trans_9 | just a couple of fighter jocks

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just a couple of fighter jocks | location: hangar [OPEN]

It's been an intense half a day for Tycho, what with arriving here, learning about the destruction of his universe, learning about the existence of other universes, and the fact that he's been dumped in the middle of a whole new war to fight. After talking to Captain Kirk, he'd spent a while reading as much as he could find on the omnicoms about the Ohm and the ship and the entire situation. He'd also messaged his new squadron, the thing he suspects will take up most of his time on this ship. What he's learned so far tells him ... it's going to be a challenge.

Now though... he could really use something familiar, something from home before his head starts to spin like an x-wing with the stabilizers blown. Stacy's hanger is certainly like no hangar he's ever been in before. The air is humid, and his boots echo strangely on the organic floor. It's also large, maybe almost as large as the main hanger on the Lusankya, filled with all kinds of craft he's never seen before, which compounds the feeling of strangeness. Tycho isn't some outer rim dweller- he's been around the galaxy a few times, seen plenty of things, and the unfamiliarity of almost everything here compounds the feeling of how far he is from home. Still though, his heart can't help but begin to soar as he takes in the sight of near two dozen x-wings parked together near one of the edges.

Tycho strides quickly up to them, noting the familiar shape of Wedge's X-Wing, kill decals bracketed by the two Death Stars, before his eyes alight on his own. He traces his fingers up the side, instantly feeling more centered, more at peace for the feel of the durasteel under his fingertips. He's going to be okay. As long as he has his X-wing and his squadron, everything will be fine.

His R5 chirps in greeting, and Tycho pulls a datapad out of one of his flightsuit's pockets. He might as well use his time well and start running some preliminary diagnostics while he waits for Wedge to arrive.

"Yep," he responds in answer to the astromech's query as the translation scrolls across the screen. "We're far from home buddy." He comfortingly pats the X-Wings side. "We still got our jobs to do though, so let's get started."

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Tycho pinched the bridge of his nose. This was the argument he did not want to be having right now, because he already knew she wouldn't listen. "It won't be up to me to decide whether you fly," he said carefully, "that will be up to Wedge as your commanding officer. But I will be speaking to him about it, because yes, I do think you're too young to fly." He gave her a firm but non-challenging look- he looked slightly resigned in fact. Either way though, she deserved to know where he stood- Tycho wouldn't be doing anyone and favors by trying to influence Wedge in secret.

He sighed again at her final statement, looking even more tired and older than his 34 years. The problem was he understood her feelings, he understood them only too well. "Wedge doesn't agree with me on everything though, so I can't say right now what his answer will be," his heard himself saying. Wedge had already probably considered all of the arguments Tycho was going to give him against Asuka flying. The fact that he had let her on the squadron in the first place meant he had considered and rejected them. Tycho in fact sincerely doubted that anything he would say would make Wedge change his mind.

That meant he was stuck with her, which meant it was now Tycho's duty to shape her into the best pilot he could, and do his best to make sure she didn't get killed. "Look, Miss Soryu," he said slowly. "Asuka, if I may." Tycho reached out, dragging one of the crates over to sit on it, gesturing for Asuka to do the same. "Let me ask you," he said voice firm yet quiet, "why do you want to be an X-Wing pilot?" There was genuine interest in his eyes.

Good was Asuka's private thought. She probably wouldn't have to worry about getting kicked out of the squadron. Not now. Not after the work she'd put into finally learning how to fly the damn thing. Not after Lafiel and getting grounded and everything else. She was going to fly and she was going to be the best. She looked like she was going to interrupt, but she settled, looking rather sullen. That wasn't fair.

For a moment she glared at him and then she plopped herself down on the crate, arms folded over her chest. She eyed him suspiciously when he asked his question and then tossed her head back, grin reappearing. "Because I want to be the best! Because I'm a good pilot already!"

Because she needed a purpose.

"Because you want to be the best, hmmm." Tycho rubbed at the side of his face. This was exactly what he had been afraid of, and exactly why he thought she was too young to fly. Because she saw things through the mindset of a kid, and to her this was all a game. Oh he knew plenty of adult X-Wing pilots who had been caught up on being "the best" (Corran Horn's name came easily to mind) but underneath all that ego and bravado, they understood the risks, and more importantly they knew what they were fighting for.

"You could be the best at a lot of things," Tycho finally offered. "Why piloting specifically?"

"It's what I did at home! I thought I told you that," Asuka scoffed, "Besides, this way I have a chance to actually do something worthwhile instead of being forced to just sit and be a good girl with the rest of the stupid kids."

She eyed him for a moment, daring him to challenge her. "I'm not a kid, anyway. I'm an adult and I can handle myself. I've graduated from university, I'm one of the best Eva pilots in the world where I'm from and I'm a combat veteran!"

