Learning From the Enemy

[Steel]

The Rebel Dawn never slept. There was always the constant hum of the engines as the mighty ship sailed through space, the ever-present buzz of machinery that was silently heard in everyone's minds. The Rebel Dawn's crew rarely slept as well. It seemed that no matter what time it was, there was always someone clicking a datapad, laughing with friends, or tinkering with the pieces of junk that everyone called starfighters. The Rebels were gravely out-numbered in their struggle against the Sith, and nobody ever brought down an Empire while fast asleep.

Such was the reason Pavelo was holding the first session of his advanced starfighter training course during the wee hours of the Rebel Dawn's night cycle. Due to the cramped spaces of the Rebel command centre, the only available place for Pavelo to instruct the young guns was in one of Rebel Dawn's hangars. Holding the session late in the night cycle helped Pavelo and his trainees avoid the disturbances and loud noises that would plague them during the day. The only drawback was that the trainees might show up tired, but Pavelo had provided them with the time in which the session was taking place well in advance. If they had not adjusted, it was their own fault.

While still new to the Rebellion, Pavelo's time as an ace Imperial pilot made him a logical choice to train the Rebellion's next group of pilots. The Imperium possessed the finest fighting force in the entire galaxy, and for the Rebellion to have a chance, they would need to at least match the level of training the pilots of the Imperium received.

Pavelo paced back and forth as he waited for his trainees to arrive. He had been told there would be four, and every one of them were experienced in a fighter. Pavelo's first training assignment would not be teaching rookies, but refining veterens. Fair enough.

The instructor stopped pacing and checked his chrono, fifteen minutes before the session would start. His trainees would arrive soon. He glanced at a nearby bench portruding fron the hanagr wall, the only seating Pavelo had been able to find for his trainees. Pavelo himself would be standing for this first session.

Each trainee had been instructed to bring flimsi and writing untensils, just in case they wanted to take notes. Pavelo himself had five datapads, each one containing diagrams of various tactics, tips, and ship specifications that he would give to the trainees. Some beings believed that instinct and 'winging it' won battles. Pavelo knew for a fact that structure and sound tactics was what truly won the day...and saved your life.

Pavelo was disturbed from his thoughts when his first trainee arrived. The Rebellion instructor eyed a big brown Wookie as it came and sat down on the bench. Pavelo gave the Wookie a small, encouraging smile.

"First one here...good, good".

The Wookie nodded in response, killing the conversation. Pavelo once again checked his chrono as he waited for the others to arrive.

 

[Hishamori]

Hiru Mori, who had find out about the advanced training session that was going to take place at the night cycle, was a little excited, she had experience and knew what not to do and what to do in a dogfight, she has also gotten kills, though obviously not on actual imperials in terms of fighters, but ground wise, she had dozens.But it never hurt to learn more, and refine your skills. She had actually decided to wear her old military uniform from when the alliance was still around, her sniper badge made it's self very well known,and the few badges were also could be seen, and speaking of sniper she was once again carrying around her sniper rifle, barely noticing the heavy gun's weight, under her arm was her flight suit, she hadn't put it on yet, and figured until they actually started flying fighters her suit would just stay under her arm or on a bench.

With those thoughts out of the way, Hiru entered the hanger bay where the session would take place, she found herself seizing up the former imperial in front of her, and she was a bit impressed. He would be a difficult target. And I do have to wonder if the muscles he has are for show, or that he actually knows how to use them she thought in a bit of a cruel fashion, her thoughts didn't show on her face though, she nodded towards the person who was in charge, and said a small little hello to the wookie joining the wookie on the bench, and putting down her flight suit.

 

[Minuteman75]

"No Pal you can't come."

Said Forim with strong hint of regret in his voice. The blue-colored pilot spare a glance to his astromech droid awhile walking to the hanger. Pal squeak in indignation and Viridux couldn't blame him. But the fact of the matter, Pal like to show in front of people as much that fun when hanging out at a bar it was less amusing during a class session.

