The quiet hum of the simulation diagnostic computers filled the training room. Anden stood next to D4 as the droid prepared the training session. The short droid's domed swiveled as it beep out short responses to him and he nodded. The second flight of Viper squadron was now only one man short of being full and Anden wanted to make sure they learned, really learned how to fly well together.


He had yet to fly with either one of the pilots, even though he knew they were capable and competent pilots, he wanted to make sure they had enough time together in actual training so that they would be prepared for when the squadron was called in for a mission. He had already sent out messages to both of the members in his Flight. As he watched the screen of streaming information the astromech droid finished up the last pieces of the simulation, the training room door hissed as it raised off the floor and Anden's other personal droid walked in the room.


“Blux Seven” Anden said nodding to the droid as it began making it way over. Anden had acquired the droid on one of his little excursions with his old wing mate, Phineus. The droid was very capable and dependable for how slow he moved and Anden was glad he had been able to get the humanoid droid out of the situation it had been in.


Blux had been given regular memory wipes in an effort to keep it from becoming to “opinionated and troublesome” as it's previous master had implied. Anden was of a different mind on such matters and if he had anything to do with it Blux would serve out the rest of it's days with all the memories it wanted. Such practice had made R7-D4 even more productive and efficient than the day he had first been purchased.


“Sir, your shuttle is fully prepared for your trip.” The droid said as it's servomotors whirred in movement.


“Very good, and the items for my Parents, are they also on board the ship.” Anden inquired looking momentarily at the training monitors.


He had found a few select parts that his father had been unable to find to repair a certainly out-dated ship he was repairing. Those parts along with a few extra surprises for his mother and father would be going with him on his first trip home since he had entered the Naval Academy. And it was a trip that he hoped he would be able to make soon.


“Affirmative. They have been stored in the required storing procedures to ensure they are safe and undamaged.” the droid responded dutifully.


Anden smiled and nodded to the droid, “Thanks Blux, I will be sure to let you know when I need you again.”


The training door slid open again the other two members of Flight two came in the door and looking eager and ready for action. Anden could tell right away that a training exercise was something that was strongly needed if he were keep their minds sharp. The last thing he wanted was to have the members of his Flight become complacent from the result of negligence on his part.


Ryno looked particularly ready for some action. Fulfiller still looked a little worn from have made it through the ordeal in the Hangar not too long ago. Anden himself had spent hours in the Bacta tanks, and had come so very close to needing a mechanical leg after it was pierced by a pipe. It was still stiff and gave him a short limp so he had been going through a goos amount of strength training to bring It back to full mobility.


Blux turned and made his way out of the room and went of to go do whatever he wanted- something Anden was sure it was still getting used to.


He turned his attention to the pilots, “All right- first things first- Ryno, welcome to the squadron.” he  began nodding to Ryno,  “This is your first chance to show us what you are made of...don't go messing it up.” he said with a smile.


“Now this is our first time flying together, and I want us ready for the next mission so lets get on to the good stuff.”


He walked over to one of the simulation pods and pressed a button to open the pods cockpit,  “R4 has created a number of simulations from handful of training exercises and actual missions.” The droid gave a whistle in confirmation, “I will be in the same boat as you as far as knowing what is to come. Nothing. Once we are all ready the simulation will begin with a brief description of the sim we will be attempting to complete.”


Anden waited a few moments, “Any questions?”

"I do. These pods won't blow up on us, will they?" Fulfiller said, a smile already starting before the sentence was even complete.


Anden laughed out right as he began to get into the simulation pod, “Only for rookie pilots.”


He back to Fulfiller and Ryno and laughed again at the momentary look of shock on Ryno's face. The look quickly faded away, but Anden was reminded in that short moment not too long ago when he had been the rookie. It was an odd feeling to think that he was supposed to be one of the leaders of Viper. Because in reality it was in fact a very short time ago he had been in Ryno's shoes. He reached down to activate the simulation pod.


“Well,.....what are you boys waiting for?” he asked as the cockpit began to close. He caught the last glimpse of the pilots look at each other briefly and then turn on their heels to head towards their own pods.


Anden put on his communications head set, “Begin loading sequence D4 as soon as I give you notice.”