"Humor me, okay," Tycho says, smiling gently. "Why were you a pilot at home? Why did you want to become a pilot in the first place?"

He didn't rise to her bait and challenge her assertion that she was an adult. Better to save fuel for the battles he might actually have a change at winning.

"I was selected for it. Because I was one of the best. And they needed me because the world needed to be protected from the Angels." She looked as if she'd told this story before and she drummed her fingers against the crate.

"You were selected," Tycho repeats. "How old were you when you were selected?" He still looks genuinely interested.

Keep giving him short non-informative answers Asuka, and he's just going to keep digging. Tycho certainly has enough patience to out last you.

"I was five," Asuka responds matter-of-factly. She doesn't particularly want to dwell on that day, though. She was so excited to find out that she'd been chosen. Maybe her mother would finally look at her for once. Instead, she'd found her mother hanging from the ceiling, a rope around her neck. She was still proud of being an Eva pilot, but that memory would probably never leave her.

"Why is that so important?"

Why is that so important?

Oh boy, he's going to have to tread carefully here isn't he. Tycho rubs tiredly at his jaw, trying not to let his consternation show on his face. You sure know how to pick 'em Wedge he thinks to himself. If piloting is all this girl has ever known, she won't accept not being able to fly. But, on the other hand, Tycho knows if you take a fighter into space with the wrong motivations, you get careless, and careless means dead. If he can't get through to her, can't help her to grow and mature, this brash undisciplined overconfident young girl is going to go out in an X-Wing and get herself killed, and Tycho will hold himself responsible, because he can see it coming, and therefore he should be able to prevent it. He will be able to prevent it. He doesn't give himself the option of failure.

But, how to get through to the girl sitting in front of him? Tycho takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "Piloting is all you've ever known," he says slowly. "It's understandable if you don't want to do anything else. And it's understandable if you want to be the best- it's your identity, it's who you are. But Asuka-" and here he looks her in the eyes, trying to convey the seriousness of what he's saying, "being a pilot is not just about being good. I have seen plenty of incredibly good pilots go out there and end up just as dead as less good pilots."

Asuka watched Tycho. She didn't know his thoughts or even much about his background. What she did know was that he already seemed to be meddling far too much with her for his own good. She leaned back, kicking her legs out and propping her self up on her elbows, staring up at the ceiling carelessly.

"Piloting is who I am," she responded, "It's what I do. I save the world, everyone knows who I am. I'm just that good."

She sat up and eyed Tycho. "I'm not going to die. I'm too good to die."

I'm not going to die. I'm too good to die.

Ahhhhhhh. If he had a cred chip for every time he's heard that sentiment ... it still wouldn't buy back the lives of all the friends and comrades he's lost because they believed that exact thing, and their overconfidence got them killed.

Tycho may not know the details of Asuka's life, might not know about her world, but he knows her, in that fundamental way that comes from meeting dozens, hundreds of pilots, soldiers, people like her. He knows her fundamental beliefs in her abilities will not be shaken- maybe not because of how strong it is, but because she cannot let it be shaken, because it is too integral to who she is, to her identity. It's time, once again, to try a new tactic. Tycho shifts arguments as seamlessly as a fighter rolling out of the enemy's sights and on to a new attack vector.

"Let me ask you, and I mean this seriously, I'm not mocking you," he prefaces. "But honestly Asuka. What does being a good pilot mean to you? How do you know that you're good? This is not an idle question. I really need to know."

For this to work, he needs a real answer out of her, not just more rebuffing and superficial deflections. He waits, eyes earnest on her face.

Asuka snorted, eyes narrowing. Who did this guy think he was? Was he trying to psychoanalyze her or something? She stood, turning away from him with a snort. "Why do you care, anyway? You don't think I'm good enough anyway. You know so much more then me about this piloting thing, after all! I wouldn't want to get in your way."

She turned back to him and jabbed a finger towards him. "I know I'm good because I am. I'm the best or I will be. Anything less is worthless!"

"I never said you weren't good," Tycho says softly. "That is not the issue here, not at all." His voice is still soft, but it's starting to take on a dangerous edge. "I do know that much more," Tycho continues, "But I can't force you to agree with that, and you know what, it doesn't matter if you agree or not, because I out-rank you, and so no matter what you think, you have to listen to me."

Asuka is refusing to listen, and so she has brought out another side of Tycho, a side he doesn't often let show. He knows arguing won't get through to her. If calm respectful conversation won't work either, it's time for Tycho to change tactics entirely, to stop using lasers and switch over to proton torps. He looks up at her, and now his eyes are cold, like hard flecks of ice. This is a man who has killed more men and women than will comfortably fit painted on the side of an x-wing. This is a man who has ordered other men and women to go into battle in which he knows some will die without flinching. This is a man who has shot other men and women with a blaster and watched them die in front of him. This is a warrior, who has earned his rank.

