Disclaimer: Joss, WB, UPN et al. own Buffy. George Lucas, LucasArts,
LucasFilm etc. own Star Wars and everything else. Raven made Jedi
Knight II.
Title: Keeping True To Ones Self
Author: Paradigm Shifter
Rating: PG-13.
Feedback: Since this is going on Tenhawk's XanderZone, why not borrow a line? It's the Coin of the Realm... kind of like salt at one point...
Notes: Dogfight time, people! I hope I can do justice to this, as it's my first real attempt at space-combat writing...
Continuity: Xander the Jedi, Sunnydale Jedi, any others that get bunged in the middle, 'To Learn of the Past' and any other side-pieces. And the 'Dark Forces' computer game.
Rating: PG right now. May go up. I'll see.
Xander completed the lazy arc that he had started, and watched the three TIE's that had been chasing him slow slightly.
"They know a head to head is fatal... TIE's don't take laser blasts too well..." Xander smirked into his helmet.
"Just remember, you're in a TIE, too, kid..." Kyle reminded him over the Comm. "You're just as vulnerable."
"Yeah, but they don't have my dashing grace, do they?" Xander chuckled.
"Keep living in that dreamworld, kid. You might just need it."
Jan Ors' voice cut over the Comm. "Do you want me to launch the Crow and give you some backup?"
Xander thought about it for a second. "No, I don't think so." He breathed in deeply, "I shouldn't need it."
Jan's voice didn't sound happy when she replied, but she agreed. "Alright... it's your choice."
Xander caught another female voice asking, "What in the Force's name does that idiot..." the rest was lost as Kyle cut the Comm connection.
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Princess..." Xander drawled at the closed Comm.
He drew his attention back to the three TIE's, one of which had split off from the others.
"I bet that's Needa." Xander stated to himself.
The other two slowed further, but did not go below what Xander estimated was 1/3 throttle, the optimum manoeuvring setting. The lone TIE accelerated toward him, and opened up with twin linked laser blasts as the distance closed to 1000 metres. At that distance, a pilot had to be very accurate to get the blasts to do more than annoy their opponent, and while a few came close enough to give Xander mild concern, none were manifestly dangerous to his continued breathing.
The distance closed rapidly as the two TIE's did a head to head, with Xander holding the yoke loosely, allowing the craft to have some say in exactly how it manoeuvred. Xander pulled up on the yoke at the last second, before triggering a short staccato of laser fire at his opponent.
He didn't think it would hit, as he only fired to give Needa a reason not to pursue him. Xander was pleasantly surprised when Needa's evasive took him straight into the path of the final shot, not damaging him badly, but scoring a mark on one of the hexagonal wings, damaging the solar cells that formed part of the ships power systems.
Pushing the yoke forward, Xander made the TIE dive and inverted suddenly, bringing the ship back in the direction it had just come from. Xander felt more than saw Needa fly behind him, moving too fast to drop onto his tail and tear him apart. Chopping the throttle back quickly, Xander saw the TIE begin a manoeuvre that would put it on his tail, had he completed the half loop he was going to. Kicking the throttle back in, he dropped onto Needa's tail himself.
A sudden crackle over the Comm alerted Xander to some aspect of the battle changing. Kyle's voice came over the microphone with a no-nonsense tone. "The other two Eyeballs have decided to come join the party... I bet Needa called them in because you were giving him too much trouble alone..."
Xander flicked his eyes to the Radar to see the two blips representing the two Eyeballs closing on him. "Thank Kyle," he said, "I see them..."
Needa pulled a suicidal manoeuvre that Xander only just avoided. He killed his engines just as he pulled up. Xander dove and spun, narrowly avoiding a collision with the craft, but failing to fire before it vanished from his screen.
"Gah!" Xander shouted, "I hate not having a nose!" the TIE's were a ball cockpit with two wings attached at the side. While giving unsurpassed views of the battle in the vertical plane, it hindered the sideways views. That was why the Radar was so important. The fighters the Rebellion used, on the other hand, were based around the more normal designs of planes back in the 'real world'. They had cockpits that sat along the top of the craft, with 'noses' in front of it cutting off sight of thing below the fighter. For a pilot of one to get used to the other took a lot of flight time. It was like asking the pilot of a Piper Alpha to fly an F-16 into a dogfight: almost impossible.
For a fraction of a second, one of the TIE's appeared in Xander's sights, and he squeezed the trigger. The burst of laser fire tore into the ball of the TIE Fighter, shredding it and making the Twin Ion Engines explode in a cloud of fuel and debris. The two hexagonal wings spun off sideways as the explosion gave them momentum.
Xander muttered to himself. "And, Ladies and Gentlemen, you have just seen the biggest variable in a dogfight: luck." While skill translated into better ability to adapt, and experience taught you how to adapt, space dogfights were still mostly down to luck: whether or not you pulled a certain way when breaking from a lock, or how an enemy reacted to situations they were placed in. That pilot simply flew the wrong way.
Xander thought for a fraction of a second he could hear the Force scream of the pilot as the exploding Ion fuel made him one with the universe.