To save everyone the trouble, Forim thought best if Pal stay out of this for now, but the little mech was proving to be stubborn wanting stay with his organic friend and partner. Sighing, Forim continue;

"Look buddy I'm sorry I know we haven't been spending enough quality time lately with everything going on. I promise we will soon but not right now okay?"

The small droid answered with silence, except the sound of his wheels moving. Oh great the silent treatment.

Forim Viridux shook his head and decided to make a compromise to placate Pal

"Alright Pal you can go with me to the hanger but not right at the session. Pick a spot to hide up in and watch. We don't want to repeat that episode we had back on Manaan."

A retorting beep answer from Pal caused Viridux to reply back

"Hey I wasn't the one who insulted that Gotal merchant by suggesting that his mother was a harlot, you did."

Then that memory surface and Forim laughed a little bit with Pal uttering a similar sound as well. The mentioned merchant attempted to cheat Viridux into paying an outrageous price for some small goods. Needless to say heated words were exchanged and he and the Gotal got in a fight with each other after Pal insulted the businessman. By the force, it was hilarious. the guy must really loved his mom.

The laughing stopped when the duo entered the hanger bay and Pal rolled to hide behind a shuttle awhile Viridux walked over to the bench where the others were waiting. He noticed that their instructor was standing as two individuals were sitting on the bench, a human female and an Wookiee. Compare to woman's military uniform and stuff she had on herself, Forim just wore his flight suit except for an helmet.

Also as instructed, the Durosian brought a pen and and paper in hand, he really did want to write down notes for this occasion. After giving the group a quiet nod of greeting, Forim sat down the bench beside the woman and waited for the lesson to begin.

 

[Steel]

Pavelo watched with curious eyes as two more trainees entered the quiet hangar and sat down on the bench. He found it odd that the woman had chosen to wear a military uniform. Maybe she wanted to show off her medals. It seemed as though bravado was present in every fighting force.

He pointed at the flight suit she was carrying, "Won't need that tonight. We're staying on the ground for the first session". After a moment's pause, Pavelo continued, "As for that hand cannon, you'll soon see that the weaponry of a starfighter easily outshines small arms fire".

Then the man came in, and Pavelo returned his nod. The man was followed by a short Sullustan, who smiled hello to Pavelo before waving at everyone om the bench. Pavelo gestured for the Sullustan to sit down, and the trainee eagerly complied. It was time to get started.

"Welcome everyone, to my advanced starfighter piloting course. My name is Pavelo Nisi, and the things I will teach you over the next few days will not only help you achieve victory on the battlefield, but will help you survive as well. I am a former pilot of the Imperium, and I was a pretty d**n good one too, so I imagine tha I will have a few useful things to teach you".

As for names, well I'm guessing Kallamum is the Wookie". This prompted a nod from Kallamum the Wookie and Pavelo went on. "Hiru is a lady's name, so I know who you are. That leaves me with Gaan and Forim".

Gaan raised his hand, "I am Gaan, good sir, pleasure to meet you".

Pavelo nodded back, smiling a little bit at the Sullustan's enthusiasm. "Pleasure to meet you as well Gaan". Pavelo then looked at Forim, "And that leaves you as Forim. Welcome to to the course".

Now that the pleasantries were out of the way, it was time for Pavelo to begin telling these pilots how to get better.

"To succeed...and survive...a pilot needs three different things. The first thing you need is optimal physical conditioning. As a pilot, you will need to wrestle with the controls of a very heavy heap of metal that can reach over thirteen hundred kilometres an hour. You will be subject to insane amounts of G-Force, and you will sweat a lot during battle. Not to mention the hand speed you will need to control your fighter. Remaining in top physical shape is paramount, and I advise you all to hit the gym regularly. As of right now, only Kallamum looks like he is strong enough, Forim is close also.

The second thing you will need is mental dexterity. Pilots must think fast and react faster. You will need to be able to read your enemy in a blink of an eye, predict what they are doing, and then formulate your own plan to counter-act theirs. You also need to be aware of everything. You need to know what is in front of you, what is beside you, and what is behind you. Pilots need to be able to track ships going over thirteen hundred kilometres an hour. Of course that's just what's on the outside. Inside your cockpit you will always need to read the information your ship is giving you. I suggest everyone take a Flash Training Course to improve your mental capabilities".

