Vinta shivered as the chill in the hangar bay cut through the gray fabric of her uniform. She was glad she had worn an undershirt, and kept herself at a attention, feet together and violet eyes looking straight forward. Her dark red hair was in a tight bun that rested just below the gray cap on her head. Vinta stood in the middle of the front row of new recruits, with a second row of ten recruits behind her. Most of them were men, with only one Zabrak female joining Vinta in bucking the trend of male humans. That included the officer in front of the class, who was at the moment studying the group, looking for imperfections to call attention to and punish. After a further minute of silent review, the officer began to address the group.
"Greetings, I am Lieutenant Herrit, and it is my task to turn you raw recruits into warriors worthy of defending our great Empire. Whomever you thought yourselves to be before you arrived here aboard Crucible, those beings are gone. You will only be who I tell you to be, and if you succeed, and prove yourself to my standards, then you will be TIE pilots, flying the craft you see behind you." Herrit's voice was as precise as his uniform, and he turned to give his training class a better view of the frigates hanger. Twelve TIE/ln fighters stood on their launch racks, a full squadron. Vinta felt like smiling, though she was smart enough to keep her face impassive. After the months of basic training, of classes and tests, she was now close enough to her goal that she could hear the twin ion engines warming up.
Herrit continued, "You have received your bunk assignments, please store your effects and then report to the simulators. Your first test begins in 20 minutes, and you would do well to be punctual. Dismissed." The Lieutenant turned and left as the full class saluted. As soon as Herrit left the class broke ranks and ran to stow their gear. Vinta and the Zabrak soon discovered that female pilots on Crucible got what may have once been a droid storage closet. There was barely room for the bunks, and no time for them to determine who got which bunk. A mere 14 minutes after being dismissed, and slightly out of breath, Vinta arrived at the simulators. Lieutenant Herrit stood there, and nodded at her arrival. She was the third pilot there, a dark skinned man that was so tall that it was hard to imagine him being comfortable in the TIE cockpit stood next to a much shorter man with wavy black hair.
"Ahh, Recruit Divcint, well done. I approve of efficiency, especially from unexpected sources. You will find a flight suit in the cabinet next to simulator delta, which you will change into and then enter the simulator. Your mission briefing will appear five minutes before launch. Good hunting." Herrit then turned to watch for the next recruit. Vinta was surprised to see two men stripping down to their underclothes, then she quickly turned her head as she realized that there was to be no privacy. This felt less like voyeurism and more dehumanizing. Putting the thought out of her head, she decided to change as quickly as possible before more men arrived. The room was not as cold as the hanger had been, but once again she was glad for her undershirt, which afforded some dignity as she slid into the black flightsuit. Five more recruits had arrived by the time she got her boots and gloves sealed to the collars on the flight suit. Vinta made sure her uniform was in the cabinet, then check her hair bun and then sealed her helmet to the suit collar. The door of the simulator was in the back, where the engines would be on a real TIE, but otherwise replicated the cockpit exactly.
With the soft hiss, the hatch sealed and the mission briefing came up. Her flight of four TIEs was to escort a Lamda class shuttle as it docked with a Victory class Star Destroyer. Vinta was Gray 3. Vinta quickly brought the sims engines on line and then activated her coms, "Grey 3, two engines lit and all systems green." She listened to the rest of Grey flight check in. Her wingman was apparently the Zabrak female, as Grey 4 was clearly a woman on the coms. The voice of her leader came over the coms,"Grey flight take position around shuttle Hawk's Rest. Grey 2 and I will fly point, Grey 3 and 4 take trailing positions." Vinta clicked her mic twitch to signal her understanding and then maneuvered her fighter just behind the port wing of the shuttle. On her sensors she saw Grey 4 take up an identical position on the starboard wing. As the shuttle continued its lazy flight, Vinta's sensors suddenly came alive with contacts.
A squadron of X-wings had just appeared, having dropped out of hyperspace about 12 kilometers from the shuttle. "Grey flight, engage hostiles, reinforcements are scrambling." Vinta smiled under her helmet. She saw Greys 1 and 2 heading right at the X-wings, following standard Imperial doctrine. Vinta knew this was a mistake, with their shields, that tactic favored the Rebel ships. Keying her com to her wingman, "Grey 4, you have my wing, lets try something creative." She heard a double click as Grey 4 acknowledged her order.
Vinta pulled back hard on her yoke, and the g-forces pushed her hard into the pilot's couch. After a moment, she rolled her TIE over, and saw the shots of her fellow TIEs wasted against the shields of the lead flight of X-wings. Continuing her roll, Vinta began firing on the top of the lead X-wing. After a moment, the X-wing exploded. Vinta let out a whoop. In a head to head, the rebels had put all the shield power forward, leaving their rear naked to her and her wingmates guns. She shifted targets and got another X-wing, and checking on Grey 4, saw that two more enemies had fallen. Vinta dived past the remaining X-wings, and then began juking. Her sensors showed two enemies pealing off to chase her and her wingmate, while the remaining six continued towards the shuttle. Of Grey 1 she saw nothing, but Grey 2 was still alive and trying to breakup the rebel formation. She banked to her left and again pushed her TIE to its limit. TIEs could turn much harder than any rebel fighter, and soon Vinta had one of her pursuers in her sights. A short burst of green laser fire later and Vinta bagged her third kill of the exercise.
"Grey flight, reinforcements have arrived and engaged the rebels, please return to escort positions."
"This is Grey 2, acting flight leader. Greys 3 and 4, form up." Vinta clicked her teeth in annoyance.
"Grey 3 copies." Vinta looped back to the stern of the shuttle, now nearly at the Star Destroyer's docking bay, its shields still barely intact. On her TIE's sensor board, she saw a group of eight TIE fighters engaging the remaining X-wings. As soon as the shuttle entered the docking bay, Vinta's view screen went black. The simulation was over, it had felt like seconds, but as she checked the mission timer, she was shocked to she she had been fighting for nearly 15 minutes. As she took off her helmet, she felt her hair sticking to her neck with sweat. Popping the hatch of the TIE simulator, Vinta climbed out and stood with her helmet under her arm. Lt. Herrit was busy speaking with Greys 1 and 2, so she decided to get a better look at her wingmate, and bunkmate. The Zabrak was tall, nearly 2 meters in fact, which was somewhat surprising as it made it hard to fit into a TIE cockpit. Her skin was pale, like snow, which gave her a delicate look, which was at odd with the horns that poked through her jet black hair. That hair was in a tight braided bun. Finally, her eyes where the color of durasteel. All in all, she was startlingly attractive, if somewhat exotic. Before Vinta could introduce herself, she felt the gaze of Lt. Herrit upon her.