could. She looked, tapping VK and telling him to set the Tel'galaar with a limiter, setting to standard TwinTail performance before making her way over there herself. She climbed into the cockpit and flicked a few switches before, and hooking to the comms before looking around.

"Alright ade (kids), you heard the lady. If you're hearing this I'm guessing you're assigned to follow the red TwinTail. Have VK tuning it to match your X-Wings as best it can though." As she said this, the Tal'galaar would take off, quickly moving into a holding pattern. "Don't be too scared of the fancy fighter though. End of the day the box isn't the most important thing, it's who's in it. So form up then we'll get started."

Ishana Pavanos Kurayami Bloodborn Rhiza Dural Liam Sedaire Nathan Bloodscrawl Lossa Aureus

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

Kurayami just shook his head at TIllian's comment about Ishana's remark. There was taking things literally, then there was this guy. He wasn't sure if he had been exposed to that level of dryness since training for the Corellian Defense Force what seemed like lifetimes ago. He wanted to say something, but decided against it as he capped the flask and put it securely inside a pouch on his belt before leaning over and picking up his helmet. "Glad to know that the tab keeps growing larger. As far as Victoria goes, yea didn't always get the best and brightest from their territories, no matter what they told the recruits. I never said we didn't have a chance, I'm just not going to blow sunshine up anyone's ass about their chances."

Thankfully he had finished speaking when they were approached by a person introducing themself as CT and mentioning that they ere here to help with the training. "Good to have you on board. Best of luck with the recruits...they seem to be a bit more than a little rough around the edges."

While she gave TIllian the rundown he secured the helmet in place and watched the HUD flicker to life, taking note as sounds started to be heard at normal volume around him again. He already knew what the briefing entailed but it couldn't hurt to hear it again, so he listened nodding as she finished her spiel. "Let's hope all the craft get back here in one piece during this. I would hate to have to send an invoice to Primo Victoria explaining how some dumbass nugget crashed one of the most basic fighters and burned it to a crisp, so we need a replacement. Awkward. The letter to the family is much easier. That one is on official RTL letterhead saying 'The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid.' Maybe not those exact words, but the sentiment is the same." When she suggested a game of chicken while they walked towards their assigned ships, he smirked beneath his helmet, chuckling softly as he responded. "I'm always up for a game of chicken."

The X-wing wasn't his favorite class, and certainly not one so bare bones as this model was, but it is what they were training the nuggets on since it was easy to fly. Supposedly. He had plenty of time flying different variants of the X-wing from the T-65b up to T-85's and he had to admit the later ones could tangle pretty well with more agile fighters when you knew them well enough. His flight suit bore no patches or markings on it, which to those gathered may seem even more foreign that Ishana's patches, but with his tendency to do work outside official channels for the most part it made sense. As he got situated in the cockpit of his X-wing, he began powering up the systems checking to make sure they all linked well enough with his helmet.

While that was going on and power levels were rising he listened to Ishana greet everyone as the canopy closed and sealed. He slowly added power feeling the craft lift effortlessly from the ground and listened for the thunk of the gear settling into its bays. "Alright those of you assigned to me, I am Captain Kurayami Bloodborn. Today the weather is a nice 110 degrees. The hard deck will be 10,000 ft for the starting exercise, if you go below that you are out. We will be starting easy and slowly advancing from there, follow along and no showboating. Stick with the dark grey and bright yellow bird in your viewport. That's me. Form up, stay tights and let's go. Best of luck nuggets."

Ishana Pavanos Rhiza Dural Liam Sedaire Nathan Bloodscrawl @Lossa Darchul Vaux Gred ​

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Xagobah
Equipment: Flight Suit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Sling Bag
Ship: The Buzzard, with V-2 Minimech 'Skid'
Tags: Ishana Pavanos Vaux Gred Rhiza Dural Liam Sedaire Kurayami Bloodborn Roth Tillian

The Buzzard got halfway to the rear of the line before the landing gears retracted. A surprised whirl of noise from her Droid getting an eye roll as she formed up and maintained her position. Her eyes wanting to drift off and take in the sight of so many starfighters assembled and performing their drills.

