*** 0800 Galactic Standard Time ***


First Lieutenant Stormz slowly strode into the training room. It was the first day for his new training program and he was excited to get started. He was praised to have a pair of recruits that could hold up to the challenge of being in a squadron.

The Wookiee took his place, standing in front of a gigantic holo-board. The board was black, however after the press of a button, the layout and schematics of a TIE Interceptor appeared.

[Good morrning gentlemen,] Growled the Lieutenant. [Welcome to RRaptorr Squadrron. By sitting in this rroom, you have shown that you have the potential of being an elite pilot. One of the few who arre prrivileged enough to fly a TIE Interceptor.]

Turning around to face the board, Stormz began giving information on the TIE Interceptor. Two hours later, the lecture finished. IG-88719 and Searchboy put their datapads in their bag and took a short break.

[Meet Warrant Officer Hunter and I in the simulation room in one standard hour,] Stormz informed them before leaving.

*** 0900 Galatic Standard Time ***

Stormz arrived in the simulation room, walked over to an oversized simulator, the one specifically designed for him, and began his next lecture. Every switch, pedal, joystick, and button was discussed prior to hopping in one.

[I can not emphasize the imporrtance of safety in one of these simulatorrs. They arre not toys, simulatorrs arre a dirrect rreprresentation of a rreal TIE, when you finish this exerrcise, I am rrequirring you to take no less than fourr hourrs of rrest beforre engaging in activities. Arre therre any questions?]

The small group remained silent before the order to get in their respective simulators was given.

OOC:

Alright Raptor squadron, I would like no less than two (2) posts from each of you. First, you need to develop your character during the lecture at 0800.

Do NOT double post, wait for your squadmate (AKA Hunter, IG, Searchboy, or myself) to post again before you post your second time.

Second post will be of the simulation. Remember, we haven't started yet so you shouldn't post anything about the simulator until after Hunter or I have moved the story on.

Have fun guys.

When the lecture started, Searchboy immediately started getting bored. After about ten minutes in he fell asleep. He dreamed of being in that tie interceptor and destroying New Republic fighters. Right when he was about to destroy the president's ship when IG88 E awoke him from his slumber.
IG88 E told Searchboy "you really need to stay awake if you want to graduate". Then handed him a notes card of what he missed."
Searchboy just frowned and asked how long he has been asleep. IG88 E was too into the lecture for him to recognize that Searchboy was talking to him.
Then the big Wookie said "Meet Warrant Officer and I in one standard hour."
Searchboy got up and headed toward his quarters to start getting ready for the simulator.

Tycho sat down in the briefing room. The room was darkened save for lighting that came from a holoprojector. A TIE Interceptor lay floating in the air. Craning his head side to side, Tycho surveyed the trainees of Raptor Squadron. As the room was built much like a holovid theater, the seating slanting downward towards the center of the room, Tycho could only make out the two trainees next to him. One seemed to be a droid after the IG-88 line. The other was a human who looked like he was about to fall asleep.

Suddenly, a side door opened and a figure strode into the room. The merchant man's son turned his attention away from fellow students and onto the Instructor. In a pleasantly surprised sort of way, Tycho saw that the Instructor was a Wookiee. When he had been on board his father's ships Tycho had had the chance to meet and talk with many Wookiees. They had a most fascinating culture and he always enjoyed talking with them. For he had picked up Shyriiwook, meaning tongue of the tree people, among other trade languages, such as Huttese. Of course he could not speak it very well at all. In fact he only knew how to say the most basic forms of greetings. And even that was a challenge. However, he understood the language nearly perfectly. Usually, business would be conducted with one party speaking Shyriiwook and the other Basic. As Wookiees found it just as hard to speak Basic as humans did of their language.

As the Wookiee spoke, Tycho listened to him, not needing the translation that appeared on his datapad.

" [The TIE Interceptor carries two P-s5.6 Ion engines. These engines are rated at a 175 KTU, making the Interceptor one of the fastest fighters in the galaxy. It has four blaster cannons, which, when combined with the T-s9a targeting computer, allows for excellent accuracy and fire rate. The downfalls of the Interceptor are twofold. It has no hyperdrive so it must remain tied to the fleet. In addition, it has no deflector shields. This puts  a great emphasis on making the pilot understand that they must take out the enemy first, otherwise they are more likely to be hit and consequently die.

Now, the primary function of the Interceptor is as an air to air fighter. The Interceptors typically take on the other fighters, while the bombers roll in to destroy the heavy targets.]"