Pavelo began handing out a datapad to each one of the trainees. Each datapad contained diagrams of various tactics as well as the specifications of several common ships. "The third thing you will need is knowledge. While reacting quickly is good, reacting quickly and in the right matter is better. Knowing effective tactics beats winging it every day of the week. Structure works, it's as simple as that. I expect you all to memorize the information on the datapads within a year, possibly sooner".

Wih his inital lecture done, Pavelo took a minute to let his words sink in. Now that he had given the trainees a brief rundown of the basics, it was time for him to get to the real reason he was teaching these pilots.

"Now, I understand that all lf you have received prior training, and some have even engaged the Imperium already. I do not know the quality of the training you have received, but I trust you all know the S.A.S.P.S. so we don't ned to cover that To start, I think one of the best ways I can help you is by answering questions. Any questions you have about piloting a starfighter, I will answer".

With that, Pavelo shut-up and took a few steps back, bringing his hands behind his back as he did so.

 

[Hishamori]

Hiru figured, her coming in her military uniform was would be seen as bravado, though it wasn't her intention, it was mainly her pride, that and she didn't really want to come into the place in her flight suit due to it being a tight suit, that hugged quite a bit. She smiled a bit at the hand cannon "This hand cannon has actually taken out a ship before, I got a chance to take out the engine of a enemy transport and did, poor thing fell like a stone" Hiru said with a cheesy grin, and didn't really react to the muscle thing, she had plenty of strength, and she didn't need to look like she did, better to be underestimated then overestimated, Hiru always thought. Since if you underestimated, you could surprise people, if you were overestimated, you didn't have much wiggle room.

She took the offered datapad and started glancing over it, most of what it told her, was stuff she already knew, though ask her to try and it explain it, and she would get stuck. It's just one little problem, that usually makes it seem like I'm an idiot she thought with some disdain "If your wondering why I'm wearing the uniform, it's because It's more of a statement of pride, and a show of what I did do, before the alliance fell. I don't brag all that much, usually make statements, and while I was a bit joking around the transport, I wasn't actually lieing about doing it, or getting the chance" Hiru said with a serious look, any sense of humor had drained out her face and she simply stared with a hard look towards Pavelo, before she went back to reading, she had seen the looks and that's why she said about the uniform, though the last bit was because the lack of strength annoyed her, just cause she didn't look strong didn't mean she was. However she wasn't going to bust a bolt just because of a comment, about how she looked weak, at least if the former imp, tried to attack her she could probably handle any punch that went her way, either by blocking it or simply because she had very high endurance.

 

[Minuteman75]

Forim continue to remain quiet when Pravlo introduce himself and began the lecture just the final trainee, a Sullestan sat with the rest of them. Viridux pay real close attention to what the instructor said, and arch his left eye when Pravlo revealed that he was a former Imperial pilot and experienced one. That left a lot of questions in Forim's mind about what Pravlo Nisi exactly did during his combat service in the Imperium. Forim put those questions on hold to heard the rest of what Pravlo had to say. Despite being a former Imp, the guy seem to knew his stuff and made a lot of valid points concerning starfighter combat and the means for getting ready for it.

Sure Viridux been in few dogfights himself, but most of them were against undisciplined pirates instead of professional Imperial flyers. As such, Viridux eagerly took one of the datapads that Pravlo was handing out. They contained information on tactics and similar things he really needed to learn. The young Duros examine some of the intel and quickly noted that it will take a deal of time to memorize it all but it will be worth the study. Then finally Pravlo asked the trainees if they had any questions about flying a fighter.

Sure enough, Forim had some questions to ask indeed, but Hiru spoke up first and it was about justifying her wearing an alliance uniform and talking about shooting down a transport with her gun.

Well good for you, one less enemy transport to worry about. Oh wait, the Imps have many more to spare and an massive war machine too!

Forim thought sarcastically, but keep that opinion to himself. In all seriousness though her past feat was impressive but it wasn't the subject of this training course they were now having. When Hiru was done, Forim seize the chance to start asking Pravlo questions.

