Probably the premier attraction of the RBL Station is Aslan's Bar and Grille. If you've never seen this place your missing out. Rooties flow endlessly, nubian princesses crowd the dance floor, and drunken pilots reminiss about the "good ole days". Today's party is exceptionally rowdy, especially for this bunch. Just as things appear to be slowing down Ace walks up to the stage and gets on the mic.Â
"*hiccup, hiccup, buuuuurrrrrpppp* Glad to see every *hic* one is having a good time. Before *hic* I get to carried *hic hic hic* away here, I want to address the latest news. *burp* Our squadrons are training hard *hic* and I'm proud of everyone. Dry runs are one thing, but we also need to practice our scramble situations. So I'm putting the base on notice that there will be scramble drills occuring at random for the next few weeks. When the alarm *hic hic* sounds Hawk Squadron will be the first unit to mobilize. For the time being all missions will be flown in the simulators utilizing the good ole T-65. All RBL personnel are welcome to join the party after the Hawks have scrambled and sent a recon report back to the base.  Now with that said....hit it boys.................."
The music pics up and Ace starts into a rousing version of the 80's song "you spin me".......just as he finishes the chorus klaxons start blaring and red emergency lights come to life.Â
*klaxons wail, red emergency lights begin to flash*
"you spin me...........what the???? What's with all the noise?" Ace said as he slipped the mic back into the stand with a very confused look on his face. "Well our fearless leader that would be the scramble drill you ordered for today" R2Vader reminded his colleague. "Cmon sunshine off to the sims we go..........................." R2Vader said as he grabbed Ace's shirt with his manipulator arm and began to drag his master off towards the flight simulators. "Ok, ok let go of me you rust bucket. Hang on I need a minute......." Ace mused as he called upon the force to help clear the cobwebs out of his rootie soaked brain.Â
As the two vets made their way to the sims they saw 3 organic pilots and 8 droids of various make heading towards the sims. All of them Hawk personnel. Upon reaching the simulator Ace slipped into the cockpit and R2Vader plugged into the droid socket. Ace pulled his belts tight and connected his life support system, then donned his gloves and helmet. "Alright R2Vader fire her up and let's get this party started."
"Welcome to simulator 9876543-1. I am Ginny and will be your guide for this mission. Commencing retinal scan......complete. Commencing finger print analysis........complete. Welcome Ace, how may I assist you today?"
"Who in their right mind ordered this drill today?? He should be shot! Forgive me for forgetting protocal today Ginny, had a wild party going...ohhhh I'm gonna get whoever did this uhhhh time to get to work I guess..............set us up with a small Vong attack force heading for the base. Hawk Squadron will scramble and any late comers to the party can be used as reinforcements. Give us a Vong Star Destoyer analogue with full Skipper compliment. You can pick victory conditions and would you please act as mission control?" Ace said to the sim that is set up for the squadron leader.Â
"Very well sir. And before we get carried away 'working' I need to remind you that you set up this drill sir.  Victory conditions set at 100% Skip destruction. Secondary objective: Take down the SD analogue. Happy Hunting. Mission will begin in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..................Control to Hawk 2 you and your squadron are cleared for takeoff."
" Yeah who asked you??!! Alright let's rock n roll. Roger control, Hawk 2 has 4 green and running hot. Time to turn and burn." Ace said as he took his X-wing through the launch cycle. Clearing the hangar he waited until he saw that his entire squadron had cleared the hangar, then he began to bark out orders. "Good day ladies, gents, beings, and droids. Sorry to pull you away from such a happening party but we have some work to do. For this mission Hawk 2 has the ball. 1, 3, 4 your with me. Widget (Galactic Alliance pilot droid) take 6, 7, and 8 for two flight. Stitch (3po combat pilot droid built by Ace) take 10, 11, and 12 for three flight. All flights form up on your point man in diamond formation. Let's see who's coming to dinner. All pilots report in." * 11 double comm clicks come back to Ace signifying the squad is ready to go. Switching to a private frequency he shares with R2Vader, Ace starts a private conversation with his droid.* "See anything on the scanners yet? Visual coming up empty."
