"Raptor One, you may proceed", a male voice announced through the comm system. "Roger that HQ, Raptor One now commencing its attack run", was Ensign Seth Qorbin's calm reply. The blond Human male powered up his assigned Interceptor's engines and the ship started moving through the otherwise empty space, slow at first but quickly picking up speed. A lot of speed. Then the Interceptor entered Abrae's atmosphere where the craft's shields flared up briefly before forcing the Interceptor to permanently slow down given the air resistance and moon's gravitational pull.

Qorbin did not particularly like Abrae - homebase of the Vast Empire's Navy - thinking the oversized rock was too rigid, barren, cold and generally lifeless for his tastes. There were only two things that the pilot liked about the small moon and that he could not easily find anywhere else - the first was the asteroid belt nearby, a place that aside from the natural dangers it possessed was further still enhanced by the VEN through hidden drones, mines and other defense platforms.

The second thing Seth rather enjoyed when in the vicinity of the Vectra System was "The Trench" - a narrow canyon on Abrae that the boys and girls at the Academy decided to turn into a training location for its cadets... the more experienced cadets that is. The medium sized strip of nothing was almost always changing however, be it because of planetary tremors, the weather suddenly getting colder or warmer or of course the VEN "improving it" with a controlled explosion here, an accidental crash there, some experimental weapon test somewhere else...

This sort of changing scenery rather appealed to Seth Qorbin, a pilot always in search of a good challenge. The man's eagerness to brace "The Trench" every time he had a chance to was well known and it was partly the reason for which the VENA staff asked him to do a little demonstration that would be recorded and shown to following classes of cadets. It was sort of a win-win proposal: VENA's cadets would end up learning a few new skills from a veteran pilot and the latter would get to brag about his performance for years to come...

"Raptor One now entering the Trench", Seth announced and barrel rolled into the narrow gorge. The man could've just descended normally - as most pilots would've and as the staff asked him to as well - but the Ensign figured a more flashy entrance would have a higher impact on whoever would eventually watch this exercise.

"Raptor One now making its way to the first target", the Navy officer paused to check his scanners "Thirty seconds to first target." Rather than just keep a steady flight till then, the man instead enjoyed a series of spins and dives, once getting as close to maybe 10 meters or so to the surface. Had the terrain been smoother Seth would've dared to go even lower but the unsteady and unpredictable nature of his surroundings forced the pilot to think twice before truly risking his life for something that in the end was rather foolish anyway.

"Target One acquired", Seth mentioned as he got a visual confirmation for the first target he was supposed to attack - three armored transports that although were busted up and no longer functional, still possessed all their armor. "Raptor One engaging", Qorbin announced and began firing his lasers in rapid succession, making sure to ever so slightly nudge the yoke from left to right so as to ensure the shots would not only keep a straight line but would also be even closer together than they would've been had he just strafed normally.

The first transport was hit twice, the second three times and the last was hit only once, but with a quadruple-linked blast. The Onderonian pilot smiled and wondered just how many young minds would be impressed by him showing off like that... "Target One destroyed, Raptor One now moving to second target", Seth spoke but made sure to sound as calm and relaxed as normal.. something that was not hard at all truth be told.

"Raptor One has visual confirmation of Target Two", the pilot reported once five distinct tents and infantry positions were in sight. Like before the man opened fire, managing to hit four of the five targets but failing to hit the fifth given his speed and the fact he had not bothered slowing down first. Frak! the man cursed but immediately thought of something, pulling up on the yoke and forcing his fighter in an inside loop maneuver. Just as he was finishing, the experienced pilot used the temporary decrease in speed to aim and take out the elusive fifth target before shooting off at regular speed once more.

"Target two destroyed, Raptor One now moving to third target. ETA: fifteen seconds." True enough, fifteen seconds later the man was able to see his third target: an entire camp with a few tents, some cheap looking buildings, a few speeders, a tank and a couple of transports - all of them inside a circular perimeter and with most elements betraying Republic origins, including a few flags that were even less subtle about it...

As much as these small things amused Seth, the man knew he had to remain clearheaded and think on the job at hand. The man squeezed the trigger and shot a few laser bolts, not particularly aiming at anything in particular but instead watching the speed with which they propagated and the rough amount of time they required to reach their targets. Next the Ensign fired off a torpedo and before long a second one. By the time the two projectiles exploded Seth was already performing an Immelman maneuver, one meant to provide the pilot with enough altitude to allow him a sudden dive, from which he could target the remaining third of the simulated base and fire yet a third torpedo to take that out as well.