"In your time with the Imperial military what was the tactics that you and the other pilots tended to use like say during a dogfight? Also what some of the battles you fought in during that? Was it against the Alliance, pirates, or other types of enemies?"

After saying that last part, Forim looked intently at Pravlo, wondering what the older man's answer will be.

 

[Steel]

The girl was fiery one, Pavelo would give her that. Hiru's story about shooting down a transport sure was impressive, but Pavelo hoped she understood that feats like that were not the norm. Of course if Hiru regularly shot down transports, Pavelo would question why she even bothered piloting. She would be much more effective in an overwatch position. Pavelo's reason for being here was not for questioning the Rebellion's motives though, he was simply here to make these pilots better.

"Interesting story. I believe you did. You have no reason to lie to me do you?"

The last part was a joke, but Pavelo was no good at jokes. He hoped she did not take him serously.

As for the uniform, Pavelo did not care what they wore during the first session. If Hiru wanted to make a statement, she could. Pavelo reminded himself that this was the Rebellion, not the academy. Freedom was more important than structure.

The instructor turned to face the other trainee that had asked a question. Pavelo smiled a little bit as he answered.

"I fought against the Alliance, pirates, and even a few other groups. But we are not here to discuss me, just my knowledge. I can share more about myself after the lesson if you wish.

You did ask a great question about dogfighting tactics. That's what we are focusing on during this course. If I had to pick a favorite tactic...I'd go with the spiral dive. It's a great go-to tactic for almost any situation when you find yourself in trouble. By diving down and gradually turning inward like a spiral, you are able to evade almlst any pursuer. You can even make it an offensive tactic by pulling up when the attacker follows you into the dive. Nobody can react in time, and the results are the attacker overshoots and suddenly you are behind him". Pavelo winked at the group. "Just make sure the attacker is not lagging behind you. If he does when you pull-up, you'll drift right into his sights and BAM...dead".

Pavelo ran a hand through his hair. He hoped they were getting at least something from this. This was the first time Pavelo was sharing his skills, and he wanted to share as much as he could. After a short pause to allow for more questions, Pavelo continued.

"Next what we'll do is test your dogfighting acumen. I'll think up a scenario, and you guys, and lady, will think up a ways to approach the situation, describing your actions all the way up to the enemg pilot's death".

Pavelo paused once again. Comaderie was important in any fighting force, but especially for pilots. A pilot needed to know exactly what their wingmates were doing, chemistry was key. The best way to build comaderie was through talking, and so far, the trainees were barely communicating with each other. Pavelo planned to remedy that.

"I'll split you into two teams. Hiru and Forim...Kallamum and Gaan. Split up and then I'll give you your first scenario to think through".

 

[Hishamori]

Hiru smiled at the joke in the last bit for what pavalo said at the end of his statement towards which very much sounded like a joke "Nope, I have no reason to lie to you" Hiru said with a full out smile on her face.

Hiru nodded to what he said, she knew of the manuver, but she never really did it herself, since it was a bit difficult, and if you screw up, well BAM indeed.
SHe nodded at the at what he wanted to do and stood up, and waited for what he wanted herself and Forim to do.

 

[Minuteman75]

Interesting choice Forim mentally considered when Pravlo answered his question about favorite dogfight tactics. He held off further questions when the former Imp told him their first assignment for this class. So when spotting Hiru his new partner standing up he followed suit awhile Kallamum, the Wookiee went over to where Gaan was. When up, Viridux like Hiru waited for Pravlo to begin their test, then stated;

"We're ready."

 

[Steel]

The trainees appeared to be ready for further instruction. Pavelo was happy to oblige.

"Alright, we'll start with an easy one. You and your wingmate are flying a pair of A-wings side-by-side. There is only one enemy, flying a Wraith-class TIE scout. Trick is, the enemy is perfectly positioned behind you, ready for the kill. Discuss with your partner what you will do".

 

[Hishamori]

Hiru turned towards Forim, and already had thought about how to do it, since you usually turn into your opponent when their on your six a clock. but she'd wait for forim to say something before saying her own idea.

