(OCC if you want to role play as one of the four pilots please PM me, i ahve put up an ad under Plots cheers)
Name: Wolf Airstrip.
Location: Edge of New York State
Description: Small size airstrip normally used for the local air cadets to train, but also has some fighter jets in case of emergency, but mostly surveillance planes

That was what was on the military log books, and when the inspectors came, and military officers came to check it that is what they saw. But Wolf Airstrip home to many more interesting things than surveillance planes and the odd fighter jet or two. It was, in fact practically the private airstrip of a Mr. Hunter Antonescu, and it was just because of that, that on certain day, the regular supply trucks rumbled in. The only difference being that what they were carrying bore no connection to what was labeled or what was scheduled.
After the crates and cargo were unloaded, a bus delivered a team of engineers who proceeded to assemble the contents of the crates. The whole operation was authorized by the highest authority, Mr. Hunter Antonescu, and during the assembly process no one bar the engineers was allowed near the area, let alone to see it.

The assembly took a week, during which e-mails were sent out, letters, and messages to gather the top pilots directly or indirectly under Mr. Hunter’s employment. In the end 5 were chosen, they were the best, quick to learn, skilled at flying and could keep a cool head in emergencies. They were chosen not only for their skills and ability to stay calm but also for their ability to work as a team.

So it was that on that dark, cold and rainy night that the five pilots waited. They stood just inside the main hanger, in front of the small door to the left of the main doors. The rains came down in sheets, and the wind blew at it such that the sheets seemed to dance, first this way then that. The pilots all had their private thoughts. For Colonel Edwards, probably the most senior in age of the pilots, he was wondering what all this was about.

*Why on earth summon me on a weekend? What could be important enough to not only revoke my weekend pass but to excuse me from all major duties for the next month? and who is this Commander that we are to meet?*

All these questions and more swirled around the colonel’s mind, but he remained still, legs apart upper body straight, a perfect role model of how to wait for the arrival of a superior officer.

After half an hour, a car drew up outside the main hanger, and a figure emerged from it, He had a military looking cap on, a trench coat with the collar turned up to stop the rain, he walked with the use of a cane, but it was as if the cane was more ornamental than due to the unfitness of the person holding it. Indeed the figure made his way through the rain with strong strides.

Upon reaching the hanger the figure removed his coat to reveal a formal uniform which was certainly military but was not worn by those in America. The man was tall and of age, the graying hair peeking out from under his hat and his graying beard showed that. Yet his eyes were sharp and piercing, they were quick and missed nothing, and when they looked at you they seemed to look through you.

The figure spoke, “Greetings, for the purposes of formality you may call me Commander Hades, I am here to conduct a special intensive training program, to familiarize you with a new vehicle. At the end of this course you will need to be proficient and capable in handling the plane. Now, before we start in full, I would like to know your names please.”

*A new plane? My weekend pass got revoked for me to learn to fly a new PLANE? But the orders did come straight from the top so this must be important but, a plane…*

(OOC: This looks like fun! I have actually pilotted a plane before, so I'll see if I remember anything from it lol)

IC:
Corporal Kant was not a happy corporal. He had been called in on a weekend, with no clue as to why, and had to stand in the rain for fully half an hour before anything happened. When it did happen, he was even less happy. He was even bordering on unhappy. An elderly man arrived, and by his uniform Kant could tell that he was a high-ranking officer, but it was from a military that was unfamiliar to him. The man was nice enough to explain why they were here, and then Kant reached unhappy. Just.

They were to fly a plane. Wow. That was really unexpected. And it would take them a month to learn how to fly it? Kant had been flying all his life, and was confident that while these other amatuers may need a month, he reckoned he could be doing aerobatics within an hour. They were asked to give their names, so he stepped forward. "Corporal Gregory Kant. And have we seriously been called from duty for a whole month to learn to do what I am already best at?" As far as he was concerned, if the man wasn't in US uniform, then whilst he was on US soil Kant out ranked him. Therefore, the man deserved zero respect.

Kimberly Woods arrived early. Always the straight cut girl with a hate for dresses. The tomb boy of the block growing up and still managing the kindness that came from the classic story boys loved to dream about called the girl next door. Or course she was also known as the girl next door who’d willingly rub it in your face when she beat you in a game of drive way basketball. Maybe that was why she never had a long term relationship.

She stepped forward in her carefully put together uniform, including her long hair pulled back in a French braid that she’d redone three times this morning before finally being satisfied.

