Here comes the Boom (Thane Vs Solan)

[Aithne Charr]

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Aboard the Hand of Kesh Command Carrier​

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Solan leaned against a wall as he looked at the two prototype ships before him, he was going to have some fun with these once the man with whom he had shared news of such prospective fighters arrived to the Hanger after picking him up in the days before. Why were they here one would ask? Why it was to race and what better way than in two experimental interceptors with improved engines and the ability to eject a Void-7 Seismic charge at the other person behind them. Sure it was dangerous but he had faith in the abilities of [member="Thane Drexel"]. That and if he did get him killed, [member="Geneviève Lasedri"] or Anyone else in the Rebel alliance would probably have his head for this. But come on, Thane was one of the best pilots they had minus the blind squirt named [member="Juwiela Melec"]. He had half thought to invite all of those in the Rebel's starfighter units, but in the end it came down two who he knew would enjoy this the most. And that was the man with whom he had made his bet.​

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The Bet itself was straight forward, Solan had positioned a marker out at the other end of the field, transmitting its location to which they would use as the far point to turn around and fly back. A Simple there and back race, only it was not so simple, seeing as Solan had made sure to leave the seismic charges weaponized and ready to go. They would be seeing who could get back to the Carrier first but also dodging their own launched Seismic charges in the middle of an asteroid field. He had a feeling someone had to have done it before and that was good enough for him so her closed his eyes and waited for Thane. Their fun was to begin soon.​

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(To those Rebels that see this, i swear im not trying to get Thane Killed... mostly.)​

 

[Thane Drexel]

A bet, that's all it took to get Thane put this way. The man who had thrown down was none other than the RA's favorite renegade Jedi [member="Solan Charr"], a well known friend on Thane's. Being Benefactor had its perks but with the recent snafu that was anything to do with the Sith, like Coruscant, it meant guard details and checkpoints. Thane had brough his guard detail with him to the Carrier to satisfy his advisors and allies wishes.

Once aboard the carrier, Thane was escorted to the hangar where he saw Solan propped up against the far wall. Thane tossed back a swig from the flask in his jacket and called over to his friend.

"Oy! Solan. You ready to get your butt kicked?"

 

[Aithne Charr]

A single quick glance at the man with whom he had fought with a million times over and would a million more was standing there with his drink in his hand and calling out to him. [member="Thane Drexel"], a man with whom he had shared many drinks and even now as he pushed off from the wall laughed with his voice leaving him. "You know, that stuff really is not the best thing to drink before our little bet here. I don't think drinking will make you any better a pilot than you are right now and probably would make you worse." He said this with a smile on his face and all care leaving his body not that he saw his friend.

"Speaking of which..." He moved his eyes to the rest of the hanger, motioning for thane to follow him over to the creations of his own that would be tested today. They were two of Solan's personal projects, Apollo Class Interceptors, fast and hard hitting just like any Interceptor should be. He really did wish some extra armor could be added but his choice of shielding made up a bit for that fact. "What do you think of them, beautiful no?"

 

[Thane Drexel]

[member="Solan Charr"]

Thane laughed as he took another drink. He followed Solan to the interceptors, they were something. Sleek and deadly, a good look. Tucking away his flask, Thane turned to his friend and posed a good question.

"What are the specs on these babies?"

Thane walked up and touched the hull of one interceptor, he could tell the armor was light, but Solan was no fool, he'd have put in some extra measures like stronger shields and faster engines to make up for the armor loss. The type of metal used was lighter than that of even his Nevermore.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Thane Drexel"]

"Quite impressive arent they, these are the prototypes mind you. Hell i even put mine together personally, though yours is a replication of the job thanks to the staff of droids and people i now have as part of Aurora Industries. But i can assure you that these things make up in their armor. You see, while i did sacrifice some armoring, you need not worry. Have you ever heard of something called Thermal Shielding? Like Molecular shielding it encases and replaces both particle and ray shielding but with a rather curious effect. The reason i chose such over Molecular was not for purposes of strength, but power. The Shields may be weaker than a molecular shielded craft, but the extra power was something i could divert towards its far more important feature. The Engines."