 

[Minuteman75]

"Hmm..." The scenario Pravlo presented them cause Forim to go deep in thought. Soon the Duros got an idea when he noticed that Hiru was looking at him, no doubt waiting to hear his opinion. He obliged her by saying;

"Well it seems to me that one of the possible solutions is for the us to use the speed and agility of our flight-craft to shake off the hostile then turn the tables on him. The Wraith pilot can't target both of us at the same time when we separate into different directions. That would force the opponent to choose one target to eliminate. Of course that gives one of us a chance to maneuver into the TIE's rear position quickly. Then hit him with laser-fire awhile he distracted in pursuing his original prey.

Still it is likely though that the hostile will go for evasive action to avoid death, but if it happens that can take off the pressure for the other A-Wing was facing. So then the prey-turned predator can mark the Wraith with a heat seeking missile awhile the hostile is too distracted by trying to escape from the first A-Wing's constant laser shots. One way or another the TIE gets slagged. What your idea Hiru?"

 

[Hishamori]

Hiru somewhat nodded at the idea, but the point for most fighter pilot's you made sure the enemy never got your six a clock, since you couldn't always depend on your wing mate. "Mine is a simple and kinda of an old try and true tatic, where you turn into your opponent forcing them to have to over shoot you and then you can turn to get on their tail, and shoot them down. While your plan might work, it's not full proof and by the time the other fighter can get on the wraith's tail, your wing mate could already be shot and dead by the time it happens. Rule number one when in a dog fight, don't let an enemy get on your six o'clock, and if they are, turn into them to throw them off" Hiru said finished with questioning look towards Forim, wondering if that made sense.

 

[Minuteman75]

Hiru's reasoning did had merit though Forim felt he had bring up an issue with it.

"Probably so, but we would likely be dealing with an experienced pilot or at least a well trained one who could recognize such tactic and try to counter it. Which why I recommend awhile we do go for your try and true maneuver one of us targets the enemy craft with a missile strike as the other does shoot at him with a laser barrage. Either one will get the target, the Imp can't escape a combined strike."

 

[Hishamori]

Hiru nodded at the idea "True, chances of them being an experienced pilot is high, but then again, the point of the tatic, is, usually you can't counter it because unless you have somehow been able to put brakes in a fighter craft, you can't just suddenly stop and get behind the enemy again. The tatic at the most causes the enemy to overshoot us, meaning he ends up exposing his six to us, while we can easily just turn around and get on his tail. Even more so when we are flying A-wings. The imperial pilot, probably has most of his or her's experience from fighting not really all that well trained enemy pilots. But I'm not saying your plan woudn't work either, however I would not be comfortable doing it, anytime soon in a dogfight. Unfortunely or fortunetly, depending on how you look at it." Hiru finished with a small grin from the little bit of humor she injected into the last bit.

 

[Minuteman75]

Forim wasn't amused, this was not a joking matter for him. He had compromise to fit with the her plan but just only a small addition and she pointed out some facts against it. He can handle that but not in the lighthearted manner she say, it made him like feel like a fool. Viridux just wore a neutral expression, its seems that Hiru will go only her way totally or none all. In all honesty, Forim didn't want to get in some turf war with fellow rebel over ideas with one scenario, but the young Durosian wasn't sure if he can stay as wingman with this woman.

What if there was a live or death situation and she keep insisting on her own course of action and they get killed for it? Thinking that Forim simply said;

"Very well we do it your way."

Viridux only stated that so to get this debate over with. Let the human have all the smiles she wants but it will be up to what the instructor thinks on this matter whether she right or not, he concluded.

 

[Hishamori]

Hiru could see that Forim wasn't happy, and just settled her face into a normal blank expression that she usually had, and sighed a bit, in slight annoyance, she could see where Forim was coming from and his plans weren't wrong, She didn't mind trying them, however she didn't feel comfortable about it, while she was sure it wouldn't be too bad, the point for her was, that unless the tatic you tried/did was proven to work, she didn't feel comfortable with it until it was shown that it was. She had her way, which was stick to what everyone knew, worked. and Forim had his way, a tatic that might also work given the heat of the moment. But how many times would it actually full proof work? compared to the turning into your enemy tatic that has worked since dogfighting came into existence? Hiru wasn't sure.