With one of his wingmen gone, Needa became much more cautious. He hung back, taking pot-shots from a distance, but never getting close. His wingmate, on the other hand, seemed to be on orders to be as suicidal as possible. He closed the distance between himself and Xander to insane degrees, until wings were practically touching, before peeling off and starting the whole thing all over again.
Xander growled in his TIE. "Want to play like that, huh?" the next time the TIE got next to him, Xander jinked the TIE to the side, swiping the other with his wing. The grinding of the solar panels sounded loudly in his mind, the tremors travelling through the frame of the TIE and making his chair and his bones shake with it.
The TIE pilot fought back, too stupid to realise what Xander was doing.
Needa opened up with another blast, to the right of Xander's craft, on the opposite side to his wingman's stunts. As the blast burned toward his right, Xander juked in that direction, then to the other side, allowing the TIE pilot to follow.
Xander felt the man's shock and fear through the Force as the laser blasts burned through the cockpit, and the TIE exploded in the same spectacular manner the first had.
"Two down..." Xander muttered, "One to go..."
Xander attempted to talk some sense into his opponent. "Give it up, Needa... you aren't going to win."
"A Loyal Son of the Empire never gives up!"
Xander shrugged, but the move was restricted by the crash webbing in the TIE he flew. "Fine... do whatever you want. But I'm not the one who'll be free space Hydrogen..."
A siren sounded in the cockpit, and Xander flicked his eyes to the approach warning lights. The one that signified a missile lock burned angry red at him. He shook his head, and spoke on the open Comm again.
"You had Concussion Missiles and you never used them?"
No response was forthcoming. The lock died for a fraction of a second, as the missile was launched, and then burned bright again as the missile acquired him from its own sensors.
Jan's voice came over the Comm, thick with worry. "You'd better have some fancy moves to show us, flyboy!"
Kyle growled at Jan, and it followed down the Comm. "Hey, you never show me that amount of concern!"
Jan's voice came back, part amusement and part worry. "Because I know you'll get out of it... him, I have no idea about."
Kyle laughed. "The last thing you have to do with him is worry about his well-being. He's better than ten Stormies... Xan'll cope with this..." Xander just caught the quiet, "I hope..." at the end.
The missile approach alarm blared again, and he flicked it off with irritation. "2000 meters and closing..."
"1500..."
"1000..."
"500..."
"250..."
"NOW!" Xander fired, and two linked blasts of laser fire shot out, the first missing wide of the missile, but the left most of the second pair hitting dead on. The Concussion missile detonated in a cloud of fury, and Xander flew out the other side.
"Got any more, Needa?"
Title: Keeping True To Ones Self
Author: Paradigm Shifter
Rating: PG-13.
Feedback: Since this is going on Tenhawk's XanderZone, why not borrow a line? It's the Coin of the Realm... kind of like salt at one point...
Notes: Dogfight time, people! I hope I can do justice to this, as it's my first real attempt at space-combat writing...
Continuity: Xander the Jedi, Sunnydale Jedi, any others that get bunged in the middle, 'To Learn of the Past' and any other side-pieces. And the 'Dark Forces' computer game.
Rating: PG right now. May go up. I'll see.
Xander completed the lazy arc that he had started, and watched the three TIE's that had been chasing him slow slightly.
"They know a head to head is fatal... TIE's don't take laser blasts too well..." Xander smirked into his helmet.
"Just remember, you're in a TIE, too, kid..." Kyle reminded him over the Comm. "You're just as vulnerable."
"Yeah, but they don't have my dashing grace, do they?" Xander chuckled.
"Keep living in that dreamworld, kid. You might just need it."
Jan Ors' voice cut over the Comm. "Do you want me to launch the Crow and give you some backup?"
Xander thought about it for a second. "No, I don't think so." He breathed in deeply, "I shouldn't need it."
Jan's voice didn't sound happy when she replied, but she agreed. "Alright... it's your choice."
Xander caught another female voice asking, "What in the Force's name does that idiot..." the rest was lost as Kyle cut the Comm connection.
"Thank you for the vote of confidence, Princess..." Xander drawled at the closed Comm.
He drew his attention back to the three TIE's, one of which had split off from the others.
"I bet that's Needa." Xander stated to himself.
The other two slowed further, but did not go below what Xander estimated was 1/3 throttle, the optimum manoeuvring setting. The lone TIE accelerated toward him, and opened up with twin linked laser blasts as the distance closed to 1000 metres. At that distance, a pilot had to be very accurate to get the blasts to do more than annoy their opponent, and while a few came close enough to give Xander mild concern, none were manifestly dangerous to his continued breathing.
The distance closed rapidly as the two TIE's did a head to head, with Xander holding the yoke loosely, allowing the craft to have some say in exactly how it manoeuvred. Xander pulled up on the yoke at the last second, before triggering a short staccato of laser fire at his opponent.
He didn't think it would hit, as he only fired to give Needa a reason not to pursue him. Xander was pleasantly surprised when Needa's evasive took him straight into the path of the final shot, not damaging him badly, but scoring a mark on one of the hexagonal wings, damaging the solar cells that formed part of the ships power systems.
