Log:Hapan's Second Training Mission

Hapan's Second Training Mission

OOC Date: February 20, 2025
Location: CRS Legacy
Participants: Cin'cirad (Sira) "Coop" Rook, Ben "Hapan" Relor, Nasallee "Chomper" Oskoarva, Kidra "Vapor" Treeda

The Legacy, on the outside, looks in pretty decent shape. The hull, while showing signs of age, doesn't have any battle damage to speak of. Of course, the inside, is always a bit of a different story. As Ben once again finds himself in the landing bay, probably taking a shuttle from the Fleet, he's again greeted with how the Hangar looks like controlled chaos. Even down to the fact that - this time - he sees the Jawa starting to take the bolts off one of the shuttle landing struts.

The Pilot of the shuttle quickly runs out and shoo's the Jawa away. She yells 'Utini!!' and makes a break for it, but not without one of the pistons that was part of the shuttle's landing gear.

"Hells!" Calls out a Shistavanen as he looks after the running Jawa. The Pilot of the shuttle grips their forehead and mutters something like, This is the last time I come to the Legacy, I swear. Before climbing aboard his shuttle to head on out. The Shistavanen, looking in the direction of the newly debarked Ben Relor, jerks his head in the direction of the hangar doors that lead into the ship. "Ya know the way." It was definitely a statement.

When Ben does eventually find his way into the Sim Room, the one that he was in before with the 6 Simulators, he would find Sira sitting again on the edge of the desk. Her Tooka in her lap which she's currently scritch-scritch'ing behind the ears as she looks to the two pilots in front of her - the ones besides Ben.

"Okay, so, he's already had a bit of basic flight. I took him through the Combat Landing scenario last time, but we're pushing up some of the training." Another scritch-scritch behind the Tooka's ears, Clawdia yawns widely and looks toward the two pilots.

"Vapor, I'll have you flying my wing. And I'll have you take lead, Chomper, Hapan - err - the Kid will be on your wing. Nah, kriff it, I'm giving him the callsign Hapan until he does something worse." Scritch-scritch behind the Tooka's ears.

Ben Relor and Five watch the Jawa run off, the former shaking his head -- the latter chuckling in Binary. Ben has made sure to smoke as much as humanly possible before coming aboard the Legacy, this time. Do you know how hard it is for him to go without a cigarette for that long?! But it's all worth it, in the name of becoming starfighter pilot-ready. Or something.

"Yo, boss." Sira's not really the boss, but she's the boss of this particular endeavor. He seems surprised to find two other pilots there, giving them an awkward sort of nod of greeting before turning to scowl at Sira again. "You realize how little sense the whole 'Hapan' thing even is, right? I did /not/ sign up for that."

"Wah??" Vapor startles awake, having been right on the edge of her cheek sliding out of her palm. "Um, yes ma'am!" Sitting upright at her school desk-looking bench, Vapor stares, wide-eyed, and definitely aware of what Sira just said. She'll just ask Chomper as soon as they're out of earshot. Crossing her legs, Vapor nods along with the rest of the briefing, pretending to follow along.

Chomper sits at her desk, resting her chin in her hand as Sira engages in the Lect---Briefing. These things happen all the time, though this one is slightly more entertaining, because they're teaching some fresh meat from Hapes.

She grins over at Vapor, shaking her head before she looks to Ben. "You ready for this, Hapan? I know you've learned some stuff abour the squads on the Legacy. Don't do what some of my fellow morons did, we can't double up on call signs."

Sira lets out a chuckle as Ben walks in and then gripes about the Hapan callsign. She flashes him a grin, "You should hear what some of the others got named. Besides, whatever Squadron you wind up in after might change it. Since you're one of /our/ trainees, we get to name ya." She gives a bit of a shrug and looks back to Vapor as Sira lets out a snort of laughter.

Sira's callsign, for that matter, is Coop. But she picks up one of the little bits of garbage off the table and throws it at Vapor, "/Stay awake/ or I'll have you flying a CAP right after." There's a bit of a laugh in her voice, meaning she's only part way serious. "The objective is taking him on a bit of formation flight in the Sims. If all goes well, we'll even go into a two vee two afterward. We'll see how things go." Sira puts a finger on her datapad and flicks along the screen, the screen at the far end of the room taking the image she tossed it to show a system.

"The plan is, Aurek Flight - that's me and you Vapor - we'll head toward waypoints Cherek and Yirt, before heading back toward Nern and do a bit of 'nape of the moon' flying. Besh flight, Chomper and Hapan, will head for waypoints Wesk and Qek through the asteroid field, and then join us as Nern for their own low passes."