"This conversation just became non-optional," he says in that same hard flat voice of command. "You will sit down and talk with me, and that is an order, Flight Officer Soryu. You will give my questions careful consideration, and you will answer them to the best of your ability. Do you understand?"

Asuka clenched her jaw, fury and anger and fear running through her. She didn't want to talk about her life to this man. She didn't want to talk about her mother or why she piloted or why she was Asuka. This man didn't have a right, senior rank or not. She shook her head, voice rising in volume as her hands balled into fists at her side. It was a pretty impressive sight, actually.

"What right do you have to make me talk about my life to you? You're not some stupid psychologist, you're not Arha and you're definitely not going to learn anything about me! My life is my business, you hear me? I am not going to sit down and tell you everything about me just because you order it! Who the Hell do you think you are?!"

Tycho stares at her, completely impassive in the face of the yelling. It is impressive, but more, it's heartbreaking to see a child rendered this upset, and Tycho is not proud to have been the cause. Still, the fact that she has this little control over her emotions only reinforces his conviction that she is not ready to be a pilot, not without some major growth and changes.

"Your life impacts your piloting," he says calmly. "That makes it my business. And it doesn't matter who I am, other than the fact that I am your superior. Rogue Squadron is a military unit, you knew that when you joined. That means you have to obey the chain of command, whether you like it or not."

He pauses for a moment giving her time to process. Then, he continues. "Now, I gave you a direct order. I don't care if you like it, you will follow it if you want to pilot an x-wing ever again."

Asuka hissed through her teeth at him, glaring balefully. After a long hard, moment of rage-filled seething she slowly sank down and sat, folding her arms again. She looked away from him, refusing to make eye contact. He couldn't do this. He couldn't make her talk to him. She'd sit, but she didn't have to talk.

Tycho waits, and then waits some more, but it's pretty clear she's not going to talk. "Asuka," he tries. Then again, "Asuka." No response. He sighs. At least she hasn't left. That's something, right?

"Look, we can sit here all night," he finally says. "I'm patient, I have no problem waiting. You can keep not talking to prove your point, if you want. But sulking won't do anything to convince me that you're mature enough to be a pilot."

I'm trying to help you, he doesn't say, because he knows right now that's the last thing she'll beleive. It's true though. He looks at this obviously hurting young girl in front of him, and he wants to help. Tycho isn't a religious man, not in the traditional sense, but Force grant me strength, he thinks, and the ability to get through to her.

Asuka kept her arms folded, glaring at the floor. She hated this. She hated that this man was trying to talk to her about things she didn't want to talk about. She didn't have issues. There was nothing wrong with her. Guiltily, a part of her wished Arha were here. She didn't need Arha's help for this (she shouldn't need Arha's help at all). "...my life is none of your business. I'm fine."

"Asuka." Tycho sighs. "I'm not saying there's anything wrong with you, and I don't want to make you tell me about your entire life. I just want to have a simple discussion about what being a pilot means to you."

He sighs and rubs tiredly at his eye (tired tired why is he always tired? Piloting might be a young man's game, but command was no walk in the park.) "Look," he continues, "if you want to convince me that you should be a pilot, prove to me that you understand what that means."

He doesn't like it, but it's time to go for a sucker punch. "Prove to me," he says slowly, "that you actually understand what you want to do, and that it's not just something you're doing because someone chose it for you when you were five. Prove to me that you're not just blindly following along the path someone else set for you, wanting to be the best only because you don't know anything else."

Asuka glared at him again. Tycho's very lucky that looks can't kill or he'd probably be dead several times over at this point. She hated him. She didn't want to talk about her life or why she was a pilot or anything else. General Antilles never wanted to and she'd been doing fine before this Tycho guy showed up, the whole punching Lafiel thing aside. Her hands balled into fists again. She wished she could pummel him into submission.

"I want to pilot because it's what I do. I made the choice. I was supposed to save the world!"

That's not the answer he was hoping for. He's either pushed her too far, or not far enough- the distinction between the two is fine and difficult to tell, but so, so important. Tycho stares off to the side, thinking. He knows her in the hundreds of over-confidant pilots, but he doesn't know her, and that information would be critical now to telling him whether he should push harder, or lay off.

What do I do?

He rubs at his temple, feeling the beginnings of a headache forming. Wedge, I could use you now he ruefully thinks. He's made a mistake, coming into this without back-up, and now he's boxed himself into an impossible situation. Trapped between the interceptors and the interdictor cruiser. If he lets her go now, she'll feel like she's won, and that will only reinforce her problematic thinking. But if he keeps her, and pushes her too hard, or in the wrong way, she'll close herself off from him, and then getting her to listen will be impossible.

