Leaving the breifing room, Will and Den messaged their fellow squadron mates of their new mission and asked everyone to meet in mandatory meeting in one of the brefing rooms in half an hour. Will headed to his own room to prepare for the meeting while Den went to do something else. Upon arriving in his room, Will saw that his girlfriend, Lauren, had visited him again. How does she even find out when i get a new mission? Will wondered openly.

Stepping into the room, Will found his girlfrined laying on the bed listening to the radio. "Honey, I heard that you're got another mission, so I came to wish you luck."

"Thanks, But how did you know?" Will asked, confused that his girlfriend seem to be able to hear everything in the whole universe.

"A friend of mine was passing the brefing room when you were being breifed, and notified me." Lauren answered casually.

"Alright then, Enjoy yourself While i get ready for my mission." Will said to her without looking back as he stepped into his Hawkbat Simulator to get himself warmed up with a simple flight mission.

Light turned off and the screen lighted up as Will found himself flying between squadrons of enemy fighters. His objective for this this mission was to reach the destination as quick as possible while trying to not fire. Will increased his speed as anothing squadron of droid fighters looped around to get another shot at him. Will simply dived, then did a vertical loop, and came up right behind the driod fighters. Soon, his destination was visible as Will pushed his modified Hawkbad to its limits, leaving the droid fighters behind.

Coming out of the simulator, Will saw that the bed is empty, She probably went to work, Will thought. but just as he was about to leave for the breifing room, Lauren appeared through the bathroom doorway.

"Leaving already, dear?"

"Oh, there you are, I thought you had left, so I thought I'd better go do my things as well." Will replied innocently.

"Ok, then I'll see you after your mission," Lauren came over and gave Will a goodbye kiss, "good luck."

---

Leaving the briefing room once again, this time, Will headed to the docking bays where both of his beloved fighters, Avenger and Hawkbat, are usually kept. Walking over to a technician, who seemed to be in charge of moving the several Ties from Atrus to Punisher.

"I would like both of my fighters to be moved to the Punisher, I have a feeling that I'll need both of them."

"Yes, sir. I'll order my men to move them over right away."

"Good, be careful. Although we only have so much time left, I want them to be in prime conditions when my quadron reach our destination."

"Yessir!" the technician answered obediently.

Will then went back to his room to pack for his trip. Besides his flight suit, Will also packed his AV-1S Scout armor and a couple of his blasters, incase he needs them if he decide to board the enemy command ship. Some medpacks and food rations might also be usseful if the battle drags on. After making sure that Will got everything he needed, he brought them over to the hanger and had them put inside the cargo holds of his Avenger. When he was done, it was almost time for departure. Will boarded the shuttle that was to take Kaph Squadron pilots over to the Punisher. Through one of the windows, Will saw Lauren standing next to the back wall of the hanger, waving at him.

[ooc] alright ladies and gentalmen, follow this post and hope you all enjoy the story[/ooc]

  -----------------------
-(William the Conquerer)-
We are still here because we conquered our enemies, and we shall do it again!
XO/FL/SPO Willtconq/Kaph 5/Wing I/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) [VC:B]
Rep|Int/Rep Willtconq/Rep:3/Reporters-Interviewers/VET/VE
Wm/Rep Willtconq/WM:1/Webmasters/VET/VE

Edor Taan ran his fingers through his hair, congratulating himself on getting his things packed so soon.  As a more recent recruit, he had not yet seen combat experience outside of a simulator, and was anxious and ready to fly.  As Edor took one last look around his painstakingly-kept clean quarters, he tried to remember if he had forgotten anything.  He didn't think so.  He grabbed his two small bags and headed for the hangar bay. 

He walked into the hangar where Kaph Squadron's ships were kept, and saw Will fiddling with something on one of his fighters.  A few techs were running about, getting things organized and checking on other items.  An MSE-6 droid scurried past him, headed for the door.  He called out to a tech, "Hey, can you make sure that this stuff makes it over to the Punisher intact?  The last time my stuff was transferred, half of my junk was busted."
The tech replied,"Sure, I'll get on it right away."

"Thank you" said Taan. He then took another look around and spotted Denethor entering the bay, bags in hand.  As Edor strode over to his commander, he called out to him "Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"

In reply, Denethor said, "No, just go and make sure everyone is packed or doing so."