She didn't get the chance for long as she came alarmingly close to putting the nose of her ship into the x-wing ahead of her.

The unexpected task of keeping herself from slowly drifting into the assembled vessels around her taking more attention than she had imagined. Her hands opening and closing to keep the creeping ache out of them.

Slowly the vessels moved through the practice, her own turn arriving. The execution of her landing and take off slow but smooth.

Keeping from grinding the landing gears into the deck this time her reassurance of such.

Vessels took off, and instructions were given as she glanced over the small switch board in front of her. Blowing out some air in exasperated thiufht as she tuned into one of the specific channels to follow one instructor rather than all of them.

The Buzzard getting into position with the gathering x-wings near Vaux Gred and their twin-tail.

 

[Liam Sedaire]

Location: Xagobah
Equipment: TBD
Ship: The Blue Streak
Tags: Ishana Pavanos Vaux Gred Rhiza Dural Liam Sedaire Kurayami Bloodborn Roth Tillian Lossa Aureus

With a simple landing that belied the arrogance of the pilot flying her, the Blue Streak settled down smartly on the deck, and with a hop, Liam hit the deck with an almost superhero like landing, smiling at the gathering group as he looked around. Straightening the collar of his longcoat, he checked his gear and smiled, knowing no one but taking note of everyone as he chewed on the ever-present toothpick at his lips, a substitute for his prior love of deathsticks.

"Well" he said to no one in particular "This looks like my kind of place. Almost respectable"

 

[Rhiza Dural]

Location: Xagobah
Objective: Assist in training pilots
Tags: Ishana Pavanos Vaux Gred Kurayami Bloodborn Lossa Aureus Nathan Bloodscrawl Liam Sedaire

Spoiler: Equipment and links

Personal Equipment

• White bladed dual phase light saber
• Electro-whip
• Riftblade
• Viper mk1 skinsuit
• Ashlan Rosary
• Energy Bolas
• throwing shuriken
• Sairenro Shuriken pistol
• Empyrean Gland
• Morðingja-class Personal Cloaking Device

Starships

• Oubliette class transport
• Sciss class stealth fighter
• Ballerina Interceptor mk ii

Wearing: FAE-A-09 flight suit
Flying: Surrel Class Starfighter

The Zygerrian flew her fighter out of the hangar and immediately began to ascend to the training altitude. <<Ruby and Topaz squadrons on me, keep together, if you are struggling to maintain formation, descent one hundred metres and maintain course until you can regain control, 10000ft is hard deck, we are going to aim for that cloud formation at ten o'clock, ascend to FL300 and then spiral back down to 150, all copy? Any questions>>.

Sixteen fighters in loose formation behind her all checked in and she accelerated while climbing, pushing her back in her seat. She always dialled the compensators down so she could better feel what the craft was doing, it made flying the craft feel more real. On her her radar, one of her rookies was dropping back slightly. <<Topaz six, you need to open the throttle more for the steep climb or you will drop out.>> the affirmative came back and the offending fighter began to accelerate, initially pushing too far forward, then dropping back off again. It was minor, but she wanted them all to work well together. "Look out your cockpit, these are your wingman, one day soon they will be closer to you than family." she smiled and tiled the stick to push her fighter into a lazy ascending u-turn. A few seconds later her squadron mates followed suit. The turn pushed tested their ability to keel formation with the pilots on the outside having to turn further than the inside. One of the fighters quickly descended down a hundred metres and carried on past the arc. <<All good Ruby 4?>>

<<Sorry squadron leader, I messed up my turn and though I was going to hit three.>>

<<All good Ruby 4, get back into position below us and regain formation once we straighten up, we'll handled>> the squadron straightened up for a few kilometres and the errant fighter rejoined them before they began the spiralled descend around a large cloud.

 

[Roth Tillian]

Surrel-Class Starfighter
Wild Knights Flightsuit

Ishana Pavanos Kurayami Bloodborn Liam Sedaire Lossa Aureus Nathan Bloodscrawl Vaux Gred

"There's a reason legends don't live very long," Roth replied with a shrug, nodding at Nathan as he approached. There was some faint ringing in his ears from the tussle with the Sith ace over Denab, but the doctors had all cleared him.

