Do you have what it takes? [OPEN]

[fieldpromoted]

PT finished at 0700, and the pilots and new recruits got a half hour to cool off before they got into the cockpits of their assorted craft. In the two hours since 0500 they ran several miles, did push-ups, sit-ups and pull-ups, and then a hundred jumping jacks to get the blood pumping. "You don't even want to think about how much force you put on your body when you're piloting," Trudy said at the start of the exercises. "Pilots need to be in peak condition to handle it."

Those who were used to doing the training five days out of the week would be out of breath but not exhausted. Anyone new, however, might have a little trouble getting their wind back.

"All right everyone, gather around. We have a few new recruits today, so we're not going to be running the Zokez scenario. I know you're all heartbroken." She kept a straight face, but that was a definite joke. She was sick of running the Zokez scenario. "We'll be doing some standard training exercises - maneuverability and gunning practice."

The track and exercise equipment melted away, and in its place the hangar of the Macross Quarter materialized with all its fighters and mobile suits. "Outside is a standard sim course. I'm going to have the recruits run it first to see how they handle and then the squadrons will go out as a unit. Recruits, let's put you in birds."

((OOC: This log is for anyone who signed up to fly a mobile suit, a VF or an X-wing and is not already in Starfighter Command. The flight sim is like something you'd see out of the training missions on Star Fox - fly through the rings, shoot the enemies, avoid the obstacles it throws at you like sheets of scrap and asteroids. EDIT: Subthreads for the squadrons are now up!))

Comments

[supersonicracer.livejournal.com]

Frankly, if there was any real reason Sonic decided to join in, it was stave off any sort of boredom he could have. That, and seeing as A) there was still no sign of the Chaos Emeralds yet and B) all his flying pals were still in the pods (hopefully), he needed to have another way to fly.

Of course, arriving for the training was probably the one thing that gave Sonic (and probably Trudy) fits. Run a few miles? Sonic could do it blindfolded. Push-ups and sit-ups? Done before the others were. Pull-ups? Well, there was a little trouble with that, but nothing he could handle. Thus, he had to slow down a bit. That was rough for him.

Now it was time to fly.

"Heh, flying, huh? That'll be a piece of cake!" Sonic said, grinning. It had been awhile since he actively flew a plane, but it would easily be like old times. Hopefully.

[fieldpromoted]

"We'll see," Trudy said. A blue hedgehog wanted to fly with them. Trudy thought she'd seen enough weird shit on this boat to last her a lifetime, but apparently there was still stuff that could surprise her.

She walked over to the Variable Fighters and patted the closest one on the nose. "This is a VF-171, Nightmare Plus. It's either a plane or a mech depending on its current needed function in battle. Transformation takes roughly fifteen seconds, so use it carefully. They have shielding that will stand up to a few hits from a Shrike's weapon but you don't want to sit there and get pounded on." Trudy pointed out the controls for the plane and the guns, and then gave a brief explanation of the transformation sequence and the differences in the controls. "It also does Mach 3.5 just cruising, so it's fast." She figured that would appeal to Sonic from what she'd seen of his run performance.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

The training course didn't really do much for Zouichi, honestly -- a Synthetic Human who couldn't easily perform the exercises they ran for the pilots here would never have been released into the field. But there was no point in protesting, especially if it aided unit cohesion.

He was more curious about the flight exercises. He'd flown aircraft before, but none of the fighter types that appeared in the hangar now.

[fieldpromoted]

Zouichi's performance in PT impressed her. She would look up his medical file later to see if he was like Yzak, slightly more advanced than your average person. Most people couldn't go through the regimen they did every day as easily as he did.

"Skull Squadron is the most short-staffed, so I'm also going to put you in a VF-171," Trudy said, indicating one of the sleek, dark blue fighters in Skull's section of the hangar. There were a pair of ladders on either side of the cockpit, Trudy climbed one of them to begin pointing out the controls in the fighter. They were fairly standard for anyone who had flown a fighter before but a little bit different than larger aircraft. Plus, there was the transformation into battdroid mode. "The controls don't change much, just their location. They're fairly intuitive, you shouldn't have a problem after some adjustment."

[goodenuff2kill.livejournal.com]

Hilde was used to tough training. She had once been a volunteer soldier for her colony and since she wasn't quite used to it, but it didn't take her long to get back into the swing of things. She stood in front of her red Taurus unit, looking up at it and the memories that came with it.

"OZ-12SMS Taurus, a space combat mobile suit. This one modified for White Fang use," she muttered to herself. It had been almost a year since she had piloted, but she was sure that she could still pilot it pretty well.