Unlike the cadets for which these exercises were created for, Qorbin already had something they did not already possess - experience. He knew how powerful concussive missiles, proton torpedoes, heavy rockets and proton bombs were. He knew how fast they were and knew which targets he had a real chance of taking out with and which he'd only just cripple or maybe simply graze in the event of a successful attack. He also knew that a single proton torpedo fired in the center of that which had until recently been known as "target three" would not have been enough to take out some of the secondary targets located closer to the sides of the canyon.

Were this a real situation then that would've perhaps not mattered as much, but being a training exercise and having the benefit of stationary targets Seth thought it would've been a shame not to take advantage and continue showing off his insane skills. That's why the man imaginary divided the whole camp into three sections and fired the first two torpedoes in the farthest ones, shooting the third from a vertical plane in the remaining one even as below him fire and ice was being blown all over the place. Training exercise or not, the sight of that maneuver succeeding was positively beautiful - or so Seth believed as he climbed back up, his shields momentarily flaring after being hit by some tiny bits of ice and other debris.

"Target three destroyed, Raptor One now moving to fourth and final target." However in order to reach that last target, the man had to first fly through an ice tunnel - which Seth did... once more spinning over and over again rather than just fly normally. "Raptor One has visual confirmation on the fourth target. Moving in for the kill."

Seth almost reached the final target - a reinforced bunker - when he noticed red laser bolts rising from the structure and heading his way. Sons of krath bitches! the pilot swore, not expecting this sort of complication, especially since he wasn't told there'd be automated defenses involved. On one hand the man knew the defenses were in all likelihood rigged so as not to fire at full power. On the other hand he also knew this made his job a whole lot more difficult.

I bet this is Trykon's doing, Seth smiled at the thought. He could just see the Chief of Naval Training smiling back at him, no doubt thinking of his surprised face when he came across the surprise. Regardless of the other man's motives - either to teach Javelin's WC a lesson or to simply make things even more interesting for the blond officer - Seth had no intention of giving up and admitting defeat. Especially given his perfect run thus far.

First the man pulled on the yoke and climbed abruptly, stopping just short of leaving "The Trench" - doing so would've counted as a mission failure after all. Next he flipped his Interceptor upside down so as to have a better line of sight of the bunker below and any shots coming his way. He zigzagged his way until he was just on top of the target structure and then the man dived, every so often spinning suddenly so as to avoid a rogue hit.

He fired a few shots of his own, knowing full well that even if they wouldn't actually damage the structure, they would at least show him roughly where the last proton torpedo would strike. Most pilots would've simply relied on their scanners but doing so would've required them to momentarily look away from the cockpit and a single moment could very well make the difference between seeing a new shot... and failing to notice it until it would be too late.

In space battles things were a lot simpler - you picked a target, got up behind it and hounded it till such a time that it finally made a mistake, at which point a quadruple-linked shot or a solid missile lock would spell its demise. Ground attacks could prove far more dangerous as regular infantry held missile systems could spell the death of an unaware pilot. Plus it was a whole lot more difficult to dodge in atmosphere than it was to in open space...

You're through! Qorbin thought as he launched his final torpedo, making sure to pull up and move away as soon as he dodged another round of lasers. The good thing about automated defenses was that they always fired whenever they could so once a pilot learned their tempo it was a lot easier to dodge their strikes. "Target four..." the man began and waited a couple of seconds whilst he checked his scanners, no longer having a visual on the bunker, "...is hit but otherwise remains operational. Raptor One out of torpedoes and unable to finish mission. Returning to base", the experienced pilot calmly announced and pulled up, leaving "The Trench" behind him.

Seth didn't really know whether the bunker could've been destroyed by using two or more torpedoes or whether its armor allowed it to be destroyed at all - he studied ship weaknesses, not regular structures after all. The Ensign also was aware of an unorthodox solution that could've technically still taken out that bunker. Alas that solution involved a suicide run and since he was the only one present and also considering this was nothing but a simple exercise... Doubt I'd ever do something like that, the blond Human pondered as he flew away, heading back to the Cappadocious platform.

OOC:

WC: 1932