Sira flashes a smile over toward Chomper then, "Oh, and so ya know, he's not actually from Hapes. He earned that one by being on a ground mission and someone mistook him for a Soft Hapan. I nearly died laughing and blew the cover early."

Clawdia for her part, eyes Ben and Fives as they come in through the door. Chomper and Vapor are well aware why Clawdia is named Clawdia... the belly rubs are a trap. Always a trap.

"Listen, lady, I am /not/ a Hapan!" Ben points a half-gloved finger at Chomper that he surely wishes were a cigarette. Rude! "Can't my call sign be Detonite or something? Incendiary? Anything but Hapan." Sheesh, he's so offended. He just groans when Sira further justifies it, rolling his eyes and shaking his head. Five beeps in an amused manner at him and Ben just...gives him a bit of a kick. Just a little one.

Back to business, though. All eyes are on the screen and what they're working on tonight. And there goes Sira, further explaining things. Ben just shakes his head. "Seriously, though. Is there anything soft about me?" He might have a point. He's not a big guy -- wiry on the verge of downright skinny -- but he looks more like he grew up in a trash compactor than some lovely Hapan palace.

As for Five, he's currently giving Clawdia a wide berth...but his photoreceptors are watching her closely.

Vapor flails and bats the trash out of the air by sheer luck. "What?! I'm awake!!" Huffing softly, Vapor runs a hand back through her hair, glances over at Ben, and flashes him a warm smile. "Heya. Vapor." Giving him a little wave as well, she then looks back to Sira with a frown. "You and me? Augh..." Sulking with the most unenthusiastic look possible on her face, Vapor sighs and smoothes her pleated plaid skirt around her hip and down her leg. "Would you be mad if I turned the comms off? I know you're going to show off for the newbie the whole time..."

"That," she says to Sira with a big, grin. "Is kriffing funny, Coop." She looks at Ben again and almost leers. "Don't forget to hold your pinky out when you drink from your water bottle, probie," she says, continuing the hazing.

This one is trouble.

"Force, Vapor, you're going to go flying in -that-? Always showing off the goods. You're worse than Lamb."

"Easy peasy, Coop. As long as this guy doesn't crash into me."

Sira gives another laugh at Ben, and jerks her head at Vapor as she introduces herself, "I'll give you this one for free. Vapor there wasn't paying attention to her fuel gauge, landing back aboard with less than a minute left. We damn near had to send out a SAR (Search and Rescue) craft to haul her in." Another smiles and she looks back toward Vapor with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh don't you even. I'll pipe through the music, I'll even let you pick a song or two so long as its not the drek, pop or cantina music." She shakes her head with another chuckle, "Okay, sims will be Z-95s this time. I figure we should get him a bit of experience with something a bit more of a classic that still responds pretty well to controls." She pushes her way off of her seat, Clawdia hopping down and glaring up at Sira for a moment before rubbing against her leg. Sira, for her part, is actually in the Mandalorian armor she's so fond of.

On the other hand, Chomper gets a laugh as Sira hears her talk about holding out a pinky. Grinning from ear-to-ear, she gives a shake of her head and keeps grinning. "Yeah, well, so long as she crosses her legs like a demure lady or we don't have an admiral aboard. Pick your Sims, pilots." She's heading toward one of the ones near the end herself.

Ben nods back at Vapor, looking very slightly flustered for a moment before rolling his eyes and groaning at Chomper. Probably never thought he'd get hazed over a perception of being /fancy/ before. Then glances between Sira and Vapor and smirks. "Running on fumes, huh? That's one way to do it." He cracks his knuckles and rolls his neck and shoulders around. Fidgety guy, and then he's heading for one of the Sims. Probably another of the ones near the end, the other end in this case.

Vapor rolls her eyes at Sira's recounting of her callsign, but then scowls at Chomper, "It's just simulators! Be glad I didn't come in my PJs." Sliding out of her desk, Vapor flips her wavy red hair back and slips a scrunchie off her wrist, tying it back. "Hey, it worked, didn't it?" she says to Ben before swish-swishing her way to one of the simulator pods. Vapor looks like she's about to just duck inside the pod when past lectures surface and she holds the back of her skirt down with a hand as she disappears into the simulator.

Chomper just rolls her eyes. "Demure my ass," she mutters. Chomper, unlike the seemingly excessively girly Vapor, is wearing a flightsuit with the top tied around her waist and a tank top, like the Force intended.