The droid answered with a short positive beep as the cockpit view of a Tie filled his view. The twin ion-engine became a constant as the space simulation displayed. He tested the controls and waited as he scanned his sensors to see when his other flight members came on. Once he could read them, he spoke through his com. For now they were only flying in empty space, once they were all in formation he would signal D4.


“Alright men, Form up.”


Saying those words for the first time brought back the memory of when he had left home and family and joined the Naval Academy. He had barely believed it that day while his father and he where at work when the navy recruitment officer had come to see Anden. It had been four years from the time that he had finished making his own starfighters and flown in it every chance he had. He had always wanted to be a pilot- but his application to the academy had never been accepted in those four years. Then all of the sudden- and officer had come by in person in reply to his latest application with the offer of acceptance.


That day seemed so long ago now that even his time at the Academy seemed years and years ago. He smiled as the two pilots voices echoed back to him, with Fulfiller answering first, “Roger.” followed shortly by Ryno, “Forming up now.”

As if things were getting a little better, getting adjusted to the simulation seat was a bit unsettling for Lukas as he was a tall man to begin with. However, after shifting his form a few times, he managed to fit himself into the seat and smiled to know that he did himself some justice. The cockpit was sealed shut as the training simulator was activated from the outside, the familiar form of a TIE Fighter cockpit now visible to his eyes. Now, this was going to be fun, he thought to himself before an unknown filled his com with excitement.

“Whoa!”

Realizing who it was, Lukas spoke through the com to his newest teammate. “Never been in a simulator have you?” Fulfiller said, chiming in.

“Nope, my version of a simulator was driving the 'ole YT around the family headquarters.” Jacen was grinning from ear to ear.

“Well, if you two are done chatting, shall we get on with it.” Anden said as the exercise was about to begin.

Swallowing his tongue, Lukas smiled as he steered his Fighter slowly towards Anden to bring formation into play, noticing a bit that Jacen was doing so as well. Flight Two should be a formidable bunch of pilots, and if the exercise went well, then they would know where they truly stood as pilots of Viper Squadron. In a way, Lukas and Anden were already proven to be good pilots, and Jacen was improving, according to the reports. This should be fun for all involved.

The tension coming from Ryno was palpable. But it wasn't a bad tension- at least not yet. Anden could tell that Ryno wanted to prove that he was a good pilot. What he decided to do with that tension would be the deciding factor whether or not it would aid him as a pilot. The display screen brought up a notice of objectives for the first of the training exercises.

. . . Mission Setting:: Flight will be performing Routine Checks of outpost platform after being deployed from Escort Carrier. PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: Check storage containers for any unexpected cargo. Protect platform against any intruders.

Please Note:: there is no back up available. . .

Immediately following the the display of the exercise setting, the simulation loaded in their individual settings. “Wonderful D4,” Anden thought to himself, “Nice way to bore 'em to death.”

Anden quickly glanced at his flight map and noted that Fulfiller and Ryno were still holding tight formation. “Fulfiller and Ryno, you will identify all containers with the first designation D, I will check the C containers and mack contact with the platform.” As he gave the command, a list had been loaded onto their computer systems of the cargo the containers were supposed to have loaded in them.

Double clicks came through comm from both Fulfiller and Ryno and Anden watched as they broke off to do check their containers. The Two pilots chatted away about this and that, but not over excessively. Anden opened com to the platform and keyed Ryno and Fulfiller so that they would be able to hear.

“Platform Haven....This is Viper 5....please report your status, over.”

There was an abnormally long pause as Anden started checking the contents of the first row, when broken sounds came through over the com. Anden could hear Fulfiller and Ryno both go silent as they listened to the sounds which had already broken into static. After trying a few more times, the static went silent and the silence was not giving off a good feeling to his stomach.

“Keep your eyes open and a tight eye on you in-flight maps. This doesn't look good.” Anden said over the com.

Yeah....no need to state the obvious. Anden thought to himself. It was one of those missions or assignments that could easily become a bore. Routine check in a remote outlying system. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yet anything could happen- and then it did.

“Anden...looks like we have something.” Fulfiller spoke up. The tone in his voice was easy enough to read, “High grade explosives.... two containers, I ma guessing that these aren't suppose to be here.”

“I'd say that would be a good assumption.” Anden replied back, knowing that from the list, “Platform Haven do you copy?”