She stood next to Edwards at attention, her head maybe came just above his shoulder. She two was wondering why they were here but she didn’t dare ask. Not yet. A small smile formed across her face, breaking to professional attitude as a car came up and a gentleman stepped out. He’d explained himself then requested for their names. Kim quickly obliged. “Kimberly Woods, Camander.” And she waited for the others replies as she wondered about these new planes.

Steven Phillips was still finding his legs in this business, looked down upon but a fast learner nonetheless. He’d grown up playing the flight games on SupperNintendo. Then graduated to N64 and fell in love with the 3D challenge of Star fox. Soon, when he’d gotten his first computer, he bought every single flight simulator he could, making a hobby of blowing others up on line and getting cussed out in the chat area.

He was walking down the hall now. God, he was late. Why couldn’t he of checked he mail the night before? Not this morning. He was supposed to be enjoying a weekend off as well but checking his messages late hadn’t given him much time to get ready. His uniform wasn’t properly pressed, adding a few extra wrinkles where the hems were. At least he didn’t have to worry about his hair. It was already just short and freshly shaved. He mentally scolded himself as he walked in just as the vehicle was pulling up. Quickly falling into line. Little red patches forming at his cheeks.

“Steven Philips.” He’d said when it was time for him to give his information.

(occ we just need one more pilot then we are ago)

Falling quickly in line next Kimberly Woods, Molly Felsing grinned inwardly, 'At least I'm not the only female.' Dressed in military fatigues complete with a cap, she saluted when asked for her name, "Molly Felsing, Commander." Her hair was up in a bun, completly hidden under her cap. It made her look even more boyish then normal. 'So, we're here to fly a new plane. This looks to be top secret too. Dad didn't even know about this summons until I told him I was off this morning. Hmm, this promises to be interesting.'[i/] She let her hand fall to her side, "So, what is this new plane that we're going to be flying?"

The figure spoke, “Greetings, for the purposes of formality you may call me Commander Hades, I am here to conduct a special intensive training program, to familiarize you with a new vehicle. At the end of this course you will need to be proficient and capable in handling the plane. Now, before we start in full, I would like to know your names please.”

“Colonel Edwards. Sir!” His answer was short and crisp. He frowned disapprovingly at the two late arrivals *greenis!* he thought *Well ok, if not greenies then they have not been trained properly*

Commander Hades stood straight and strong was he listened to the new recruits introducing themselves, so there were two colonels.
Inside he was analyzing

• Edwards: old school, good man, will take orders but knows what to do if things go wrong.
• Kant: Firey, disrespect, needs to be taught a lesson, proud
• Woods: young and eager to make a good impression, impeccable uniform, looks promising
• Phillips: one word, LATE, not a good impression
• Felsing: Also LATE, but inquisitive enough to ask questions

“Well Corporal, are you so sure you know how to fly this plane? You have just volunteered to be the first to test fly it, Impromptu.
Now for those of us who do not know every single plane ever made and how to fly it, please follow me to the briefing room, Corporal you may proceed to room G31 and wait for us, you could also endure the briefing, and perhaps fill in any missing information.” His tone was crisp, he would not tolerate disrespect.

They all filed into the briefing room.
“Right, let us start.” The lights dimmed at the front of the room a holographic projector warmed up and began projecting different planes the projections were huge and the detail on the was clear and sharp. Hades smiled inwardly, he approved for what he had seen of this base so far.

A row of everything from jet planes to refueling tankers and helicopters appeared in front of them, “From your resumes that I received most of you have had some experience flying a wide variety of aircraft, needless to say you will be very familiar with the shame!pits and the universal control layout that is common to most.” He paused.

“ All of you have been trained to fly under high G forces, typically up to 6 or even 7 Gs but in this plane, such is the power of the boosters, that the G forces can go up to a maximum of twelve.”

Colonel Edwards raised a hand.

“Yes Colonel?” “Sir G forces that high are normally limited to when objects are preparing to go into orbit of some kind.”

“That is correct Colonel. As Corporal Kant must surely know, this plane that I am to train you to fly has the capability to enter low orbit with ease. The looks on your faces tell me that only now are you starting to understand why a month has been arranged for this first intensive training. For your information here is the plane you will be learning to fly, the XSP-1, we normally just call them space planes.”