[fieldpromoted]

Trudy followed her to the mobile suit, overhearing her words. She smiled - it felt better to know there was at least one experienced pilot in the new group. "You must know Ensign Maxwell," she said. "I thought I'd heard him mention someone from his universe showing up."

She nodded toward the Taurus. "Let's see what you've got."

[redheadcarrier.livejournal.com]

"We're getting newbies? Really?"

Pretty much anyone who'd been in Starfighter Command knew that particular tone of voice. Asuka was complaining. Again.

[fieldpromoted]

Soryu again. Trudy was lucky she wasn't prone to headaches. "Wedge, why don't you give Rogue Squadron something to do that'll keep them occupied during the test flights," she said. It was phrased like a suggestion, but Wedge had been an officer for a long time. He would recognize a polite order.

Rogue Squadron now had Asuka to thank for whatever punishment detail Wedge gave them.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi didn't recognize Asuka, but from her complaint figured she was already a pilot. Maybe she was just having a bad day. He nodded toward her politely. "Pleased to meet you. I hope we can work together in the future."

[expendable-mind.livejournal.com]

Oh look, someone's not tiring at all. Sweating yeah, of course he's loving every minute of it. I'm sure it's just cause he's a bit of a masochist and a bit loopy.

At the end of the exercise he grinned, almost with a pleased expression.

"So, warm up's outta the way..." He looked around the hangar with a wide smile, letting out an impressed whistle. "I take it I can ride my own ship? Or do I need to use the standard for the crew? I've flown a type of 'VF' before called a Viking, ain' my cup-o-tea but I'm good wherever ya put me really. I'm kind of fond of my Jackie tho." He points at his His custom DF/A-19 Wraith Mk2 Stealth Fighter - a heavily upgraded version of the Terran Wraith Stealth Fighter (http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Wraith)

[fieldpromoted]

Trudy circled the craft, her eyes tracking over its lines. "What's its specialty?" she asked. This craft might belong more in Rogue Squadron than Skull, if she was guessing its function correctly.

"I'm not opposed to fitting your craft into one of the squadrons if I can see a tactical reason to use it," she added.

[death_adept]

For one such as Jalith, the exercise regiment the pilots were put through was child's play compared to what he had been made to endure during his training as an Imperial Assassin, his augmented form and physical conditioning allowing him to push through the PT with ease. For once the Vindicare was not entirely ensconced in his spy suit, appearing to wear casual clothing he'd picked up on XaXing, though beneath it hid the black spy suit, the spy mask held within a bag he'd brought with him.

His purpose there was to familiarize himself with the craft that the Starfighter command had available, the ones before them were far less bulky than those imperial craft he had learned to pilot, his bionic gaze drifting over one of the VF's a craft which looked like it would prove quite agile.

[fieldpromoted]

"You look like you have your eye on a Nightmare too," Trudy said. She was pleased. Skull Squadron was sadly shorthanded and now they had three more pilots to (hopefully) add to the roster. Plus the flight sims seemed to be going well, which was encouraging. "They're probably our most adaptable craft, the best at directly engaging the Shrikes to pull them away from our other craft."

[nobel-berserker.livejournal.com]

For Allenby, the physical exercise was a breeze. She just wished that the running had involved more obstacles. Going around in a big oval was just kind of boring. 'Sides, wouldn't it just be better for their battle reflexes to try and think about how to properly clear a two-story building while busy running? But maybe not all the new recruits were up for it yet, and that was okay.

It was the rest of this whole thing that made her guts squirm. She didn't want to think about having to shoot enemies down for an actual kill, even if they were only simulations. The whole reason there were Gundam Fighters like her at all was because that kind of war had been ended, long before she'd been born.

Oh, and it was in the Sensoriums, and given a choice, she would rather have done PT in a dumpster full of rats. Seriously. Yeah, she understood the necessity of doing this stuff in simulation, but how could so many people on this ship not get creeped out by the fact that Stacy was going into their minds, their actual brain, to construct this stuff?!

She'd had to create a simulation for her mobile fighter. If Stacy or anyone from Starfighter even thought about misusing it, Allenby would find a way to make them regret it. "I got Nobel Gundam right here," she said in a voice far more sullen than her usual boisterous cheer. "She works just fine in outer space, and I've got plenty of fightin' experience."

[fieldpromoted]

"If you want to run a training sim from your world, go right ahead. The sim I've set up should have reset by now."

Trudy had to wonder what the worlds with Gundams were like, to have so many kids piloting. Almost to a man, the Gundam pilots were younger than most regular army recruits, and Trudy knew that pilot training took a lot of time. They must have started training when they were... jeez, ten or eleven. It depressed her.