As the briefing went through, he just nodded, making quick mental notes. Simple enough training mission and an excellent chance to test the capabilities of the new fighters. He wasn't too keen on the idea of them coming from a First Order company. Taeli's shattering of the Galactic Alliance had broken the rose-tinted glasses of youth. And the irony of the patches on the jacket was not lost on him. A few of the governments were ones he had fought against.

But that was the Outer Rim, wasn't it? Friends, allies, enemies, rivals, and allegiances were constantly shifting. Governments and politics died faster than those who fought for them in most cases. He even flew with the old Selectivist Rebel Alliance and hit Galactic Republic corporations before eventually flying for the Galactic Republic itself.

The chivalry of the pilots, he supposed. He'd met very few pilots motivated by ideology, at least those who lived long enough for a successful career. He suspected the squadron on Thyferra had been one such squadron before they'd been gunned down.

"Nathan, we'll be leading two squadrons for this op. You'll be Nexu One with Nexu Squadron and I'll be Krayt One with Krayt Squadron."

He buckled on his helmet and tightened the flight suit straps. "We'll launch last, let the others get ahead and keep an eye on their routes to wing clear, focusing on multi squadron formations."

 

[Ishana Pavanos]

IMPERIAL + PILOT
RIMWARD TRADE LEAGUE
X A G O B A H


​

Ishana had long been in her own bird when Roth spoke, and perhaps that was a good thing. She had no intention of entertaining another relic of the past and instead smirked when the tower gave her squadron the green light. "Welcome ghouls and goblins to the ghost squadron, I'm your host, Ghost One. Stay close, we're going on the grand tour, be sure to say hello to the Jesters at some point, we're gonna be in smiling range." Breaking off comms she fired up the X-Wing and launched off the deck. The jolt from launch was as smooth as it was going to get. The X-Wing's controls felt a little foreign but it didn't take long for the former TIE pilot to adapt.

"Looks like we got a squad heading to 10,000. We'll go up to 20,000, keep your distance and be well aware of the turbulence. If you find yourself flipping tea kettles then you're out. So let's keep this nice and smooth, ghouls and goblins." The sound of the X-wing's speed increasing was like music to the pilot's ears. "Switch frequencies, 129.62," ordered Ishana as she guided her squadron up to 20,000 and it was as the Xagobah skies cleared up that she couldn't believe where she was. Back in the pilot's seat again, hearing the rookies key up on their new frequency, "congrats you've figured out your radios, alright, we're to ascend to FL320. Stay in tight formation, we'll go over the great blue here before diving back down toward a canyon run, we're gonna let the other squadrons get familiar with the canyon first."

It was funny, back during the war, Ishana didn't think she'd live this long. A small smile formed on her features, although concealed by the mask over her face. "Whoa, Ghost four, you good?"

"Copy, just uh..."

"Listen, there's one thing to get close Ghost four, but please, save your public displays of affection for ghost three until after our run."

A small round of chuckles on comms. "Okay kids, let's go, ascend FL320."

Kurayami Bloodborn | Rhiza Dural | Mig Gred | Liam Sedaire | Roth Tillian | Lossa Aureus









​

 

[Kurayami Bloodborn]

RIMWARD TRADE LEAGUE
X A G O B A H​

He was waiting on clearance as the rest of Jester Squadron formed up on his tail. There should be seven of them total so he kept a tally of the transponder tags as they came up on his HUD, filtering by those nearest his craft. Indeed they showed as Jester 2 through 8. Once Ghost Squadron was cleared and made their way out, he opened comms with the rookies tailing him. "We have been cleared for launch Jester Squadron. Ease throttle forward to twenty five percent. Increase to half once you clear the hangar, hands off controls for this portion once your gear is up. When we reach open skies we will then proceed to FL150 for basics. This will cover all your most basic controls before we cover the more advanced maneuvers. The hard deck of 10 angels will be in effect during the whole of this portion. Once complete we will continue to canyon runs."