The Instructor continued for a long while, recounting all the specs on the Interceptor and explaining its role and how to fly it. Tycho had known beforehand a little of this information, as he had read up on it before enlisting. Although the Interceptor was a good craft, Shorn preferred the I-7 Howlrunner. The I-7 was in many ways superior to the TIE. Mainly in the fact that it had deflector shields. However it too had its downfalls. Being woefully inadequate for one on one dogfights, because of its pathetic laser cannons. Tycho surmised that if those could be upgraded and the targeting system was fixed, then it would be a formidable opponent.

As the briefing came to a close, the trainees all stood up and began to file out. The Instructor growled to them all.

" [Meet Warrant Officer Hunter and I in the simulation room in one standard hour.]" Said the Wookiee.

When Tycho was passing him on the way out he said in Shyriiwook. " ur oh, Kabukk" Which translated roughly into. " Thank you, sir."

As Shorn went and began to prepare for the simulator, he thought about his life so far. Growing up he had always loved piloting starships, or anything that went faster than two hundred meters an hour. Knowing that he was going to be piloting one of the fastest starfighters in the galaxy sent chills through him.

Getting to the academy had been...difficult, to say the least. His father had vehemently disapproved of Tycho joining what he called a " Tyrannical power that is trying to enslave the galaxy." Despite Shorn's protests and pleas to look at the state of the New Republic's corrupted senators. His brother had been worse. The man had sworn to join the New Republic so he could have the pleasure of shooting down such a traitor. His older brother had been indifferent, continuing the family business without care. Tycho's sister had been the only one who saw as he saw. But recently she had become troubled.

Shorn sighed as he walked along the halls, but brightened as he thought about the prospective day. He was going to get to pilot an Interceptor...even if it was just a simulator. Yes, things were looking up.

OOC:

Word count is 788

Tycho got into position behind his squadron leader. Despite the fact that it was just a simulator, it felt eerily real. Shorn had piloted many ships in his father's merchant fleet. He had also piloted an old Headhunter. But none of those compared with the grace that the Interceptor possessed. Its speed and maneuverability were excellent. It also boasted of those six lasers. A fighter to be feared. Now that a deflector shield had been installed in the TIES, they were more capable than ever. Shorn thought back to his past. Where he had piloted ships and speeders. He loved the feeling of speed. You could just breeze by at 1000kph with not a care in the world.

The young aviator flipped some of the switches inside the cockpit. Before he began to run through a standard checking procedure.

"Weapons are go. Engines are keeping stable. Cockpit pressure is maintained. Hydraulics systems are all functioning fine. Solar panels ready for intake. Check on all systems. All systems go."

Searchboy chimed in "Lets kick the tires and light the fires."

"This is the bridge. Roger on that one, Raptor 3. Your systems are good to go. Raptor Squadron, your good to go."

Then Tycho checked in to the squadron com channel "This is Raptor three on standbye. Fangs out!"

Instructor Stormz voice came in through the com "[Rrogerr that Rraptorr thrree. Closing in on the hostiles.]"

The merchant man's son checked his weapons again. Everything seemed to be in order. They were closing in fast on the enemy fighters. Tycho took a deep breath of the pure oxygen that was fed into his helmet. Everything in the simulator was maximized to provide a sense of reality. Including hydraulics that moved the simulator pod from side to side, made it shudder, and generally provided a realistic feeling. Shorn was illuminated in the cockpit by the light of the control panels. It was strange to see the enemy fighters racing towards him. And yet...in the cockpit it was calm and serene. Tycho felt a sense of immortality and invulnerability. He would not lose today. Then he felt the rush of adrenaline as he prepared to engage the fighters. But even through the adrenaline, he kept his calm. It was strange. Suddenly, he was in the midst of it.

Two X-wings were in front of him, coming straight at him. Tycho opened up the com.

"This is Raptor three, I have two fighters incoming. Engaging!"

Shorn fired once and green lasers sprayed at the incoming fighters, who broke off and began to come around in a pincer movement. One on each side. Tycho slammed the yoke into him and pulled the Interceptor so that it speeded up and away from the two fighters. They criss-crossed the place where he should have been and then began to come back around, coming straight at him from either side. Tycho waited until the stream of red x-wing lasers was almost on him. Then he cut the engine. His Interceptor stopped dead in space. And the two X-wings whizzed by him. Too late the lagging enemy pilot realized that he had overshot. Then Tycho kicked in the engines and opened up a stream of green lasers. His finger rapidly tapped the trigger on the yoke as he sent bolt after bolt slamming into the X-wing. His targeting computer helping him immensely. Then the X-wing's shields gave out and Tycho sent to bursts straight into the back of the engines.