"How about a compromise? We can combine the two ideas, one a time tested tatic that has worked repeatedly in dogfights from almost the day it came into existence, and your idea, that might also work, but mainly in the heat of the moment or when given the chance. If we do end up a dogfight together and we do have enemy on our six, we turn into them like the old fashion tatic usually has you do, and if we can take him out before passing him, then we'll try it." Hiru said in a bit of a droned out matter, since forim didn't much care for emotions and they seem to only bother him, she'd be as an emotional as rock. "I do apologize, if I sounded negative about your ideas. I'm just not sure they would actually work, since all were doing is speculation, in a real fight, there's a 50/50 chance it might or might not work. And because I'm not entirely sure it would actually work how you have it planned out, I'm not comfortable with it. That also could be said about the old turn into your enemy tatic, but either way though. the tatic has always done a great job in getting the enemy off your tail. So I guess you could call me a dogfighter that uses tried and true tatics, over something that might not work" Hiru finished while staying blank faced, and monotone. She didn't much care if forim wanted to do it, if she was his wingmate then she'd follow him, if he was her wingmate, she wasn't so sure what he would do. Since she didn't have much trust in anyone really at the moment. Fellow rebels or not, you never know when someone could stab you in the back. So Hiru deciding it would be just to treat this as any other job, didn't really care if forim liked her idea, or even accepted her explanation as to why she didn't really want to do it. She just simply had to work with him, nothing more, nothing less. And that was how it was going to be for her.

 

[Minuteman75]

That what I was trying to do earlier combine the two ideas. Thought Forim when he heard Hiru's latest replies. It was good to see he was proven mostly wrong in his assumption about this rebel. Of course the way she kept brining up her chosen tactic as something as created and proven to be effective since past ages, awhile true was bit annoying. Yes old tactics are most certainly valuable means to fight but over-relying them could make yourself predicable to your enemies.

Still all the same his new idea haven't proven itself which why is he plan on testing it out on a training simulator. But the Durosian decided he can't do so with Hiru considering her reluctance and find someone else to experiment that theory. Now that he recalled she's a sniper originally that could explain her reliance on fundamental dogfight tactics rather than to risk for new means. She can handle herself no doubt yet in the end it was best go for her approach for the sake of team effort.

Relaxing his voice and facial expression, Viridux in all sincerity said to Hiru;

"Its for the best that we stick your tactic for now. I'll test my theory some other time."

The more he thought about it, Forim became determine to work on new ideas for starfighter combat to see if they can work or not. Thankfully the Rebellion had training simulations, where the tactics can be safely worked on.

 

[Hishamori]

Hiru simply nodded, she easily got the feeling that she wouldn't be talking to forim again, for a long time. She didn't mind, it wasn't really much of a loss, she highly doubted the Durosian, has even thought of what he would do after the rebellion was all said and done. Hiru had to admit she hadn't thought about it much either, since she at times doubted she'd live to see the blasted thing end. But you never know. Regardless if Forim's tatics worked or not, Hiru probably wasn't going to do them, simply because she found no reason to. Sure she realied on using old fashion tatics that could make her predictable, but then again, she had the aggressiveness that also made her unpredictable, and a somewhat of a terror for the enemy. Regardless she'd stick to what she would normally do in any situation. If you have an enemy, and they have every intent towards killing you. Your job is then very simple, kill, anyone stupid enough to get in your way and make them suffer the worst that you can come up with, and don't leave a single one alive.

Outside of her thoughts Hiru didn't show any real reaction, and simply turned and walked towards the former imperial, and then waited for him to approach forim and her. She still very much wanted to learn, and cracked a small smile at learning new things. Kinda of contractdiction. But Forim doesn't really strike me as someone who's not someone who's got their head in the clouds about how such a great pilot they are.. She thought a bit while not looking at said duro, she'd work with him, but she wouldn't do anything else.