He started to move around his own interceptor to look at the engines for which he was talking about. "Nothing special mind you, atleast not at first, but i like to explain what they can do. These engines can reroute that extra power, due to the slightly weaker offensive capabilities and the choice of shielding into maneuverability and speed, and that is why i needed an experienced pilot..." He motioned towards the single central hatch that had no discernible difference from a missile bay normally seen on a Interceptor. "I have a question for you, could you please activate the mechanism that drops down the payload hatch to that Thane."

 

[Thane Drexel]

[member="Solan Charr"]

Thane paused a moment, he wasn't certain how this could be relevant, but he followed along. He moved to the console nearby and found a release for said hatch and keyed it.

"I'm not sure what this is, I count two missile pods already. What's the third for?"

It wasn't clear, but it may be some new design schematic for power efficiency or something. The engines seemed to be capable of putting out significant enough power for the speed specs Solan expected, maybe there was more to this ship than meets the eye.

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Thane Drexel"]

Solan smiled as the bay lowered enough for its payload to be seen, leaving what resided in it clear to Thane's eyes. A Void-7 Seismic Charge came into view as solan smiled and clapped his hand. "And that my friend is what i call a surprise, no? Each of these interceptors are equipped with a bay capable of holding a Void-7 charge, as such though it leaves these Interceptors to normally be grouped in less numbers than others in order to better control their cooperative use of said charges. It avoids friendly fire without losing the effectiveness of the interceptors." Solan smiled wider as he looked on it and then at Thane. "We will be using these on eachother, try not to get hit by your own or mine."

 

[Thane Drexel]

Thane was impressed, a well needed upgrade to the Interceptor protocol, it adds more diversity in combat. Thane ran his hand gently across the shell of the Void-7, it was dangerous and sexy.

"This is quit impressive, I would like to see these in real combat. So...We gonna chat all day or are we gonna fly?"

Thane started punching in his information into the console connected to the ship, he would need a flightsuit. His guards protested against him flying a prototype such as this, but how else would he make Solan cry. Sure as hell couldn't do it in a fist fight, not wih his Jedi powers.

[member="Solan Charr"]

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Thane Drexel"]

"You know me too well to even ask that question thane, we are going to do this of course. Why else would i show off these things if only to tease you with what they could really do." Solan's grin was wide, wider than he could really expect others to even understand as he knew full well Thane couldn't resist the challenge and thrill. He was going to have some fun with the Rebel as it was time to put his skills to the test. The flight engineers nearby would bring over two flightsuits, estimated for Thane on how large he needed his but Solan's was already prepared and he grinned as he pulled off the Viola Coat he wore normally. "Oh and, no blasting eachother out of the sky if you lose, that is in very poor form. Now don't you think?"

 

[Thane Drexel]

[member="Solan Charr"]

Thane laughed heartily and accepted the flightsuit from the crewman. He pulled off his own Viola Coat and donned the suit. It fit well enough, no need for something too formfitting.

"Fair enough, loser buys the first round?" Thane cheers his flask and took a swig.

Thane climbed into the cockpit with a smile like a kid in a candy store. It was full of bright lights and buttons and knobs, as one would expect, but it was very sleek and chic, quit impressive. He looked to Solan and gave him a thumbs up once he was situated. The crewmen closed his hatch and gave the Okay.

"I'll try not to beat you too bad in front of your boys Solan." He jested. Solan was no joke behind the stick, and Thane wasn't about to expect an easy win. This was all in good fun after all, but the challenge was welcomed none the less.

Firing up the engines, Thane got locked in with the controls, tipping and swaying inside the hanger while he waited for his friend to get ready.