Taan replied with a "Yes sir" and went back the way he came to ckeck on his squadronmates.  He passed Earthjedi01 in the hall, and Eeth Koth, Lone Wolf, and Kiros in their quarters, packing. The rest of the squadron was getting in some sim time, so Edor reported back to Denethor, and went to join his squadron.

"Well, this paperwork sure takes a while to get filed."  Scout sighed, exasperated with the speed at which he was being reactivated, if ever.  He was wondering, since he was done serving his time with the proper authorities.  He was just having fun, shooting some cans of soft drink.  They'd be beer cans or whatnot if he had actually taken a liking to drunkenness or debauchery, but instead, he only had soft drink cans.  He'd been shooting for the better part of the afternoon.

"Hell, might as well just make the best of the time I've got."  He lined up another row of empty cans, though he'd rather prefer flying a starfigher again or even running a sim.  He took a few dozen paces backwards and lifted his archaic projectile launcher, powered by an explosive charge that threw a heavy peice of metal no larger than one of those little stim pills that were so common among revelers and young people wishing to extend their days.  He cracked off a shot and pulled back the bolt of the action, exposing the chamber in which the ammunition was loaded and ejected the spent cartridge.  He looked, and, as he had expected, just as many cans stood up there as had a moment before.  He sighed.  When the hell...  oh well.  He loaded another round and closed the action again.  This time, when he fired, his aim was true.  He sighed and continued until the cans all fell, eventually.  When he finished, he didn't bother picking up the garbage in his back yard, and he wasn't concerned about any naighbors complaining about the gunfire on the quiet agricultural rim world. 

He walked in and pulled out some solvents to clean his archaic weapon.  He loved shooting the thing, though it was less efficient than blasters and even the modern, more powerful slugthrowers, he still liked it.  It didn't kick much, and it gave a satisfying bang each time the shots rang out.  It'd shoot for farther than he could aim with the peep sights he had on it.  He soaked a swab and ran it through the barrel, clearing it of debris from the shooting he had done.  He then ran a few more through, dry ones to clear out the chemicals, and he oiled the gun to keep it working well and looking goodl.  He clicked on the news channel, though all it told him was a good chance of rain in three days.  No news of the old Empire, no news of his old comrades.  What could he do, a retiree, now.  What was there for a trained killer to do in the real world?  Where could you put fighter piloting to use in the real world?  He simply sighed again, walking off to his bathroom where he quietly washed before retiring for the night. 

When would they give him that call?

---

[ooc] I'm reactivated now, adding to post since nobody has posted since [/ooc]

He woke up the next morning to a beeping.  He had a message.  He pressed the button and was surprised to see a VE logo on the holodisplay.  There was no more video, but a familiar voice informed him of his reassignment to Kaph squadron, second flight 3rd man.  He was to be brought in at his currently held rank of senior crewman.  Re-training was to happen immediately, and he was to meet a transport arranged for him in... Half an hour?!

Scout ran for his bathroom, cleaned up, and made himself presentable.  He then hastily donned his uniform, still meticulously cared for and starched, with all the parts in good order.  He glanced down at his wrist chronometer and sighed, "Five minutes?  I'll never make it, unless..."

He ran for his supplies and grabbed the rifle and other things he had taken with him into his retirement.  He said a quick goodbye to his home and rode off on his black chocobo (hey, you said if we owned it) for the port specified in the corespondence with a few weapons, a cardboard tube and a sack of urinal cakes, for whenever he needed them.

He made it to the port, though ten minutes late, due to a dispute with some of the guards about brining animals in that weren't packed for travel.  He checked it into one of the stables nearby and asked the owner to keep good care of the bird until he returned, leaving a considerable chunk of change for him and also a warning as to what would happen if the chocobo disappeared.  When he climbed onto the transport, the crew wordlessly flew him out and into open space, whereupon they jumped into hyperspace for the fleet's current location.  He simply fell asleep, though.

When he awoke, the transport had already landed within the Punisher, and it was time to disembark, which Scout did.  He glanced out the airlock into the hangar, surprised to see Denethor and Will but not Chip.  Slightly disappointed, he walked out and stood at attention, snapping a salute, returned by his superiors.

[ooc:] I don't think I should keep this bad dialogue when there's a better one below.[/ooc]

Having unpacked his few belongings he had taken with him (he hadn't been retired but a month), scout then decided to see the sim, as he had gotten a bit rusty, and it wouldn't do to return to the fleet only to leave in a body bag, that is, if they could find his remains.  He stepped out into the corridor and took a few steps, glancing around for any of his new-old squad mates, when he just ran right into Edor Taan.