ROGUE SQUADRON

[fieldpromoted]

"All right, Rogue Squadron - you're up," Trudy said. "This is Ensign Splicer. He won't be flying an X-wing, but his craft has a similar combat role aside from its stealth capabilities, so I'm putting him with you. Get out there and figure out how you're all going to fly together."

She knew she was kind of throwing them to the wolves, so to speak, but they were all experienced pilots. They'd figure it out. The scenario was similar to the one she had given Allenby - a field of asteroids and space junk hovered around the Quarter, and there were enemy ships closing in.

Re: ROGUE SQUADRON

[halfa-hero.livejournal.com]

"Rogue 8 here. Hope you know what you're doin'"

Normally Danny would be a bit friendlier, but he hadn't been having a good time since Dani was repodded.

"Incoming at 3 and 12."

BLADE SQUADRON

[fieldpromoted]

"Blade Squadron, let's see it. Maxwell, you already know Ensign Schbieker. This is Ensign Beardsley. I want to see how you're doing as far as cohesiveness goes." Translation: Trudy wants to see if Blade Squadron can stop arguing over the comms long enough to run a decent simulation.

[jesushasagundam]

Truth be told, Kira was wondering that himself.

He was already in the cockpit, however, waiting for the launch signal - and when it was given, the catapult activated, propelling him down the flight deck of the Quarter. "Kira Yamato, Freedom, heading out!"

SKULL SQUADRON

[fieldpromoted]

"Captain Blanc, meet your new recruits," Trudy said, waving at Sonic, Zouichi and Jalith. "How about you take them out and see how they work as a team?"

Skull had been short-handed so long that it felt good to have more bodies to put in those fighters. It made her feel more comfortable about its viability as a squadron - the VFs were useful machines, especially as far as covering the other squadrons went.

Re: SKULL SQUADRON

[shootingblancs]

"Sounds like a plan," the blonde sniper said, adjusting his glasses for a moment as he inspected the trio. Not a full squadron, but that was fine with him - Skull group had always flown as a quartet before.

Michael gestured at the blue fighter plane next to him. "This is my bird, the VF-25G Messiah. You won't be flying this one yet - we don't have many to hand out, and it's a bit trickier to work than the others. Maybe you'll work up to it once you've taken the training wheels off and learned how to use your plane."

At that, he pointed to the group of gray planes just beyond his Messiah. "Those are yours, the VF-171EX Nightmare Plus. Designed for killing space bugs, which just so happens to be what it'll be doing here."

He ducked under the fuselage of the Messiah on his way to the Nightmares, motioning for the others to follow. "The key to the VF is right there in its name: Variable Fighter. We know we don't have the shields of the X-Wing jocks, or the raw firepower that the boys in Blade have. What we have, is versatility and speed. The VF will outrun and outfly anything on the field, and that's what you need to learn how to use. Switch to Battroid mode when you need close-range agility, switch to Fighter mode when you need to burn sky, and Gerwalk for in-atmospheric options where you need a little of both."

"Any questions before I set you into the air?"

[j-y-d.livejournal.com]

The exercises? Weren't hard enough, so somewhere in the early going, he switched to one handed push ups and pull ups.
And since the leaders of this training exercise are extremely busy, he runs the course again. Its enough to at least show some signs of exertion once he puts enough added strain on, but not much.

He's not looking to join a squad, and stays generally away from the starfighters and the actual pilots, but does stay on hand, in case whoever he might be doing some gunning and mech work for is about. Good to get to know the people you may end up working with, after all.

[fieldpromoted]

Trudy appreciated someone who went back to do extra instead of sitting around like a useless lump. Once all the test flights were done and the squadrons were off sortieing in groups, she walked over to Chase with a friendly smile - much more relaxed than she'd been around any of the recruits. "Nice of you to show up. What do you think?"

She waved her hand at the hangar and the Quarter both. It wasn't every day that they had an outsider came to observe their operations.

[mynameisax.livejournal.com]

Andalites frankly just weren't designed to do push-ups, sit-ups, or pull-ups. And while jumping jacks were closer to physically probable, they were also likely to result in death-by-laughter in anyone observing. Fortunately, Ax and Trudy had worked out his training regimen early on, so none of the recruits had to run that risk.

They had also finally finished modifying the cockpit of a VF for him to fit into -- not a mean feat, but he could even be inside of it without getting more than a twinge of claustrophobia. He was very excited to actually try flying it.

[fieldpromoted]

"Engineering does good work," Trudy said, having inspected the real version of Ax's modified craft where it sat in the real Quarter's hangar. "If I didn't know better I'd say the bird was meant to be designed that way."

And, well, she'd just put a blue hedgehog in the cockpit of a VF, so an Andalite wasn't that much of a stretch. Stacy was a strange place and they needed to adapt accordingly. "Ready to show me what that Andalite pilot training did for you?"