"Ace confirmed Vong Star Destroyer analogue and Coral Skipper compliment 25 klicks out and holding. Shall we say hello?" R2Vader said. "Sounds good to me R2Vader. Switch to the tac channel..............*com channel set to tac* Attention Hawk Squadron looks like we've got a Vong cruiser and star fighter compliment coming in at 065 mark 3 sitting 25 klicks out. Stay sharp people! Let's dance"
The 12 X-wings accelerate to attack speed and engage the first wave of skips. "Ace to squad, remember stutter fire to overload the dovin basals, then hit it with a quad burst." One flight engages 4 skips and comes out unscathed. Two flight downs 4 more skips. Three flight is having some trouble. One X-wing is hit by the lava projectiles the skips use for missles. It slowly spins out of control and is ripped to shreads by molten plasma in the next salvo. Trying to compensate the other pilots of three flight try to cover each other but are now outnumbered 4-3.Â
"Stitch to Ace need assistance.......12 is down, 11 taking heavy fire.............*static*"
"Copy 9. One flight we need to help 9, regroup and get those skips off his back. Dial your inertial compesators up to 98%. That way those basals will have a tough time ripping the shields off your hind ends." Ace ordered as one flight sped to save three flight. They arrive just in time to see 11 explode into a ball of flames and molten plasma. Swinging around Ace picks up the leader of this skip formation and stutter fires into the tail of his ship overloading the dovin basal..........quickly with the speed afforded him through the force, he switches to quad burst and destroys the skip. All six X-wings converge on the two remaining bogies to quickly get rid of them. Looking around Ace sees the battle calming down......................"All wings report in."  Nine double clicks come back. "Widget how is two flight holding up?"
"Hawk 5 to lead: We're a bit banged up sir. Me and 6 are fine, 7 and 8 took a little damage and report their shields are operation at 60% and 45%."
"Hawk 9 reporting in sir. I'm fine but 10 took a little damage. Looks like his radio got hit, all I'm getting from him is static on the comm."
"Roger Roger.......9 hand signal to 10 to get out of here and return to base. He can always rejoin the fight after completing repairs. 5, 9 form up on me, looks like the second wave is coming from the cruiser. *switching to private com channel* R2Vader get a count on those incoming skips.........." Ace said to his trusty sidekick. "Uhhhhhhh Ace.....we uhhhh well I know this is a sim but I still don't want to die............" R2Vader replied. "How many ships?!!!" Ace said frustrated. "You asked for it boss.....count 36 incoming sir. And we still have to deal with the cruiser. We may have bitten off more than we can chew." R2Vader said sounding defeated. "Hey now what kind of talk is that mate? We've been in tighter spots than this before...although that first wave went down way to easy..................."
*switching com channel back to tac frequency*
"Hawk 2 to Base, Control we've got 36 incoming skips. Requesting assistance. Anyone with your ears on out there feel free to join the party!" Ace said as he concetrated on forming up the rest of the Hawks for a run at the second wave of fighters heading their way. As Hawk Squadron custom, R2Vader started cranking up some AC/DC tunes over the squadron comm channel to set the mood for the fight................hopefully help will arrive soon as the Hawks are facing grim odds....nearly outnumbered 3-1 against a very formiddable opponent.................
"*hiccup, hiccup, buuuuurrrrrpppp* Glad to see every *hic* one is having a good time. Before *hic* I get to carried *hic hic hic* away here, I want to address the latest news. *burp* Our squadrons are training hard *hic* and I'm proud of everyone. Dry runs are one thing, but we also need to practice our scramble situations. So I'm putting the base on notice that there will be scramble drills occuring at random for the next few weeks. When the alarm *hic hic* sounds Hawk Squadron will be the first unit to mobilize. For the time being all missions will be flown in the simulators utilizing the good ole T-65. All RBL personnel are welcome to join the party after the Hawks have scrambled and sent a recon report back to the base.  Now with that said....hit it boys.................."
The music pics up and Ace starts into a rousing version of the 80's song "you spin me".......just as he finishes the chorus klaxons start blaring and red emergency lights come to life.Â
*klaxons wail, red emergency lights begin to flash*
"you spin me...........what the???? What's with all the noise?" Ace said as he slipped the mic back into the stand with a very confused look on his face. "Well our fearless leader that would be the scramble drill you ordered for today" R2Vader reminded his colleague. "Cmon sunshine off to the sims we go..........................." R2Vader said as he grabbed Ace's shirt with his manipulator arm and began to drag his master off towards the flight simulators. "Ok, ok let go of me you rust bucket. Hang on I need a minute......." Ace mused as he called upon the force to help clear the cobwebs out of his rootie soaked brain.Â
As the two vets made their way to the sims they saw 3 organic pilots and 8 droids of various make heading towards the sims. All of them Hawk personnel. Upon reaching the simulator Ace slipped into the cockpit and R2Vader plugged into the droid socket. Ace pulled his belts tight and connected his life support system, then donned his gloves and helmet. "Alright R2Vader fire her up and let's get this party started."
"Welcome to simulator 9876543-1. I am Ginny and will be your guide for this mission. Commencing retinal scan......complete. Commencing finger print analysis........complete. Welcome Ace, how may I assist you today?"