He stepped back, "Uhh, sorry about that, I was just looking for the sims, and..."

"Hey, watch where you're -  you're scout, aren't you?"

"The one and only.  Well, I'm back from my short spell of retirement, now."

"Well, I'm glad to you, sir."

"Hey, none of that sir stuff.  We're off duty and I don't outrank you anyways."

"Huh?"  Edor was puzzled.

"Well, this time wasn't my first time I was... away for a while.  I lost alot of rank once, but that's not important.  Anyways, I was just heading down to the sims, but I'm new to this ship, so maybe you could show me?"

"Sure, thing, scout.  I was just going there, myself.  I haven't had any combat experience, but I've been working hard in the sims to prepare myself."

"It is different in real combat, but I did alright.  I didn't lose too many fighters."  Scout thought back on his days in Viper.  Once he'd gotten shot up pretty badly in his gunboat.

"Well, it's just down this corridor, here and up three floors on this lift..."  Edor spoke as he led scout to the sim rooms and the rest of his squad.

---

 
-----------------------
Hello.
FM/SCRW scout/Kaph 2-3/PhoenixWing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)

"Food, glorious food!" -- Ed, Cowboy Beebob the Movie
"Everybody has an agenda.  Except me."  -- Michael Crichton, State of Fear

"Ok, so nobody's here but us and Earthjedi are in here, right now?"

"Yeah, they said something about checking on their fighters to make sure they're spaceworthy." Edor replied.

"Earthjedi's already flying, I guess we'll have to find another mission... how about a nice sim of something close to our current situation?"

"Sitting on this ship?"

"No, I actually meant defending that station that reported the imperial fighters attacking it."

"Oh, yeah, good idea."

"Take your personal fighter, since they're letting us."

"I haven't really gotten around to getting one, myself.  I guess I'll just take a standard issue tie, then."

"I'll fly lead in a hawkbat.  I'd like to see how they handle, at least in the sim."  They climbed into the sim pods and set the training mission.  "Comm sets working?"

"Check, and I'm out of the hangar."

"Okay, get into position with me and these two AI ties."

"Four against eighteen?  That's crazy!"

"Hey, it's a sim, and we're the mightiest pilots in the galaxy, fighters from Kaph squadron of the Imperial navy.  Anyways, they're in ties, so a few hits should kill."

"Okay, so we approach from where?"

"Let's take a high angle and hit from above, taking them from another plane of action than they are engaged currently on.  It'll also keep them off the station and avoid fire from their corvette," and so they formed up and moved to engage the enemy as scout's real world counterpart had to retire for the night.

---

[ooc: moved from other post for chronological sense]

So, the flight of tie fighters came in at a high angle towards the enemy.  As it was a small force, the enemy wouldn't let it distract them from the main objective.  A squadron of tie fighters broke off of the main attack force and moved to engage the new fighters, leaving two flights of fighters and one of bombers hitting the station, which was barely firing now.  As had been planned, they were too far for their corvette to provide any of those pesky missiles for covering fire.  The tie's would be alone, as would scout and his four, being too far from the ship that they "launched" from.

A few green lines lanced across the space between them, but it was still too far to make any clear shots, and scout wasn't wasting any energy on making weak pot shots.  As they closed the distance, scout directed Edor and the two AI pilots to break off, since scout could take the fire that the enemy would give quite a bit better.

"Hey, Edor, break to the side and lead the two AI ties to the starboard side to break up the enemy ties and to, well, stay alive.  I can handle a little more fire coming at me than you or the others."

"Got it," affirmed the Edor, trusting in scout's experience.  The three other ties broke off to the right as scout went in for a straight on engagement.  As was to be expected, two flights broke off to engage the larger body of aggressors, while one stayed on the hawkbat.

When the range closed to three klicks, he switched his sheilds to full forwards and diverted power to engines and weapons and started to fire a few pot shots to test out the weapons systems.

"Okay, cut throttle to only 60%, Edor.  I'm gonna try to see if I can scatter the fighters going for you a little bit before you engage them."

"Sure, but don't you think that you'd have been better off alone, the way you're doing things?" Edor asked.

"Hey, you'll get a very important part to play, but the fact that you're slower and unprotected, as well as the fact that we're outnumbered in this situation keeps me from wanting to risk you in a direct confrontation yet," the older pilot replied.

