Chapter 3

"Come on Cas!" Ron yelled, Cas put his hands on his knees bent over and panting. This obstacle course had taken a lot out of the now 11-year-old youngling. He looked across the lanes to see how the other pairs were doing and saw that he and Ron were starting to fall behind. He quickly hopped to the base of the 10ft wall, crouching into a low stance almost like a frog that was about to jump. With all his might he would jump, reaching his hand up to Ron's. Time would play almost in slow motion as their hands inched closer together, but as their fingertips touched Castam's heart would drop as he felt himself being pulled by gravity back towards the ground. Ron's eyes would widen in shock, his outstretched hand closing as he realized that they had lost the challenge.

Time would resume and Cas would hit the ground hard with a loud "OOF!", he would roll over onto his stomach, holding his back in pain but nothing was more painful than the computer voice that echoed through the large physical education room "Lane 7 has won the challenge." Cas slowly pushed himself to his feet, stretching his arms out and cracking his back. He looked up to Ron with a sheepish look,

"Sorry buddy, better luck next time I guess."

"It's alright Cas, we can't win everytime." He chuckled, hopping down from the wall and patting his friend on the back. "You alright though? That was quite a fall."

Cas stretched out again "I'll be alright. Today's the day after all!" he smirked to Ron. "Lets get going c'mon!"

The two sprinted out of the room past the many sweaty younglings struggling to catch their breath.

"Hey where are you two going?" Leah said, standing in their way. It was obvious from her well kept appearance and lack of sweat anywhere that she had not participated in the Physical Education challenge.

"Star piloting class!" Cas said with a smile, "It's the FIRST day we get to fly the trainers!"

Leah looked at the two with a raised eyebrow, "That doesn't start for another two hours."

"Yeah bu- "

"He's not going to let you in early just because you perform the best on the simulators." She rolled her eyes. "Same reason why Master Kaldak won't let you into the dueling grounds for 'after hours training'." She would shake her head at the two.

"Well…" Cas sighed "Alright.. Lets get lunch," The two boys with now deflated dreams headed the opposite direction of the hangers with Leah. Cas stole a single glance over his shoulder where just at the end of the hallway was a set of blast doors leading to the hanger.

As the three sat down to Lunch Cas couldn't help but not eat. His anticipation for his first ever flight, well second technically but first ever flight with HIMSELF piloting was too much for him to have much of an appetite. As he sat with his cheek braced on his right hand, pushing his food around his plate with his left Leah looked up from her plate and took notice.

"So Cas… Is R4 going to be accompanying you on the flight?"

Cas looked up, happy to talk about the adventure ahead. "Yeah! He's been pretty excited I haven't been using him for that much after I realized that my dream of building a droid army is kind of… Unrealistic within the temple walls. He's ready though I've been having him run simulations to practice."

"It must be cool to be like the only person with their own droid!" Ron said with a full mouth.

Cas smiled "Yeah well I could help you two if you wanted to build droids yourselves."

Ron and Leah would look at each other then back to Cas as if he didn't know who he was talking to and the three would laugh together.

As the group got up and tossed their lunch scraps Cas could not help but keep a steady lead ahead of the other two as he tried as hard as he could to not flat out sprint to the hanger. As he reached his hanger, a large smile formed on his face, but as Leah looked over to him he would try nonchalantly to hide it which earned him a chuckle from her.

After the class was all gathered Admiral Stanton would stand at the front to address the class.

"Alright student pilots, today is the big day. The day when you all get to fly real starfighters. Now I want no funny business up there. We want a simple takeoff, a lap around the temple grounds, and back on the ground. Does everyone understand me?"

The class would all nod to the admiral, a few groans could be heard most audible from Cas which would illicit a side glance from the admiral.

"Very well then. Each of you mount up then and lets get going. Remember, no funny business!" He would stare at Cas this time, glaring at him as if to say 'I swear… Do something and you will never fly again!'

Cas would roll his eyes before sprinting over to his Z-95 and running up the ladder and plopping down into the cockpit. He shivered all over as he smiled and looked over the cockpit, he couldn't contain his excitement! As he looked ahead to the droidpit where R4 was sat he gave a double thumbs up to the droid.

"Systems all good to go R4?"

The droid would give a few affirmative beeps in return before shaking with excitement. Apparently his master's enthusiasm was contagious!

Cas would slide on his helmet, looking over the controls.

"Ignition… On… Thrusters… Spooling up… I think we are good for take off…" He would take a deep breath, bracing himself for the moment he had been waiting years to feel again.

"One… Two… Three!" He would push forward on the throttle, pulling back on the joystick and lifting off the ground. "WhoooooHOooo!" Cas would scream as he exited the hanger and started to soar above the temple.

"Lets hope the Admiral doesn't get too angry with this… After all it's a learning experience!" He would chuckle to himself as he pointed the nose down, spinning the Z-95 in a corkscrew. R4 would squeal as the ground steadily approached. Cas would then yank back on the joystick shooting the Z-95 back into the sky when suddenly a loud snapping was heard, followed by another squeal from R4.

Cas would still be beaming as he looked up to R4,

"Everything alright, buddy?"

The droid would let out a sad beep and suddenly the dials and sensors on the Z-95 would begin to erupt with warnings, failures, and errors.

"Uh oh… What happened?" Cas would begin rapidly pressing buttons aimlessly with one hand, and with the other would strain to try and get the joystick to budge.

"It's no use the controls are locked!" Cas's eyes would start to go wide as the Z-95 lurched forward, going towards the ground at almost a 90 degree angle.

As the Z-95 was about to impact the treetops below he hugged himself and closed his eyes when suddenly all went silent…