He could take her to the sims, ask her to demonstrate her piloting skills to him, but he's certain he could shoot her down every time, with ease. That's not arrogance, that's just facts. From what he's seen of her so far, that would only make her more upset, defensive and hostile, which would be completely counterproductive.

I have to get past her shields, he thinks. They're too strong, I need to take out their power source. She thinks he is treating her like a child, which he is. Time to show her he can treat her like an adult, by showing her some respect. Time to try some honesty.

"Do you want to know why I have a problem with you piloting?" Tycho asks. "It's not because I don't think you're good. Age has nothing to do with raw skill. Gavin Darklighter, who was only 16, had some of the highest scores of any of the pilots who joined Rogue Squadron at the same time as him."

Asuka actually looked surprised for a moment before her expression settled into semi-hostile suspicion. She didn't like this sudden change and she's not sure what Tycho is trying to do. The idea that he could do this to her infuriated her (although she remembered NERV and all of the stupid things she had to do there - then again, she complained about that too). She wanted to leave. She wanted to talk to Arha (because she wanted to, not because she needed to). She wanted to just fly or go loo kat her Eva or eat or do something that wasn't listening to him talk about how she needed to be more careful or something equally stupid.

"If it's not about age, then what the Hell is it?"

She was frustrated. That much was clear.

Tycho was getting frustrated as well, though he wasn't letting it show. His frustration wasn't with Asuka though, but with himself, and his own inability to get through to the girl, his own miscalculations.

Tycho considers his words very very carefully. "When you're in an actual battle," he says, "fighting, surviving, defeating your enemy- accomplishing all that is only about ... hmm." He ponders. "One fourth actual skill. It's maybe one fourth about having the proper equipment, all in proper working order- in deep space, equipment failure can kill you just as surely as an enemy laser. But, it's the other half that's the really important part. Staying alive, vaping enemies in a real actual battle? That comes down to being disciplined, and being able to trust your squadronmates. All of you have to work together. You can't be everywhere at once, you can't watch everywhere on the engagement area at once. That's what you need your squadronmates for. You have to be able to trust them, to know that they will be there and they will do their jobs and they have to be able to trust that you will do your job as well. That means if someone sees something you don't, if someone knows something you don't, they will give you an order, and you have to obey instantly. You can't question them, you can't think about it and decide for yourself. You just have to do. If you don't you will die, or worse, you'll be the cause of one of your squadronmates dying. That kind of trust, that your squadronmates will trust you with their lives, and you will trust them with yours, doesn't just happen. You have to build it up. And part of that involves proving to them that you can follow orders, that you are willing to admit that you are wrong, so that they can trust that when it really matters, if their lives are on the line, you will be willing to follow orders, that you will be willing to change what you're doing if someone else sees that you're doing something wrong. That trust needs to be absolute, you need to not have to even think about it. Because in a real battle, a seconds hesitation, a microseconds hesitation is the difference between life and death."

Tycho takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly. "That's why I don't think you should be piloting," he says. "Because from what I've seen so far, you're not disciplined. You don't seem willing to listen or make concessions or admit when you might be wrong. Each of those things are as integral to being a good pilot as the ability make tight turns or shoot your lasers accurately or any of the other technical piloting skills."

There's even more he could say, about how over-confidence makes you sloppy and careless, about how understanding what you're fighting for and how important it is can give you that needed extra edge, about how sometimes the thing that needs to be done is hanging back and letting someone else take the kill, about how working together is more important than being the best- but he's said so much already, so he stops, and waits for her reaction.

Tycho honestly has no idea if any of his words will get through to her or not. It's all the truth, but whether Asuka will be too blinded by her own frustration and anger to be willing to listen is another matter entirely.

Asuka stared at Tycho, fuming for several long moments. She hated listening to his stupid self-righteous speech. She hated hearing that she wasn't ready. She heated hearing about all of the stupid crap about teamwork and working together and overcoming. She hated it because deep down somewhere, she knew he was right and she didn't want to admit it. She didn't want to be wrong. She couldn't be wrong. She was the best. She was the pilot of Eva Unit 02. So she just sulked. If she objected, she'd be tossed out of the squadron. If she agreed, she would be admitting she was wrong.

Congratulations, Tycho, you earned yourself some sullen silence.

Tycho waited, and- nothing. Nothing. He could hope that meant that she was listening, but was unwilling to admit she was, but realistically, it was impossible for him to know.

Either way, he'd tried basically everything, and at this point his only option was a tactical retreat.

"Very well Flight Officer Soryu," he said wearily. "I suppose we're done here. You can go."

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