That was when Anden noticed two ships leaving the Platform hangar. They were X-wing class. Simultaneously- another two X-wings entered into normal space 7 klicks away from the platform. Anden decided quickly that he would take the two inbound from the silent platform. They would be the more advanced pilots if they had been chosen to take on the boarding.

“Fulfiller, Ryno...you take care of the X-wings that just exited hyperspace. I'll take care of these guys. And let's remember to watch our fire boys, don't know about you- but I don't feel like seeing just how high grade those explosives are.”

“You got it.” Ryno chimed in, “Let's do this.”

Anden pulled his fighter around to face the oncoming X-wings head on and watched his flight mates heading in the opposite direction to take out the other two bogeys. Anden had faced more than one enemy at a time before and he wondered just how good D4 had made them. He also wanted to see how well Fulfiller and Ryno would work together.

It felt so real. Jacen was surprised at the realistic feeling, regardless of it being a simulator he could feel the adrenaline rushing.

“Roger...” Ryno replied. His hand gripping the control stick tighter, they were going minimum speed so control wasn't an issue, nerves were. Unless he got over it, he knew he could endanger the whole mission, either that or end up risking his wing mate's lives.

Jacen kept looking down at his radar, the blimps were getting closer. He looked up to see the feint shape of an X in the distance, Guess that's why they call them X wings....

AS they drew closer he kept his fighter as level as possible, adrenaline kept him from going insane; he was using it to keep himself on target. He kept his lasers in singles shot, it made them fire faster and conserved power at the same time. He checked his speed and then went back to watching his flight pattern.

Flashes of light flew towards the X-wing on the right side of Ryno's cockpit view. They flew straight and hit the closest X-wing. Almost five seconds after Lukas veered off. Ryno followed suit, he missed both his shots and then veered off, jerking the TIE with a lot of force.. His aim wasn't even to hit it, just send off a couple warning shot's. The X-wing dived low and turned off to the left.

He checked his radar, the X wings were following suit, if this worked right they shouldn't have much trouble, then they could finish this mission as fast as possible, unless they ran into more trouble.

“Alright Ryno, let's see if you know how to do this.” Lukas was speeding off, his ion engines slightly visible in the blackness, the x-wing just behind him, slightly off to the right. It was going to be hard to manuever considering they were going slightly faster than he was, and the X-wing he had just confused was now catching up. shoot, now what? He didn't have time to get in behind the first X-wing and fire off a couple shots, if he did the other one would consume him in mere seconds. Fierfek

“Fulfiller, got to pull out.” Ryno rolled to the right and dove downward. Hoping the X-wing would follow him. It did. Now let's see here. Ryno kept his bath, he hadn't figured it out yet, but he had ruined their original plan. come on... I can't do everything alone. TIE's weren't meant for on on one combat.

Ryno pulled up and rolled slightly to the left, the X-wing was having a difficult time keeping up. At least he hasn't gotten a lock yet. He continued to weave and divert, hoping that he wouldn't get a lock.

“Alright, I'm going to try this again.” Ryno pulled back up and got a better view of Fulfiller, and his nemesis. Ryno looked down and increased his speed, his chaser had diverted off, chances are they were planning something over their own.

Jacen got up behind the first X-wing and fired off two shots, the laser's phased as they hit the shields of the X-wing. He checked the readouts on his monitors and saw his shields had dropped twenty percent, this was going to be harder than it looked.

It was harder than Jacen had expected, he couldn't fire off enough shots to take the x-wing low enough for a fatal blow. He was going to have to think fast, or the second X-wing would be barreling down no him, which would end the mission for all of them. don't panic now Jacen, your doing fine.


“Fulfiller I can't...” That's when it hit him, he would have to execute this fast or they would both end up dead, or one of them would. Either way, they would have a fighting chance. “Fulfiller, this maybe a shot in the dark, but try and execute a High-G, I'll see if I can hit the Main drive, and I think you know what that'll do.”

There was a long pause, and then fulfiller came back on the line. “It's worth a shot, if it doesn't work, we might have to try something else. Roger that, get ready.” Fulfiller's line went dead and static filled the cockpit of the simulated TIE.

I hope this works. Jacen kept an eye on the x-wing in front of him, and the X-wing behind him, this would have to be fast or Jacen would be out of the simulation. He held steady, increasing his speed slowly, hoping to get a better distance between him and the second X-wing.