"Okay, then.  I'll follow your lead, then."

Scout then directed himself to port, widening the gap between the two groups of fighters and did a roll to avoid any stray shots and switched to his missiles, firing them as soon as he got a lock at two of the fighters going for him.  One managed to elude the missile, but the other exploded, damaging nearby fighters in the tight formation with debiris.  Scout slammed on full throttle, diverting power from sheilds and some from the lasers, pulling about 145 klicks/hr at the enemy fighters.

Edor Taan and his two accompanying fighters, on the other hand backed off a little, letting scout gain a considerable lead.  Scout barrel rolled to the side and, with his lasers fire linked, fired on  his two incoming fighters.  He was able to take out another two like that and got another with another missile. 

Scout pushed even more power into the engines and flew right on, swinging around towards the other group, as Edor and the AI pilots began to engage the enemies, back up to attack speed to better dodge the lines of fire that were laid down for them.  Scout, on the other hand, flew right into the fray, dropping half his flares and sending fighters careening and out of control.  He let the others take care of these and then cut his throttle to almost zero, swung around and engaged the enemy properly.  All in all the dogfight lasted half a minute at best, as Edor's skill and scout's fighter ripped up the two flights.  One of the AI tie fighters, on the other hand, was lost, and one was damaged a bit.

The three remaining fighters formed up again and headed to bring the attackers off the station.

"Full throttle, going in, then?" Edor inquired.

"Yeah, for you guys," scout said as he cut his throttle down to match, while setting his lasers to charge faster, along with his sheilds.  "So, the escort fighters are the main priority right now, since they can move and could pose a threat.  Take out a bomber if you just come across it, and don't let their speed fool you into ignoring them."

"Sure thing.  I think we should stay together, this time.  It's three fighters against two flights of fighters and one of bombers.  Those bombers could prove nasty if they have any missiles for us."

"Good idea," scout replied.  "You're pretty good for someone that hasn't flown in a real battle yet."

"Thanks.  I have practiced alot though," Edor responded.

The rest of the battle went on pretty much the same.  They engaged the fighters and bombers and tore through them with ease, dispatching the attacking force.  As they were approaching, though Edor got a little surprise.

"Hey, Edor, watch the scanners as you go in for the landing."

"What the... urinal cakes?"

The lights turned off, and they stepped out of the sim and were greeted by their squad standing outside.

  -----------------------
Hello.
FM/SCRW scout/Kaph 2-3/PhoenixWing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)

"Food, glorious food!" -- Ed, Cowboy Beebob the Movie
"Everybody has an agenda.  Except me."  -- Michael Crichton, State of Fear

"Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be jumping out of hyperspace in twelve hours." The speakers cracked as the voice of the communications officer rang through out the ship, "pilots of Kaph squadron, your presence if required in the large simulations room in half an hour."

Hmm, what's up with this? Will wondered, what's the hurry to practice if they had twelve hours? Although Will wanted to rest and save up some energy for the coming up battle, he couldn't refuse his orders. So instead of changing into pajamas, he changed into something comfortable to fly in the sims, t-shirt, and a pair of loose pants. He made sure that he had his mobile remote control for his Hawkbat, which also allows him to fly it in whichever simulator he plugs it into.

Leaving his room, Will saw scout coming out also heading for the sims, but he seemed to be going at a hurry, so Will didn't bother to call for scout. When he got to the elevators, scout had gone in the one before with someone else Will didn't recongnize, probably one of the older new recruits.

When he reached the main simulations room, Will found that all of the squadron, except the two new recruits that had arrived just earlier, were already there. The room was about 30x30 squared feet, with sixteen simulators, lined up in four rows with four in each row. Den was standing next to to the first simulator in the second row, facing the rest of the squadron, with Edor Taan, sidyama, and Eeth Koth stading next to their simulators directly behind his. When Will entered the room, Den motioned towards the first simulator in the third row. Earthjedi, scout, and Jek Horn were already lined up behind his simulator.

"As I was saying, since we don't have a third flight leader right now, that position will be left blank. Show us what you've got, and Will and I will decide who to put there after we get back from battle. Now would you please all get into your simulators and we'll begin our last squadron practice before the battle." Den finished his orders then climed into his simulaor, "You may fly the fighter that you plan to fly in the upcoming battle."