Pushing the yoke forward, Xander made the TIE dive and inverted suddenly, bringing the ship back in the direction it had just come from. Xander felt more than saw Needa fly behind him, moving too fast to drop onto his tail and tear him apart. Chopping the throttle back quickly, Xander saw the TIE begin a manoeuvre that would put it on his tail, had he completed the half loop he was going to. Kicking the throttle back in, he dropped onto Needa's tail himself.
A sudden crackle over the Comm alerted Xander to some aspect of the battle changing. Kyle's voice came over the microphone with a no-nonsense tone. "The other two Eyeballs have decided to come join the party... I bet Needa called them in because you were giving him too much trouble alone..."
Xander flicked his eyes to the Radar to see the two blips representing the two Eyeballs closing on him. "Thank Kyle," he said, "I see them..."
Needa pulled a suicidal manoeuvre that Xander only just avoided. He killed his engines just as he pulled up. Xander dove and spun, narrowly avoiding a collision with the craft, but failing to fire before it vanished from his screen.
"Gah!" Xander shouted, "I hate not having a nose!" the TIE's were a ball cockpit with two wings attached at the side. While giving unsurpassed views of the battle in the vertical plane, it hindered the sideways views. That was why the Radar was so important. The fighters the Rebellion used, on the other hand, were based around the more normal designs of planes back in the 'real world'. They had cockpits that sat along the top of the craft, with 'noses' in front of it cutting off sight of thing below the fighter. For a pilot of one to get used to the other took a lot of flight time. It was like asking the pilot of a Piper Alpha to fly an F-16 into a dogfight: almost impossible.
For a fraction of a second, one of the TIE's appeared in Xander's sights, and he squeezed the trigger. The burst of laser fire tore into the ball of the TIE Fighter, shredding it and making the Twin Ion Engines explode in a cloud of fuel and debris. The two hexagonal wings spun off sideways as the explosion gave them momentum.
Xander muttered to himself. "And, Ladies and Gentlemen, you have just seen the biggest variable in a dogfight: luck." While skill translated into better ability to adapt, and experience taught you how to adapt, space dogfights were still mostly down to luck: whether or not you pulled a certain way when breaking from a lock, or how an enemy reacted to situations they were placed in. That pilot simply flew the wrong way.
Xander thought for a fraction of a second he could hear the Force scream of the pilot as the exploding Ion fuel made him one with the universe.
With one of his wingmen gone, Needa became much more cautious. He hung back, taking pot-shots from a distance, but never getting close. His wingmate, on the other hand, seemed to be on orders to be as suicidal as possible. He closed the distance between himself and Xander to insane degrees, until wings were practically touching, before peeling off and starting the whole thing all over again.
Xander growled in his TIE. "Want to play like that, huh?" the next time the TIE got next to him, Xander jinked the TIE to the side, swiping the other with his wing. The grinding of the solar panels sounded loudly in his mind, the tremors travelling through the frame of the TIE and making his chair and his bones shake with it.
The TIE pilot fought back, too stupid to realise what Xander was doing.
Needa opened up with another blast, to the right of Xander's craft, on the opposite side to his wingman's stunts. As the blast burned toward his right, Xander juked in that direction, then to the other side, allowing the TIE pilot to follow.
Xander felt the man's shock and fear through the Force as the laser blasts burned through the cockpit, and the TIE exploded in the same spectacular manner the first had.
"Two down..." Xander muttered, "One to go..."
Xander attempted to talk some sense into his opponent. "Give it up, Needa... you aren't going to win."
"A Loyal Son of the Empire never gives up!"
Xander shrugged, but the move was restricted by the crash webbing in the TIE he flew. "Fine... do whatever you want. But I'm not the one who'll be free space Hydrogen..."
A siren sounded in the cockpit, and Xander flicked his eyes to the approach warning lights. The one that signified a missile lock burned angry red at him. He shook his head, and spoke on the open Comm again.
"You had Concussion Missiles and you never used them?"
No response was forthcoming. The lock died for a fraction of a second, as the missile was launched, and then burned bright again as the missile acquired him from its own sensors.
Jan's voice came over the Comm, thick with worry. "You'd better have some fancy moves to show us, flyboy!"
Kyle growled at Jan, and it followed down the Comm. "Hey, you never show me that amount of concern!"
Jan's voice came back, part amusement and part worry. "Because I know you'll get out of it... him, I have no idea about."
Kyle laughed. "The last thing you have to do with him is worry about his well-being. He's better than ten Stormies... Xan'll cope with this..." Xander just caught the quiet, "I hope..." at the end.
The missile approach alarm blared again, and he flicked it off with irritation. "2000 meters and closing..."
"1500..."
"1000..."
"500..."
"250..."
"NOW!" Xander fired, and two linked blasts of laser fire shot out, the first missing wide of the missile, but the left most of the second pair hitting dead on. The Concussion missile detonated in a cloud of fury, and Xander flew out the other side.
"Got any more, Needa?"
