OOC:

Probably not my best idea, but hey... it made me write.  So... everyone, get a nice taste of Bimmiel and Onderon, because you're getting 11 people from Bimmiel and Onderon, as well as associated ranks.

But this is a Cert post, so... non-canon.  However, this personnel imprint will stay in his training records for future use, because it makes writing fun for me, and helps Cayden get over his fear of losing people in his squadron... I think.

Cayden stepped onto the simulator deck and sighed.  I thought I retired?  Doesn't my ident card say "retired"? he thought, pulling his ident card out.  Nope... good.  I don't want any trouble when I step into that simulator.

He walked up to the simulator frowned.  He grabbed a nearby crewman and asked "Crewman... is this the simulator pod I'm using?"

The crewman looked at Cayden's orders and said "Yes sir... I believe it is... Fighter Tactics?  Yep, this is it.  Good luck, sir."

He watched the crewman walk away, and he sighed.  "Well... no inertial dampners for me, it seems," he said, climbing into the cockpit.  He sat down in the seat and closed the hatch above him.  Okay... where's that start button?  Oh... here it is... he said, pressing a green button.

The simulator roared to life, and immediately threw him into a formation of 12 TIE Interceptors.

His comm cackled as a female voice spoke.  [[Sir, aren't you going to take roll?]]

Cayden sat there for a moment, smiled, and put his helmet on.  "Indeed.  And, you are...?"

[[Colonel Ashley Clearwater, sir.]]

Cayden froze for a second and asked "Did you say Ashley Clearwater?"

[[Correct sir.  This simulator pulls 11 different people out of your memories and projects them as your flight members.  I just happen to be Ashley Clearwater, your XO then, and here in this simulation.]]

"Oh... alright.  Then, what's the squadron's name?" he asked, checking his IFF.  Nothing... good. he thought, smiling.

[[Tuk'ata Squadron, sir.  I figured you would have known that.]]

"Right... Tuk'ata Squadron, report in!" he said, grinning.

[[Executive Officer Commander Clearwater reporting in, sir.]]

[[Gamma Flight Leader Colonel Angie Tavers reporting in, sir.]]

[[Alpha 2 Captain Cayla Tavers reporting in, sir.]]

[[Alpha 3 Major Skaara Calfan reporting in, sir.]]

[[Alpha 4 1st Lieutenant Wolf Holgor reporting in, sir.]]

[[Beta 2 Master chief Petty Officer Natan Bowman reporting in, sir.]]

[[Beta 3 Lieutenant Colonel Corinna Brodi reporting in, sir.]]

[[Beta 4 Captain Kal Brodi reporting in, sir.]]

[[Gamma 2 Lieutenant Colonel Avery Jones reporting in, sir.]]

[[Gamma 3 Major Lisa Nivix reporting in, sir.]]

[[Gamma 4 Captain Tamran Overnage reporting in, sir.]]

[[Sir, all flight members reported in and awaiting your orders.]]  He heard Ashley say over the comm.

"Alright, everyone!  Today is just a simple recon mission.  Nothing too fancy, we're just looking around for any inconsistencies in our intelligence..." he said, looking around.  "Flights break off.  We'll be able to do scan more effectively if we split up."

[[Aye aye, Cayden.  We'll link up with you on the other side of the planet.]]  He heard Angie say.

[[Cayden, are you sure you want to split up?]]  Ashley asked concernedly.

"Not really, Ashley... actually, I'm not sure if I even want to return to Active Duty.  Granted, the war with Onderon is finally over... we have a peace agreement with the Chiss... but, I miss flying an Interceptor.  I miss feeling the fighter vibrate when I push the engines too far, feeling the impact of every gravity well when I pass them, the exhileration I get when I chase an enemy fighter through an asteriod field," he said, smirking.  That did not answer her question... he thought.  "But yes, we need to split up.  It's the only way we'll be able to scan the planet and get back to the ship in time for supper."

[[Alright... Just be careful, Cayden.]]

