Out Along the Edges

[Coren Starchaser]

Starchaser figured it was as good a time as any to set something up. He’d try to play nice with the galaxy. What he first did, was send out a message to anyone that would be seen as light side, basically anyone who had good reason to be on a good side of Coren and a reason to not be hunted by him, were welcome to show up. The trick was, the message was pretty simple as well.

You will find the training you are looking for.
Just trust your instinct, and Run from a Broken World
To the galactic Rim.
Trust your ship, and your instinct.

Really maybe more cryptic than he wanted. But if a pilot was to plot a trip from Corellia straight to the galactic rim, they’d be ripped from hyperspace by a Nebulon B9, a ship emptied of much of its starfighters, instead, refurbished A-Wings were placed on the vessel, and a few pilot trainers from the Levantine Academy and beyond were waiting. Pilots from the ranks of the Alliance military, from the Non-Jedi Force users in the GADF and even the Jedi were expected, and they were going to be taught the same: Without the Force being pushed into the training. What he wanted was the intrepid, the ones who were willing to go the distance, go off the map and find the reward.

Force users would be watched, and depending on where their heart lay, Coren could and would help them, but in astrogating, nothing else. The other skills he was a fan of were not his to teach. His son, Jared was here, and he was in another ship, not the Dawn Treader but one of the Carracks that was now attached to the Starchaser home ship. They’d be flying opposition in any combat sorties.

For now, Coren was waiting in the ready room, where pilots would be escorted. Training time.

 

[Connor Harrison]

Well, he had word his T-70 would be well looked after and that this WAS an Alliance ship, not some pirate or mercenary cruiser capturing pilots. Dax had no helmet to leave, so just his sidearm by his thigh and his olive-green flight-suit were all he had to his name as he was directed to one [member="Coren Starchaser"]. It seemed he was finally going to meet the "leader" or so he'd heard. After flying twice in the background for the Alliance, now was time to get his foot firmly in the door. Make himself known. Equip himself with the right gear.

Walking through the ship which was alive with activity, a real hum-zinger of a ship that Dax felt the mechanical pulse through the walls, it took minutes to reach the room where Coren and whatever else was waiting. New pilots? Old faces? Who knew.

Stepping inside, he seemed to be the first one? Well, there goes the casual entrance behind everyone else. Dax made his way towards the figure at the front of the room.

"You must be Coren Starchaser? Dax Ragnar. I've flown a few times with you I think. Pleasure to finally meet you."

His hand came out for the handshake.

 

[Coren Starchaser]

Nothing like digging up old fossils. Especially when they don’t even shut down tractor beams. Nope, this thread didn’t do that, but what it did do was provide some writers who want to pilot Alliance style things a chance to play around. So what was going on? Well, the fighter pilots were going to be showing each other what they could do.

When the first had arrived, [member="Dax Ragnar"], Coren shook his head. “Ragnar, I remember seeing your name across my desk a few times. You do good work. Glad you made it out here.”

The Alliance was built off men and women who served, and one group that was always more charismatic than the others were the pilots. Having given a bit of time for others to arrive, Coren looked to all that arrived. NPCs and PCs that were going to be coming in. He was going to give a quick explanation. The type that was ‘get in your fighters, and get outside. They would run through some exercises, and drones would be released to keep them smart. Drones were nice, they could navigate on a dime and simulate Imperial and Sith fighters very well. It was going to be simple, it was going to be fun, and it was going to set up a standard for how each pilot was measured.

“So, that’s what we’re up against.” He concluded. “To your fighters, everyone.” And with that, he grabbed his flight helmet.

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Nubica looked at the spacious confines of the ship's main bay. She hovered, ignoring the flight line worker beckoning to her with glowing batons, and took a look around.

Starfighters stood ready to launch into battle — A-wings — and plenty of them. Mechanics worked briskly on fighters in need of repair or maintenance. The metal floors and bulkheads wore a dull sheen, showing age and wear but also cleanliness, rather than a shine suggesting that the captain of this vessel was too concerned with appearance. These were good signs.

She finally allowed the worker to direct her to a landing spot. She descended her access ladder and turned to face the welcome delegation of one. She nodded to him by way of an introduction.

The officer, a lean, bearded man with skin the color of tanned leather, still breathing hard, hesitated. She had left her helmet in the cock-pit but was dressed in standard pilot’s uniform, as opposed to her usual robes. His eyes scanned her and finally alighted on the saber attached to her belt. This seemed to reassure him.

Obviously confused for a moment as to whether he should salute properly or follow her informal fashion of greeting, he chose to shake her hand. "Welcome aboard…Jedi Felidae? Please follow me to the ready room…”

[member="Coren Starchaser"] - [member="Dax Ragnar"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

Rekha came into the room in her usual fashion, she looked around at everyone already there and nodded. And she arrived just in time to leave, she walked behind the small group moving towards the fighters. Oh what a strange life to lead indeed, one moment on thing and then to move into being something else. She felt more like a chameleon these days than anything else.