It was true that 5,000 feet of separation seemed too little in the vertical, but this ship was more than capable of pulling a split-s or an immelmann in much less space than that. Even with these rookies at the controls there should be no risk of a collision. It was not the best of situations, but with so many people in the airspace it was what they had to work with. "Hands back on the stick and stick tight. We will be crossing paths with Ghost Squadron at some point, be sure to give them a friendly wave as we pass by. I'm sure they and their flight lead will appreciate the gesture. Make sure you don't line up directly behind the craft in front of you or you are going to have a very bumpy ride. Minimum of 1000 feet separation from the nearest ship. Wings level, throttle up to 50 percent, rudder left, stick down and to the right just a bit. That's it, nice and easy nuggets. Ease up on the inputs as you come back to level...and congrats. You completed a barrel roll. Stick hard right, let off as you come back to level again. That is a snap roll. Simple enough, no? Now follow me through ascending turns and slice turns, I will not be calling out inputs for these. Good luck,nuggest. Jester One out." Though he didn't cut the channel he stopped talking and started into a left hand descending turn without warning to the pilots to see if they were paying attention to him or simply following the words.

It looked like all of them up through 5 had little issue following, 6 had a bit of a wobble at first but caught up soon after, 7 and 8 began an ascending left turn and managed to correct when they noticed no one else was with them. "Well done 2 through 5. 6 you could have gotten yourself or your wingman killed, maybe even both. 7 and 8 you managed to miss the objective completely and alert the enemy to the approach vector of your squadron. Congratulations you just caused the government to have to send letters to eight families. Form back up with the rest of us and we will continue on with the exercise. Pay attention and keep your head on a swivel. We may be seeing drones for the more advanced training soon, even I don't know when those are showing up."

Ishana Pavanos Rhiza Dural Mig Gred Liam Sedaire Roth Tillian Lossa Aureus ​

 

[Vaux Gred]

Vaux looked around realizing she forgot something as she pulled the Tal'galaar around a bit. Her interest was peaked in the modified Starchaser that would join her group. A bit rag-tag she guessed. That gave her an idea.

"Ok.... We're gonna go with Rag-Tag Squadron. Mission floor is 10,000 ft, and we will be pulling an easy right at 15,000. Try not to get closer than 800-1000 ft to each other, I'm talking to you Kad'ika 6, and we'll keep going nice and easy. When you fly you try to stick with a wingman. Rag-Tag 2, you're with me, 3 with 4, 5 with 6, and so on." Vaux would then keep an eye on her squadron, making sure they stayed with wingmen, and that two would keeping up well with the slightly larger TwinTail. She was keep a close eye on 7 and 8 when she noticed something.

"Don't get into each other's wash, directly behind all craft. Something like these and it's a bumpy ride. Something like a Star Destroyer.... Well you don't wanna know." She honestly shuttered a bit before looking back again. Quickly giving a call to Rag-Tag 5 to keep in formation. Sure it was a bit looser maybe than the others were doing, but it was how she'd learned: old habits and all. Either way this seemed to be going somewhat well. At least no one was playing with their s-foils yet. At least the fighters that had them.

Ishana Pavanos Lossa Aureus Kurayami Bloodborn Liam Sedaire Roth Tillian

 

[Lossa Aureus]

Location: Xagobah
Equipment: Flight Suit, Discreet Hearing Enhancer - Left Ear, Long Handled Double Lightsaber, Sling Bag
Ship: The Buzzard, with V-2 Minimech 'Skid'
Tags: Ishana Pavanos Vaux Gred Rhiza Dural Liam Sedaire Kurayami Bloodborn Roth Tillian

"Regular Speech" | <Radio Speech>​

The trilling chirp from Skid affirmed what she had guessed already.

"Yes. Rag-Tag 2. Probably because of us." Her eyes scanning the group of x-wings as the droid warbled back at her, expressing its worry at their appearance.

"You know what, it's better than it was. And I don't plan on letting it look this bad forever." The droid giving her the equivalent of a sigh as she frowned, switching over to the comms.

The twin tail had circled around, and the whole group was forming up as the Buzzard took position behind their lead.

<On it Rag-Tag 1.> The ship closing before keeping off to the side of Vaux Gred . The call to keep out of the wash not lost on the rookie pilot as she adjusted her position. The ship started to wobble a bit having got a bit too close to center.