“Alright, here it goes.” Fulfiller speed up a couple knots, and quickly turned, because of the distance chances are the X-wing wasn't going to end up in front like normal, but it would give Jacen the view he needed, but he was going to have to aim fast.

He went through the target display and searched for the main drive, when he found it he kept on it. It would give him a better chance of hitting it. hold it. It was starting to happen so fast, Fulfiller turned, and the x-wing followed. Without even realizing it fulfiller started the barrel roll and kept going. The X-wing followed and soon Jacen could see the main drive. It was going to be a difficult shot, but he had to try.

“Here it goes!” Jacen punched the trigger, light erupted out and before he could even register it it contacted with the X-wing, he continued to keep on, trying to keep up as best he could. He watched as the shields dropped. He let off the trigger and watched as the last laser struck the X-wing, followed by a orange and white explosion.

“WHOO HOO!!!”

“Don't get to excited we still have one more to guy to take care of.”

“Yea.” Jacen went back and checked his radar, the X-wing had lost some ground. They probably should have executed something straight after the High g, but they hadn't planned ahead. Still it shouldn't be a problem, hopefully.

OOC:

I don't know if this was going to work... so if you think i should change it, let me know.

The sound of his boots clank-clanging against the cold, hard ground. The squeeling and rolling of T3's wheels following at his side. The feeling of being apart of something greater than himself again. He missed it. The familiar faces passed him as he took the turns towards the all-too-well known training room where a few other pilots have gathered, and had already begun their training op. How will they treat him now, after being gone for so many months? Will they look down on him for abandoning them for so long? Or welcome him like a long lost brother. He had hoped for the latter, and was about to find out.

Some beeps and boops spewed from TK's voice mod, "Hah, that would be funny," Phineus Gage replied, "but no, we can't pull any pranks... yet.. I don't even know if I'm welcomed here or not, but keep that one in mind."

He spotted the entrance to the training simulator room, and noticed D4 keeping a watchful eye over the monitors. Phin wondered if the little droid would even remember him and his friendship with Anden, which has been strained itself, or if Anden had given the droid a memory wipe.

"D4," Phin began confidently, not slowing his stride as he made his way to the lone empty simulator, "Set me up on Sim TS dash One-Six. Send out a message on the HUD system informing the others of a friendly, but let's keep my identity a secret for now, shall we?"

Phineus suited himself up in the training sim, which offered an unusual sense of belonging. It all felt, for the most brief of moments, a bit foreign to him, but he quickly adapted. He felt like he was back where he should be. He was eerily anxious to show his old comrades how much better of a pilot he had become since he last left, and desperatley wanted to sincerely apoligize to Ibram. Their last encounter was a bit off, but the story that carried it's weight with Phin would hopefully explain, and make up for, his rude, not-like-him actions.

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

Anden smeared the sweat from his forehead into his eyes, the stress was beginning to get to him. He was having difficulty shaking the fighter behind him, and was making preperations to make his move, whether it was at the right time or not, he needed to make it. An unfamiliar blip popped up onto his radar, directly behind his enemy pilot and quickly approaching. The blip was marked as friendly, but he was born without an identity, only "TS-1-6."

"You're gonna want to barrell roll to your left in about," Phineus chimed over the com, "T-minus twenty-seven seconds."

The voice immediatley clicked in Anden's head, but there was something different about it. Something so small it left a large stain. It altered slightly.

"Who is this," Anden inquired, "and why aren't you identified?"

Phineus let out a short laugh, calculating still in his head, making preperations, "What's the matter bud, don't reconize an old friend? You've got four seconds."

Anden's mind was confused still. The voice spat out confidence, but at the same time it carried youth. Who was it?

Anden's mind hit five seconds, and immediatley rolled to his left as he felt the thudder of his craft shake. A bright orange and burnt red fireball flew past him, as the friendly aircraft flew right above at top speed.

"Woohoo!!" Phin exclaimed.

Anden's mind clicked. He'd notice that shout of excitement anywhere. "You're back kid!" He returned.

But Phin still contemplated, what did Anden think of him since he left the Navy on leave? Abandoning the others so abruptly. He would find out soon however, since he was back in the game...


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