Will sat down in the cushined seat as darkness enclosed. The scren lighted up and Will found himself staring through the cockpit of a Tie Interceptor. Wait, I haven't plugged in my emote control yet, Will thought to himself. Inserting the remote control in the slot, the small room went dark again, then the screen flickered a couple times and showed the inside of Will's Hawkbat's cockpit. Alright! Will thought, it works. It was the first time Will used the remote controller on a public simulator.

"All fighters report in." Den said through the intercom.

"Kaph 2 standing by." Eeth Koth said.

"Kaph 3 standing by." replied by Edor Taan.

"Kaph 4 standing by." sidyama, one of the newer recruits echoed the previous replies.

"Kaph 5 standing by! All systems checked and green!" Will said entusiastically.

"Kaph 6..." Everyone reported in except Kaph 9, the third flightleader position. I guess the new recruits got here in time after all, Will thought to himself.

"Prepare for launch. After we launch, stay in formation. We're doing a simple mission on capturing a Correllian Corvette and destroying fifteen enemy fighters. Good luck." Den riefed everyone in the squadron as they made there way out into the dark, open, fake space.
 
-----------------------
-(William the Conquerer)-
We are still here because we conquered our enemies, and we shall do it again!
XO/FL/SPO Willtconq/Kaph 5/Wing I/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) [VC:B]
Wm/Wm Willtconq/WM:1/Webmasters/VET/VE

After that little exchange between Will and scout, Edor spoke to scout on a private channel.

"My Interceptor isn't 'run of the mill.' It's brand new.  I had my engines souped up by a mechanic who owes me a favor.  They have an 8% increase in speed and efficiency."

Scout replied, "Sorry, didn't know you had a remote too."  He glanced at his sensors and found that there was now indeed an Interceptor in their formation in place of one of the Fighters. 

Denethor's voice came over the comm, calm and with the weight of experience of a veteran.

"All fighters, I have contacts bearing two-aught-seven.  Come to course aught-two and bring all weapons to bear on approaching fighters."

Kaph Squadron banked to port in formation and began to direct their mass-fire at the enemy TIEs that were now coming towards them at full-throttle.



 
-----------------------
-SCRW Edor Taan

FM/SCRW/Edor Taan/Kaph 3/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/Defensive Fleet/VEN/VE/(=*A*=)

"Pretty. What do we blow up first?"

"The object of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other bastard die for his."

"He's a demolitions expert. He likes playing with things that blow up in his face."

Scout wondered a bit if he should've gone with missles instead of torpedoes, not knowing how much use they'd be getting out of them this time arround.  He shook his head a bit to get back to the task at hand: creating simulated fireballs and slag out of simulated expensive chuncks of metal!

Will and he streaked off towards the ailing squad-mate, throttle full open.

"Couldn't I just pop the little buggers with a few torpedoes?"

"No: they're too close together, might hit one of ours," responded.

"So, I guess it's down and dirty dogfighting, now?"  Scout returned.

"Yep."

The enemies were too focused on the solitary Interceptor to notice the two oncoming Hawkbats until it was too late to take good evasive action.

Will flew at one, throttle full open and quickly cut it, swung around towards it, and opened fire.  The enemy tie took evasive action, shaking Will from the flank and enabling it to face the new threat.  Will, though, had been able to get a few shots into it, throwing off its manuvering ability.  Will jumped on his opportunity and brought it into his sights, tearing it to shreds with several green bolts from his lasers.

Scout went for the other, as Kaph-10 broke off to try to get some critical systems online that got fried.  He took a few shots at the bogey to draw attention away from the limping Interceptor and towards himself.  Scout pulled power out of his weapons systems and poured it into his engines, nearly ramming the other tie as it slowed down for a turn.  He send the enemy tie into a spin with the force the shields emitted and picked it off cleanly as it reeled to get control back.

"You know, you could've just shot him down, scout."

"Yes, sir, I do know, but that wouldn't have been half as interesting," he replied as he readjusted his power configuration and cut his speed down again.

The two were interrupted, though, by their squadmate's thanks.

"Where to, my fearless leader," asked scout as they reformed, sure that Kaph-10 was out of harm's way for the moment.

-----------------------
Hello.
FM/SCRW scout/Kaph 2-3/PhoenixWing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)

"Food, glorious food!" -- Ed, Cowboy Beebob the Movie
"Everybody has an agenda.  Except me."  -- Michael Crichton, State of Fear