She chooses Sim number four. Because four is a lucky number. "Just don't run into me, Hapan," she says with a grin, "Or you'll be buying so many drinks your head will spin."

She starts strapping in, getting her login and settling herself.

As each one of the pilots seats in the sims it's what you might expect - well - for everyone but Ben. Ben is on a trainee account so it logs him in directly, the other two pilots log in so it marks them down for their required flight hours to stay proficient. A checklist is secured to the inside wall of the cockpit, a datapad that changes to match the ship that they'll be flying for various procedures. In this case, the venerable Z-95.

A minute or so later, after all the in-cockpit pre-flight checks are made, along with the engine warm-ups and flight control checks, the simulation starts. In front of them in some world, it's not really important which - and they're all flying out of a simulated version of the Legacy. Wrap around screens ensure that it's as close to the real thing as possible. Even down to some actuators on the inside of the sims to simulate explosion shockwaves or the like. They're far from top of the line, but they're definitely some nice equipment.

<"All Pilots, Coop. Now that you're all settled in. Go ahead and break into your flights and head toward head toward your waypoints. If you lose track of your flight lead, make sure to call out you're blind so the flight lead can circle back and pick you back up. Have fun."> And with that, she switches the communication over to her flight so she can talk to Vapor direct.

<"I'm starting with the Deadsticks though, Vapor. So you can just suck it up and pick what you want next."> There's a definite humor in her voice even over the electronic distortion given amongst the communication. <"And, no, I'm not going to be showing off. Unlike you showing off your legs, where did you get that skirt anyway?">

"Not even gonna dignify that name with an answer," Ben tells Chomper, ironically. Fortunately for him, these controls are pretty similar to the ones he used the other day. If anything, the setup is less intense. He pulls on the controls and starts heading for the waypoint. "So it seems to me like starfighter pilot is about two percent piloting and about ninety-eight percent bullshaviting, am I right?" Either that or he's watched too many action holovids. 'Luke Skywalker and the Red Five Ruin' was such a good one though.

Probably not, though. Ben's seen enough accidental space action to have a pretty good idea of what this will *really* be like. He just has to run his mouth to keep his brain alive.

Over Ben's comms, Vapor's voice cackles to life: "Don't let them intimidate you, newbie. They're both so full of hot air we could use them to lift transports into orbit. Just fly casual and you'll be fine." Then, to Sira, Vapor sighs, "Whatever, wing commander." Then, with slight annoyance, "At a store! I don't know! Do you want to know where I got my underwear too??" Grumbling softly, Vapor banks one way, flips over the other way, and dives into a following pursuit of Sira's fighter. "I'm just kidding, they're both from Denon." She's good!

Chomper runs through pre-flight with the ease of an old professional. She doesn't even have to hit the thing once! "Oh, you're wearing underwear now, Vapor? That's news to me," she says with a laugh as she engages the engines on her sim. "Alright Hapan," she says with a grin as she primes the throttle, tweaking her settlings to get every last scrap of power the thing can give.

"Try and keep up."

The simulated Z-95 ROCKETS into space. Somehow, Chomper is managing to not redline the starfighter while going nearly top speed. Barely. She's kind of a maniac.

In her pod, Vapor's cheeks are burning red. She very slowly flips the 'Comms All' button back off.

<"What, Vapor? I have other clothes I wear too, and I like that skirt. Thought I might buy one in my size."> And then Sira lets out a loud laugh as she hears Chomper teasing Vapor, adding her own quip to the All channel then, <"At least it wasn't as bad as Bites' screw up.">

Sira flips it back to her private channel with Vapor. With her own song winding down and Vapor picking the next, Sira starting humming along with it. The fighter, since they're in a Sim Sira don't care, weaves a little along with it. "Another way to feel what you didn't want yourself to know..." Of course, Sira is smart not to be hitting the comm switch, but she does say back on their private channel, <"Hey, I remember hearing this one. I like it. Went with that holo-series right?">

The actual travel to their first waypoint is relatively easy with a few turns needed to thread about some of the 'rogue' elements in the area. A few asteroids that had fallen out of the belts orbit and the like. But Coop and Vapor make their way easily to the first waypoint before turning to the second.

"I don't really do casual, but I can play pretend well enough," Relor says. He's not letting Chomper down, seems like, because he sails along smoothly enough. So he might be a newb, but he's clearly not a total newb. Chomper being a speed demon doesn't seem to rattle him, either. The guy lives on adrenaline. What's a little more, even if it's simulated?