"Who in their right mind ordered this drill today?? He should be shot! Forgive me for forgetting protocal today Ginny, had a wild party going...ohhhh I'm gonna get whoever did this uhhhh time to get to work I guess..............set us up with a small Vong attack force heading for the base. Hawk Squadron will scramble and any late comers to the party can be used as reinforcements. Give us a Vong Star Destoyer analogue with full Skipper compliment. You can pick victory conditions and would you please act as mission control?" Ace said to the sim that is set up for the squadron leader.Â
"Very well sir. And before we get carried away 'working' I need to remind you that you set up this drill sir.  Victory conditions set at 100% Skip destruction. Secondary objective: Take down the SD analogue. Happy Hunting. Mission will begin in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..................Control to Hawk 2 you and your squadron are cleared for takeoff."
" Yeah who asked you??!! Alright let's rock n roll. Roger control, Hawk 2 has 4 green and running hot. Time to turn and burn." Ace said as he took his X-wing through the launch cycle. Clearing the hangar he waited until he saw that his entire squadron had cleared the hangar, then he began to bark out orders. "Good day ladies, gents, beings, and droids. Sorry to pull you away from such a happening party but we have some work to do. For this mission Hawk 2 has the ball. 1, 3, 4 your with me. Widget (Galactic Alliance pilot droid) take 6, 7, and 8 for two flight. Stitch (3po combat pilot droid built by Ace) take 10, 11, and 12 for three flight. All flights form up on your point man in diamond formation. Let's see who's coming to dinner. All pilots report in." * 11 double comm clicks come back to Ace signifying the squad is ready to go. Switching to a private frequency he shares with R2Vader, Ace starts a private conversation with his droid.* "See anything on the scanners yet? Visual coming up empty."
"Ace confirmed Vong Star Destroyer analogue and Coral Skipper compliment 25 klicks out and holding. Shall we say hello?" R2Vader said. "Sounds good to me R2Vader. Switch to the tac channel..............*com channel set to tac* Attention Hawk Squadron looks like we've got a Vong cruiser and star fighter compliment coming in at 065 mark 3 sitting 25 klicks out. Stay sharp people! Let's dance"
The 12 X-wings accelerate to attack speed and engage the first wave of skips. "Ace to squad, remember stutter fire to overload the dovin basals, then hit it with a quad burst." One flight engages 4 skips and comes out unscathed. Two flight downs 4 more skips. Three flight is having some trouble. One X-wing is hit by the lava projectiles the skips use for missles. It slowly spins out of control and is ripped to shreads by molten plasma in the next salvo. Trying to compensate the other pilots of three flight try to cover each other but are now outnumbered 4-3.Â
"Stitch to Ace need assistance.......12 is down, 11 taking heavy fire.............*static*"
"Copy 9. One flight we need to help 9, regroup and get those skips off his back. Dial your inertial compesators up to 98%. That way those basals will have a tough time ripping the shields off your hind ends." Ace ordered as one flight sped to save three flight. They arrive just in time to see 11 explode into a ball of flames and molten plasma. Swinging around Ace picks up the leader of this skip formation and stutter fires into the tail of his ship overloading the dovin basal..........quickly with the speed afforded him through the force, he switches to quad burst and destroys the skip. All six X-wings converge on the two remaining bogies to quickly get rid of them. Looking around Ace sees the battle calming down......................"All wings report in."  Nine double clicks come back. "Widget how is two flight holding up?"
"Hawk 5 to lead: We're a bit banged up sir. Me and 6 are fine, 7 and 8 took a little damage and report their shields are operation at 60% and 45%."
"Hawk 9 reporting in sir. I'm fine but 10 took a little damage. Looks like his radio got hit, all I'm getting from him is static on the comm."
"Roger Roger.......9 hand signal to 10 to get out of here and return to base. He can always rejoin the fight after completing repairs. 5, 9 form up on me, looks like the second wave is coming from the cruiser. *switching to private com channel* R2Vader get a count on those incoming skips.........." Ace said to his trusty sidekick. "Uhhhhhhh Ace.....we uhhhh well I know this is a sim but I still don't want to die............" R2Vader replied. "How many ships?!!!" Ace said frustrated. "You asked for it boss.....count 36 incoming sir. And we still have to deal with the cruiser. We may have bitten off more than we can chew." R2Vader said sounding defeated. "Hey now what kind of talk is that mate? We've been in tighter spots than this before...although that first wave went down way to easy..................."
*switching com channel back to tac frequency*
"Hawk 2 to Base, Control we've got 36 incoming skips. Requesting assistance. Anyone with your ears on out there feel free to join the party!" Ace said as he concetrated on forming up the rest of the Hawks for a run at the second wave of fighters heading their way. As Hawk Squadron custom, R2Vader started cranking up some AC/DC tunes over the squadron comm channel to set the mood for the fight................hopefully help will arrive soon as the Hawks are facing grim odds....nearly outnumbered 3-1 against a very formiddable opponent.................
There is no emotion:ÃÂ There is peace.ÃÂ There is no ignorance, there is knownledge.ÃÂ There is no passion, there is serenity.ÃÂ ÃÂ There is no chaos, there is harmony.ÃÂ There is no death, there is only the force-jedi code