[member="Solan Charr"]

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Thane Drexel"]

"If you don't give this your all Thane, you know that i will beat you so how about you talk less and we get started on my kicking your ass?" He smiled wide at the words and closed his eyes while the hatch on his own was closed. Counting the seconds as his hands worked to start the engines of the interceptor and taking the controls into hand before smiling and glancing to the side the moment his own was off the ground with three words. "Three, Two, one..."

Without any more warning than that his hands pushed forward on the thrust and he felt the force of the acceleration knock him back into his seat as he smiled like a mad man. The feeling of flying always gave him a rush that he could never quite get otherwise except in battle. His focus was on the field for now as he pulled and turned the interceptor up and over the first hunk of debris and stone to smile even more at the handling. It was a bit harder on turns but that was likely due to the speed at which he found himself going.

 

[Thane Drexel]

[member="Solan Charr"]

Thane was right behind Solan, pushing the agility of the ship to its limits. He felt his stomach drop when he cleared an asteroid with a foot to spare. Pulling back on the throttle, Thane acquired a path, one that would take him right by Solan more than once.

"Here I come Solan!!" The throttle hit maximum and he was streaking through the deepness of space, first pass by Solan's ship was right under his wing and Thane rolled to get through a few smaller bits of debris.

"Wahoo!!" Thane was laughing like a kid hopped up on sugar, it was a great change of pace to the constant fighting he was so use to.

 

[Aithne Charr]

Solan's eyes traced the arrival of [member="Thane Drexel"] out of the corner of his eyes and he flickered to stare for a moment before finally not even close to letting this man beat him. Wrapping a hand around his controls he pulled around a rather sizable chunk of space rock and then pushed it to try and get infront of Thane's nose. There was no way he was going to let the man win so in a way to try and get Thane to focus on more than just beating him he smiled. With a slow enough but still quick movement he attempted to cause Thane to veer off to the side in attempt to evade Solan's own interceptor. This wouldn't knock him into a stone, but he would be more than out of the way for few seconds to give Solan a slight lead.

 

[Thane Drexel]

(I had originally wrote a reply but it was on my old phone and I guess I never posted before I turned it off.)

Thane veered and dipped his wing to avoid Solan's little trick, pulling around a large rock, Solan had pulled his ship ahead Thane's for the moment.

"Haha almost got me there!" Thane swooped in behind Solan's interceptor and pulled up and turned over so his cockpit was directly above Solan's.

He looked up/down(it's space, there is no up or down) and winked at the Jedi he called friend. He pulled his nose down towards Solan's to give a little payback and hopefully push Solan off course.

[member="Solan Charr"]

 

[Aithne Charr]

[member="Thane Drexel"]

Solan watched as Thane came up behind and then over him, glancing upwards to see Thane there smiling and winking. 'Don't get too cocky my friend.' Solan thought to himself before kicking in the engines again and pulling off the the side just enough to get our of the way of Thane's ship's own nose. He knew that hitting his friend would not be a nice thing but in no way would he let himself lose. He was enjoying himself though and all the more reason for him to push his ship into the side of Thane's should the drunk not try to dodge him.

Solan in the meantime, merely wondered what more he could do, if he used the seismic charge right now, he would have a chance to far outdistance thane assuming the man spent the time worrying about the charge itself. On the flip side, if he saved it he could use it when he absolutely had to. It was a hard decision none the less but one that Solan would need to make before one of the two of them shot ahead of the other.

 

[Thane Drexel]

Twisting to right himself to his former position, Thane watched Solan divert his ship and redirect it towards Thane's.

"Now this isn't very nice behavior for friends!" Thane joked over the comm and as he decelerated to avoid contact, and when Solan would overshoot, Thane would fire to full thrust past him, spinning out of the way of incoming asteroids.

As Thane neared the end of the asteroid field to start the last leg of the race, he dropped his seismic charge just as he turned around to head back for the carrier.

"Try this on for size Solan old sport!" The interceptor raced away to get clear of the blast radius.

It would hopefully either make Solan take a longer turn to avoid the damage or cut short and miss the marker for the turn about.



[member="Solan Charr"]