Vapor is just here because she was told she had to be, so she's flying along with a light hum, similar to how Sira is singing along. "Yeah, I really liked it. I'd love a sequel." A few more turns, a navpoint, and Vapor adds, "Oh! And I order them by droid. I'll send you the holo-link later. Pairs well with a thong, otherwise you'll get pantylines." Comms All is off. Right?

Chomper wishes so badly that Comms All was not off. She would have so many teasing comments for Vapor. So. Many. Instead, she just showboats a little bit, spinning her Z-95 into an aileron roll. "I remember my in training days," she says idly over the comms to everybody. "Scared spitless, shaking so bad I could barely take off. You're doing alright."

She holds off on the real showboating for now. There will come a time for it, and she's going to try and make Ben soil himself.

It'll be hilarious.

A snort over the private comms to Vapor, <"I mean, you're not wrong. But you better have tucked that skirt under you when you get in, or I'm never going to hear the end of it from Haley."> Haley being the Chief Engineer. <"And tell me about it. Such a good series, I would absolutely love for them to make a sequel - even if it would be a bit hard for them to."> As Sira pulls the Z-95 into a lazy high turn and then over and back around into something that was reminiscent of a slow barrel roll they keep on making their way to the next waypoint. She's sliding under the bits of rock that are in front of them, it's a bit of a complicated weave through them, but it won't be quite as busy as what Chomper and Hapan (aka: Relor) will be flying through.

<"Okay, I see that song and-"> Sira queues up the next for their private channel after Vapor's chosen song ends. It's one from the same series they were just discussing. <"Oh, ya know, I found some swimwear on Chandrila recently. Really not to bad looking, I got a set that has a tropical flower vibe across it."> Sira presses on the aetheric rudder to take them out of line of one of the asteroids, then slips up easily onto a wing to take them around it and avoid the one behind it. Taken them on coarse for the moon in the area.

<"Ready to do some Trench Runs, Vapor? Now that you're warmed up and all."> The Trench Run is of course a nod to the Death Star trench that was so famously flown quite a while back now.

Back on the All Channel, <"Chomper, Coop. How's it looking, just about to the moon?">

Ben's not gonna ever call himself Hapan. Not in this cockpit or any other. "Yeah, well, I'm not exactly some green recruit," he explains to Chomper. Who is stuck with boring Ben and not with the cool girls, poor thing. "Just wish they made these cockpits a little bit bigger."

And yeah, he's still managing to fly the thing just fine. Hasn't scraped up the plane, hasn't asteroided himself or anyone else. So far, so good.

<"I AM WEARING UNDERWEAR!"> Vapor shouts into the helmet's mic. Sadly, this is *that* pod, or it's the will of the Force, but everyone hears it. "Spirits!" Sighing with exasperation, Vapor replies, <"As if we ever get to go swimming. What do you think this is, the Empire? And yeah, trench runs are fine."> Aaaaand accidentally spoiling the surprise for Ben. Whoops!

While following the nav route, Vapor starts doing barrel rolls over and over and over and over to the song the Wing Commander queued up while maintaining speed with Sira, just lazily showing off.

<"Smooth sailing over here, Coop,"> Chomper replies as she weaves through the astral debris. Things get a little squirrely when Vapor yells loud enough to be heard in meatspace rather than over the coms. This makes Chomper howl with laughter, sending her Z-95 into a horizontal spin. Like some deviant, spacebound top. Small asteroids pelt the ship, which brings her out of her gales of laughter, heaving on the yoke and adjusting the thrusters to be back on course.

<"Nobody saw that.">

Sira taps a few buttons to pass the information and the waypoints to the other pilots while maintaining her communication on the All channel, letting out a bit of a laugh, <"Vapor, don't you make me call another moot to change your callsign."> It's a tease, but a legitimate threat after all. Pilots can go through a renaming after a particularly good 'guffaw'. She starts off by doing another lazy roll and heading down toward the moon.

<"Though as Vapor spoiled the bit of a surprise. This is a Trench Run. The moon has a trench that mirrors the original Death Star run. The goal is to make it all the way through."> She pulls back on the stick to level out just above the surface of the moon, using the aetheric rudder she pushes her ship toward the edge of the trench. <"I'll take the first go so you can see. Hapan, you're next. Vapor, after. And Chomper you're taking up the last.">

Sira noses down into the trench with a roll so she seems to be flying almost straight at the ground at first. She pulls up before she meets the bottom and starts weaving her way through the obstacles. The Z-95 popping up, only to dive back down toward the surface in the tight trench. Unlike the Death Star, this one has a few turns in it and they're on the tight side. As she near the last part, there's a sheer cliff, and part of that is still hitting the last waypoint.