"Always, Ashley," he said, thoughtfully.  "Always..."  He switched over to his flight comm and said "Alpha Flight, listen up!  We're going to take the north continent, and see where that takes us.  Form up on my six."

Three other Interceptors formed up behind him when warning alarms went off.  He looked at his IFF radar, flipped the squadron comm back on, and said "Look alive, Tuk'ata!  Looks like we don't need to scan after all!  12 T-65Bs on approach from the planet surface!"

[[Sir, Gamma Lead here.  We're closest to the target.  Permission to attack, sir?]]  Angie asked.

"Angie, take your flight around behind them.  I want you to hit their tails hard, and prevent them from retreating.  Ashley, divide your flight in half and hit them from the left and the right.  I'll take Alpha up into their faces.  By attacking them on all sides, we'll take them by surprise, and destroy them.  Good luck everyone," he said, arming his weapons.

[[Aye aye, sir.  Gamma will have your backside while we attack theirs'.]]  Angie said, taking her flight in a wide arch towards the planet, coming back around to face the aft-side of the X-Wings.

[[Yes Cayden.]]  Ashley replied, her and Natan heading to the port-side of the X-Wing squadron, Corinna and Kal going to the starboard-side.

Cayden smiled as the squadron got into position, and he said "Tuk'ata, you are cleared to engage."

===================================================================================

(From Angie's perspective)

Angie let the rest of her flight get ahead of her when the order came through.

[[Tuk'ata, you are cleared to engage.]]  She heard Cayden say.

She smiled and said "You heard him, Gamma!  Make it hurt where the sun don't shine!"

She fired off several blasts, taking down the shields of the fighter in-front.  She fired off three more blasts into the tail-end of the fighter, destroying it in a firey explosion.  Her other flight members didn't have as much luck, as their targets broke formation.

"Avery, I'm coming around to help!" she said, chasing after her wingman who was struggling with his fighter.

[[Angie, I can't see him!  Where is he?]]  Avery said frantically.

"Avery, he's on your six!  I'm almost there, just ha-  AVERY!!!" she yelled, watching her wingman and husband's fighter explode in a ball of fire and shrapnel.

Angie fought back tears as she mercilessly accelerated to the X-Wing that shot Avery down and began pounding his shields wih laser fire.  She finally broke through, and fired several more blasts into the engine assembly, destroying the fighter completely.

===================================================================================

(From Ashley's perspective)

Ashley watched Lisa and Tamran break off, and she said "Natan, it's just you and me now.  Stay close, and we just might make it out of here alive."

[[You got it, ma'am.]]  The Master Chief responded.

Ashley and Natan positioned themselves off the port-side of the X-Wing Squadron.  They sat there, waiting until the order came over the comm.

[[Tuk'ata, you are cleared to engage.]]  They heard Cayden say.

Ashely grabbed her yoke and hit the accelerator.  Both her's and Natan's fighters raced towards the enemy fighters.  Once the fighters were about 3000 meters out, both Interceptors began firing their blaster cannons at the X-Wings.

Four X-Wings broke off and started flying towards the two Interceptors.

[[Uhhh... ma'am?  I think we made them mad...]] Natan said, a little fear hanging in his voice.

"Agreed.  Natan, take the two on the left.  I got the two on the right..." she said, grinning.

[[Are you sure, Ashley?  I mean... they do have shields and heavier armor than we do.  Won't they, I don't know... shoot us down?]]

"Not if we fly circles around them, Natan," the Colonel replied.

[[Right...]]

Ashley began turning left around the X-Wings, avoiding their fire as she tried to come about on their tails.  She kept trying to get behind them when an idea popped into her head.  Well... it's worth a shot... she thought, shrugging.  She pulled back on the throttle, and began looping herself around the X-Wings, seeingly rolling over them.  At the end of the roll, she was right behind the two X-Wings, and she fired off several blasts into the engine assembly of one of the X-Wings.