"Splash one, splash one!" Tycho called into the com. As his kill exploded in space. The Interceptor shuddered slightly as the pilot sped through the fireball.

Across the came came other calls as the trainee squadron began to engage the teeming mass of X-wings. Tycho swiveled his head from side to side. Trying to stare out the constricting viewport. "Where had the second X-wing gone?" Then he saw it. To the right and a little above him. The enemy fighter was coming in fast. Then they were going through a scissors maneuver. They began to go into a series of turn reversals. The the object of this was to force the overshooting attacker out in front to a position of disadvantage. The inital turn was reversed when the attacker has definitely overshot and has drifted sufficiently wide as to prevent him from pulling back into the cone of vulnerability when the defender reverses. Timing the reversals was absolutely critical. The basic rule was that if the attacker is overshooting fast, reverse early, but if he is drifting slowly wide, take time and make sure. Tycho checked the speed of the enemy fighter. He was drifting in slowly. The pilot must have been cautious of overshooting again. Shorn bided his time. Making sure that he timed everything correctly. They wove in and out, over and over again. The two fighters fell into a stalemate. Tycho kept his calm and pulled out, flying away and around. The attacker fell in behind him. Shorn thought through the maneuvers and then pulled up high. The yoke hit him in the gut he was pulling it so hard. Then he jammed it back down. As he had expected the enemy fighter had braked hard in an attempt to go after Tycho, but now the enemy fighter was overshot and below him. With a flick of a switch, Tycho armed his lasers and came down from the black space. Green lasers pounded the X-wing until the shields gave out and the craft was ripped into slag.

He called into the com "Bandit down!"

The black space was tracked with laser fire and fighters that sped along. Shorn breathed hard from the maneuvers he had just pulled. He stared out into space. Suddenly, alarms began to sound as someone began to lock on to him.

"This is Raptor 3, I have one on my tail! Someone check my six!"

Tycho jinked left and then yawed up. He skidded. Still the attacker was on his tail! Shorn tried a breaking maneuver. This was used when an attacker is first seen or is already in the cone of vulnerability. Its purpose is twofold: to spoil the attacker's aim and to force him to overshoot. The break is always made towars the direction of attack. This generates "angle-off" as quickly as possible which makes the defender a difficult target. The attacker may be able to cut inside the turn but he is forced to pull lead. To do this he must tighten his turn, which increases his angle of attack. Unfortunately for Tycho, the enemy pilot was able to tighten his turn. The trainee pilot swore.

"Agh, No Joy. I can't shake him!"

Searchboy yelled into the com "Ya! Don't sound so desperate Cipher. This is intense!"

"Sorry Searchboy, my fun meter is pegged."

Stormz came in over the com "[I have him in my sights. Rroll left....NOW!]"

With a flick of his hand the Interceptor rolled to the left. This cleared Stormz for fire.  Tycho watched as the X-wing went down amid a halo of fire.

"Thanks for the save Raptor 1."

Scanning the space around him, Tycho looked for an open target. Below him was an X-wing on IG's tail. Shorn dove down and went into a lag pursuit. This maneuver was typically used when the primary cause of overshooting is excess speed. Basically, it consists of maintaining position astern, but outside the turn radius of the defending fighter. In this manner both speed advantage and initiative are retained, the attacker matching the defender's rate of turn in degrees per second while remaining concealed in the blind spot beneath the defender's engine. Lag pursuit is best countered by tightening the turn into a spiral dive. The temptation for the defending pilot is to reverse and commence scissoring, but that was a good way to die if the attacker is on his game. However, the enemy pulled right, instead of scissoring left. Tycho cursed as the enemy spacecraft performed a loop and then went into a high g barrel roll to arrive on his six.

"Stang! This is a knife fight in a phone booth!"

Shorn went into the most complex maneuver he had done yet. It was complex in its execution, but simple in what it did. Simple because Tycho had invented the maneuver when he was a kid. Tycho put the engines in as close to stalling as the could go. Then he did an extremely tight loop with the Interceptor. The post stall made the actual doing of the loop go slow, but when Tycho saw the enemy pilot fly past him, he knew he had won. The merchant man's son came out of the loop, lasers blazing. Another explosion, another kill.

"Bagged a bogey."

The excitement of the furball engulfed him. He had, as he said before, fangs out. Which was driver (pilot) slang for someone who was excited for the dogfight. Tycho looked around to see how far the fight had progressed-

OOC:

Word count is 1513