The last waypoint being the nearly at the base of the cliff face. As Sira approaches it, she hauls back on the stick and flips to repulsors briefly to stop her from slamming into the wall before cutting back to the engines and rocketing off straight up and off the moon.

<"Hapan! You're up!">

<"Joke's on you, Chomper. I don't have a girlfriend."> Ben probably shouldn't sound as smug about that as he somehow does. As the trench run starts, he muses: <"I think I like 'Loud & Clear' as a call sign for me."> No time for that, though, the challenge is beginning. His flight starts off strong -- he's aggressive, threading through the early turns with a mix of raw skill and sheer nerve. His Z-95 is tight against the trench walls, engines burning hot, fingers twitching on the controls. He's focused. He's in control.

Until he's not.

Midway through the run, one of the tightest turns sneaks up on him. It's sharper than he expected, and his reflexes betray him -- he jerks the stick hard, and it's the wrong move. His overcorrection sends his ship skimming too close to the trench wall, the warning klaxons screaming as the Z-95 rattles from the near-impact. Sweat's dripping off his brow now. Ben tries to compensate, but now the trench itself is fighting him -- the next dip comes up too fast, his dept perception thrown off by the sudden scramble.

His instincts scream at him to pull up, and this time, he listens. Relor yanks back on the stick and fires the thrusters, shooting straight up out of the trench, barely missing a sheer cliff edge. The G-force slams him into the seat, the sky tilting wildly as he struggles to stabilize. But he's out. He failed. The run's over.

And now he's cursing a blue streak, because he's pretty sure he could have made it if he hasn't second guessed himself.

Vapor is still quietly fuming as she dives into the trench with a flourish. But... <"Um, having a little difficulty with..."> Red lights! <"Hey, wait, wait!"> Left, right, left, left! <"AH!"> Pulling up less than a quarter of the way through, Vapor actually nearly loses her ship. <"Okay, so... Z-95's suck, just so you know. Can I have my B-Wing back now?">

<"Buckle up, Hapan. It's time to hit the trench. No shame in pulling out, though. Just like with your girlfriend, discretion is the better part of valor,"> she says with a cackle.

These flygirls are full of salty language and SASS.

Chomper dives into the trench, doing a roll as she aims downwards. She doesn't complete the roll, instead choosing to do the trench run upside down. Yes, she's showing off. Yes, it is INTENSELY DANGEROUS. Yes, she's howling with almost mad laughter the whole time. Her focus never wavers, though. Well, except once, but we'll get there.

The stick twitches in her hands as she runs her fingers along its length, keeping control of the roaring Z-95. Her aim is perfect, her control absolute. Until she sees Vapor have to bail out. The laughter shifts a little, and she twitches the stick. There's a crashing screech as the canopy scrapes the bottom of the trench, transparisteel spider-webbing with cracks as she readjusts.

She doesn't revert, just keeps going. In dead silence now as she comes up on the end of the run. She fires repulsors and pushes on the stick -hard-. The Z-95 arcs up and out, corkscrewing through space as Chomper's glee resumes in full force.

<"HELL YEAH! Man, I'm amazing!">

As Chomper exits her run - and seriously showboating it the whole way - Sira gives a couple quick shots from the Z-95 and plinks her shields. <"You're not supposed to showboat, Chomper."> She has a bit of mirth in her voice and wing-waggles as she zips by the other pilot. She banks the Z-95 back around and brings it back over near Vapor as Vapor is finally getting back out of the trenches.

<"Eh, don't worry too much about it, Vapor. The B-wing's a nice ship, especially with that cockpit. But the Z-95s and X-wings tend to be a bit more responsive, harder to get a feel for them without time in cockpit."> There's a flicker of her eyes over to see how Ben did, watching the replay from his footage on one of the screens. A bit of a low-whistle.

<"Ooof, Hapan, good start there. Don't worry about it though, those turns can really sneak up on you."> She gives a bit of a smile and brings the Z-95 around after pressing the throttle a bit farther forward. <"Okay, nicely done. Sim ending in 10, we'll have a bit of a debrief after, talking about where we did it right and where we - AHEM - showboated a bit too much."> She grins for a moment, then continues, <"And Chomper, Vapor, I'll tell the Hutt to ease up a little on your next trip to the Quartermaster. As a reward for signing up for this little detail.">

Sure enough, as she said, ten seconds later the screens go black and the cockpits open. Sira climbing out of hers and scooping up Clawdia into her arms.