The only life she had, was the bar, and here. And lately she was here more than there. Which made the decision to do what she needed easier.

She kept her helmet in her hand as she reached the flight deck, and had the deck officer point her to the fighter.

[member="Nubica Felidae"] [member="Dax Ragnar"] [member="Coren Starchaser"]

 

[Ostdern Mastogar]

Ostdern approached the room with a glum face. He'd just finished training for the day and decided to join this pilot academy. He was a natural B-Wing pilot as well as a Jedi Padawan. He appeared in the room almost unnoticed. He tapped the shoulder of a man.
"Excuse me, are you [member="Coren Starchaser"]? I'm Ostdern Mastogar, Jedi Padawan and B-Wing ace."

 

[Coren Starchaser]

The briefing would be in full swing when the rest of the team showed up. Coren was explaining the finer points of laser tag. The blasts would be lights flashing from the fighters, and there would be signals to signify missile launches. It was a war game, after all, no need for real weapons, but there was something to be said for getting out of a simulator and getting into an actual fighter. He nodded at the rest of the group as they showed up.

“Welcome to the party, Mastogar. And yeah, I’m Starchaser. B-Wings? Lovely fighters.” He grinned. “Alliance is using them pretty heavily. A lot better than the Y-Wings.” He nodded and pointed to the seats.

“What’ll happen is you’re going to be getting a tag on your ship, they’re all out there. Some of you, Nubica, Dax, Osterdern, will be playing the parts of the Alliance, Rekha and myself will be playing the parts of the enemy.” He had an Exalt to fly, and he’d see what Rekha had opted for. It was Coren, so he had a lot of other fighters lying around, including additional Exalts. They were a great fighter.

What was happening now, though, instead of Corey writing the most bass-ackwards post ever, was that Coren was on his way to his Exalt. Fighter helmet under his arm as he looked at the deck officer and nodded. When was the last time he had flown in a TIE fighter? Too long ago.

“Alright, Ops teams, we’re clear to launch. And if it gets hairy out there for real, I’ll call in a no-drill. We’ll move you guys back to the flight deck and put you in something with actual missiles. You’ll have your lasers for certain if anything does go wrong, but we’re running low on missiles, so we didn’t stock them yet. Just stick to your crews and we’ll be good.” He warmed up his engines and lifted the Exalt from the deck, the whine of the twin-ion-engines filling the air as he pulled her from the Nebuon B9 Trainer.

There was a small moon and a lot of space debris around, it was a wonderful place.

A central satellite was being designated as the objective. Rekha and Coren were going to be attempting to take the derelict station, and the rest would need to be defending against them. Well, them and the drones. There were a few drones that could signify and mimic TIE fighters.

It was going to be fun.

[member="Ostdern Mastogar"]
[member="Rekha Kaarde"]
[member="Nubica Felidae"]
[member="Dax Ragnar"]

 

[Rekha Kaarde]

[SIZE=12pt]She heard it, she got to play the enemy today, “woo hoo” putting her helmet to her mouth, “Loookke I am your father” She wiggled her eyebrows then dropped the helmet.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She got to chase them for a change. Fething time.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She headed to the ship, bouncing along the way. She had a song in hear head, she had returned from Kelada trying to put the thoughts away, and concentrate on tasks.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]She climbed into the fighter, an X wing, which she loved. She flipped the switches, checked the gauges and put her stuffed ewok on the control panel, “ok baby let’s play huh” She throttled up, and pushed the ship out gently.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]Once into free space she locked the X wing into position.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt]“Ok [member="Coren Starchaser"] I’m switching frequencies” She was switching to a private to make sure she had all the details she needed, and exactly how much he wanted her to chase them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=12pt][member="Ostdern Mastogar"][/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt][member="Nubica Felidae"][/SIZE]
[SIZE=12pt][member="Dax Ragnar"][/SIZE]

 

[Nubica Felidae]

Nubica listened to the rules. She’d flown in simulators before but never used real ships in this way. She nodded her appreciation at the approach.

She duly noted her role — to be one of the Alliance fighters and she looked at those she was to be working with. And also who they’d be up against.

She accompanied the other pilots down to the hangar and was slightly envious of Rekha, who got to fly in one of the X-wings. But this was a training exercise, so she looked at the A-wings on offer and then looked across the floor of the hangar, cluttered with tools and repair carts. Beyond them was the rectangle of lights outlining the hangar's magnetic containment field. Beyond that, dim because of the hangar's light, were stars.

At the foot of the ladder to her A-wing cockpit, she put on her helmet and turned to face the ship. It had laser scoring all over her hull. She ignored this and climbed on board and within moments was out in space. On her sensor board, the ‘enemy’ had a commanding lead; and her team-mates were just forming up.

[member="Rekha Kaarde"] - [member="Coren Starchaser"] - [member="Ostdern Mastogar"] - [member="Dax Ragnar"]