The engine caught fire, forcing the fighter to bug out, leaving his wingman behind.  The second fighter, noticing his wingman missing, began pulling up into an immelman.

Ashley followed, knowing full-well this would give him the advantage.  Not if I cut my speed and pull out early... she thought, grinning.  She watched the enemy accelerate hard, and she cut her speed.  She watched her speed reduce drastically, then she pulled out of the immelman early in a corkscrew, leveling out just as the X-Wing ripped through the vacuum above her.  Got you now... she thought, smiling as she started increasing her speed.  She caught up with her target and planted several well-placed shots into the S-foil Servo Actuator, locking his S-foils in the attack position.  She fired in the same spot again, taking out the Deflector Shield Generator, and finally fired one shot into the Novaldex O4-Z Power Generator, destroying the fighter.

Ashley flew through the debris cloud just in time to see Natan get shot down by one of his X-Wings.  "Natan!" she exclaimed, accelerating to engage the lone fighter.

===================================================================================

(Now back to Cayden)

Cayden's fighter raced faster towards the X-Wings when the other two flights began attacking the enemy fighters.  He smiled when a pair of X-Wings continued flying towards them.

"Alpha, looks like we only get two new friends today!  Cayla, stay close behind me!  We're going to do a little hit and run flyby!" he said, pushing the throttle, accelerating his fighter past it's recommended maximum velocity rating.

[[Cayden, I think you should slow down a bit.]]

"Cayla, either we hit them now, or they hit us!" he yelled into his comm, arming his laser cannons.

There was silence on the comm.  Then, Cayla spoke up.  [[Aye aye, sir.  Accelerating to attack speed now.]]

The pair of Interceptors raced towards the X-Wings.  Cayden felt his fighter shake violently as the extreme speed started to take it's toll on the fighter.  He checked the inertial dampner, and saw that it was starting to give.

"Cayla, we have about 3 minutes before we're turned to jelly!  If we're going to take them down, it has to be now!"

[[Ready when you are, sir.]]

Cayden flipped a switch on his controls, priming the weapons.  "Weapons hot!  Engage at will!"" he yelled, locking on to the lead X-Wing.  Cayden pressed down on his triggar, then silently cursed when the blaster cannons failed to fire.  He flipped a switch for his counter-measures and let loose a flurry of chaff.  He swung his fighter away from the combat zone, watching the lead X-Wing fly into the cloud of aluminum.  Alright... now to fix the weapons... he thought, ripping open the weapons control unit.  "Cayla, status report!"

[[Bogey down, sir.  What's going on with you?]]

"I have to do some emergency repairs.  Cover me until I get my weapons back online!" he said, putting the cover from the weapons control unit into his mouth.  He started to examine the interior of the device when laser cannon fire erupted around the cockpit.  He looked up and saw an X-Wing rapidly incoming.  Grabbing the yoke, he threw the fighter into a spiraling dive.  A stray laser blast hit the Interceptor in the solar panel, throwing the maneuver off.

Cayden spun out of control, trying to avoid crashing into his surviving wingmates as he attempted to regain control and repair his weapons.  "Cayla!  I said cover me!" he yelled, spitting the weapons control unit cover out of his mouth.  Cayden look one look out his viewport and grinned.  "Cayla... good luck."  He hit the accelerator and piloted his fighter right into the cockpit of the hostile X-Wing, destroying both fighters.

Cayden watched the screen black-out, then sighed.  So... several casualties... total decimation of enemy forces... and death of squadron commander... results?  I'm a horrible pilot... I'm god-awful.  But... I get results... and that's all that matters to me.  Results... he thought, stepping out.  He didn't even wait for the Crewman to read him his score.  Instead, he walked off the simulator deck and made his way straight to the refresher.

OOC:

WC: 1961

Well... it took me about 2 months... but, as promised... Fighter Tactics.

I have a feeling I'll have to redo it... since I died, and showed poor judgement in combat... heck, I tried to repair internal damage during a combat situation without proper cover... someone should revoke my pilot's liscense...