Her position shifting to match the others around them.

 

[Ishana Pavanos]

IMPERIAL + PILOT
RIMWARD TRADE LEAGUE
X A G O B A H

​

As Ghost Squadron reached their respective altitude Ishana began to put them through their paces. She suspected that many of the other squadron leaders were putting their own squads to the test. She communicated to the other squad leaders on a private frequency, "all squad leaders adjust frequency, 134.27." Once they had switched, she relayed information from the tower, "ready your squadrons for drones, they'll be deployed from a friendly Xagobah drone layer shortly. First round the nuggets chase and tag, and a buzzard sound will indicate that the drone was tagged and by whom, second round the drones chase, and while they won't shoot a live round. The drones will indicate if one of your nuggets has been tagged out."

"Nuggets will get three attempts in each round, nuggets who don't pass the test are washed out, have a good day captains," Ishana dropped the frequency and switched back to her own squad. "Listen up ghouls and goblins, we're gonna get frisky with some drones, first run we'll chase and tag them, second run they'll chase and tag us. You get three attempts each round, for tagging and avoid being tagged. If you fail either run, you're out of the ball game, sorry kids. Just the way the cookie crumbles, we'll get some distance between us and the other squadrons, follow my lead and stay close."

One of the nuggets asked, "how will we know that we tagged it?"

"You're going to hear an awfully annoying buzzing sound, the kind that'll make you pucker, that's how," answered Ishana with a smile in her voice, "now, let's roll and give our friends some room up here in the big blue." Her X-Wing rolled to the left and maintained FL320 as she looked out above her, she watched as the Imperial-esque ship appeared through the clouds, and out from them appeared what must have felt like a dozen of drone interceptors.

Kurayami Bloodborn | Rhiza Dural | Mig Gred | Liam Sedaire | Roth Tillian | Lossa Aureus









​

 

[Rhiza Dural]

Location: Xagobah
Objective: Assist in training pilots
Tags: Ishana Pavanos Vaux Gred Kurayami Bloodborn Lossa Aureus Nathan Bloodscrawl Liam Sedaire

Spoiler: Equipment and links

Personal Equipment

• White bladed dual phase light saber
• Electro-whip
• Riftblade
• Viper mk1 skinsuit
• Ashlan Rosary
• Energy Bolas
• throwing shuriken
• Sairenro Shuriken pistol
• Empyrean Gland
• Morðingja-class Personal Cloaking Device

Starships

• Oubliette class transport
• Sciss class stealth fighter
• Ballerina Interceptor mk ii

Wearing: FAE-A-09 flight suit
Flying: Surrel Class Starfighter

@Ishana Pavanos sent through the call to the squadron leader an Rhiza quickly flipped across to the correct channel to listen in. <<Copy that Ghost leader, I will descent to FL270 and head thirty clicks North to get some free space, good hunting to your rookies.>>

Switching back to her squadron channel <<Ruby and Topaz, follow my lead to flight market sigma, once there we will encounter drone forces, this is laser tag but you get tagged, you get grounded, simple as. Once we pass sigma, I will be observation only, you have your assigned wingmates, enjoy yourselves.>> her squadrons checked in and before long the silhouettes of the drones could be seen overhead.

The two squadrons split off into their attacking formations and began to give chase. Rhiza banked away and pulled into an orbiting position so she could observe. The onboard training comm was ready registering hits. <<Come on Ruby, Topaz are well ahead on hits already. Lead your targets Topaz 2>> the rookie grumbled as if this wasnt wasn't first time he had been called out for chasing his targets incorrectly. Rhiza smirked to herself, remembering the days when she was learning to fly the Ashlan Pegasus they were quite similar in performance to this Surrel, and nothing like this tiny Sith Interceptor she flew for her husband when she was a teen. Those were much closer to the drones in turns of size and apparent maneuverability. From dealing with the Maw, this was excellent practice, the swarms of cheap starfighters that would be thrown out made the battle very hectic.

Her own buzzer pinged as the first round was over and her squadrons moved onto the next round, they were all perfomring well, but this was the time she might see a wash out. She made a little prayer to the force for her ambitious nuggets.