On the screen there appeared a plane that looked radically different from any plane ever built. It was sleek, shaped slightly like the SR-71 Blackbird, there were oddly shaped nozzles protruding around the nose and fuselage, bar that there were no breaks in the outer surface of the plane, in fact when the hologram next showed a picture of the plane in flight, and did a full 360 rotation of the plane along all three axis, the whole plane bar the exhaust outlets looked as if is were made of one and the same material, done in one casting. There were no flaps, elevators or ailerons. There were four engines mounted on the underside of the fuselage with a movable vane in the centre of each inlet and out let.

“For a normal operation the plane will take off, it is capable of climbing more than ten thousand feet per minute. It will typically then fuel in mid air, with fuel being pumped into the wing and aft fuel tanks but also to add a special fuel to the central storage tank of the aircraft, this transfer typically take much longer, up to three times as long as the special fuel is so much thicker than normal fuel. After refueling, the plane is now three times heavier than when it took off, and it will now be carrying twice its weight in fuel.”
Hades paused for breath, then continued

“Now for a quick brief view of the c0ckpit, the pilot and Co-pilot will each sit in tandem in two separately pressurized compartments. In an event of mechanical failure, due to the normal operating conditions the whole c0ckpit will detach and glide, or if necessary drift down on six large parachutes. A recent modified version now has small self powered thrusters working in tandem with can shorten the decent time.”

The projected view of the shame!pit was shown. Suffice to say that besides the throttle, the brakes the stick and the main gauges, most of the layout was totally alien.

“Now any questions? If not then we shall move on to the next stop, where the good Corporal Kent was originally going to wait for us, and is now going to show us how to fly an XPS-1”

Annoyed, Kant followed the rest of them into the briefing room. There was no way that some big-cheese of some foreign military was going to talk to him like that. No way in hell. But he forgot about that when the holograms appeared. Wow. That was unexpected. it showed a series of aircraft, all of which he could identify and most of which he knew like the back of his hand. The man then told them the sort of G-forces that they would be likly to experience. 12Gs? That was just rediculous. G-forces of that magnitude were reserved for astronauts and adrenaline junkies armed with death-wishes. The coolonel was nice enough to point this out, and Kant was almost noticeable shocked at the answer. They were going to fly a plane that could go into orbit? Was this some kind of joke?

Then a hologram of their 'Space Plane' came up, and it was unlike any other he had seen. It was seamless, as though it had just been poured into a mold and had engines strapped to the back. Kant noticed that quite a few things appeared to be missing; like flaps, ailerons, elevators, just one big, wing-shaped fuselage. Then they were told that the plane would start low on fuel, and be refueled once it was aflight. Kant thought this was a stupid idea, until he found out that the fuel weighed twice as much as the plane that was carrying it. Unless the thing was just one big fuel tank, there was no way it could support that much mass. This was getting ludicrous.

They were then given a view of the c0ckpit itself. Asides from the most basic controls, it was completly new. Aww, hell. Then he was told that he was the first volunteer to try and fly it. Yippee. "Fine by me. I'd be more than happy to demostrate your little spaceship." He refused to call that thing a plane. Planes do not go into orbit. ot even remotely. More importantly, he knew his way around every plane ever made, and he didn't know anything about this. Therefore, it could not be classed as a plane. Not even remotely. "Do you have an actual specimin for me to play with, or do I get stuck with a crappy simulator?"

Kimberly was standing perfectly in line when another female came to stand right next to her. In her periferial vision she couldn’t help but notice she had a bun. A bun? Why didn’t I think of that? She quietly asked herself as the feeling of her braid falling down the back of her neck and tucking under her collar became more apparent.

Then they were led into the briefing room. The first part was easy enough. She knew all of those planes, but these knew ones seemed to be becoming more and more alien to her as they were explained further. She shifted at the thought of refueling in the air. She’d done it in other crafts but it was still nerve racking for her.

on the other hand Steven was practically holding himself back from drooling. Oh these were just so cool. His eyes were widening every now and them through the descriptions but he tried to keep a normal face.. Tried being the key fraise. Oh the thought of the G force. Amazing! Powerful! Awesome! Yeah… He was the worst kind of adrenalin junky. The geeky kind.

Molly's eyes shifted on Kimberly, 'Man, I wish I had put my hair in a braid. It would have made me look less boyish.' The planes were all known to her but the last one completly new. But, it looked like a great challenge and one she couldn't wait to try out. Everyone seemed to be different in there thoughts though. She wish she could have heard some of them. She frowned slightly, refouling in the air was rather tricky. She could do it no problem there. But, that didn't mean she liked it.

“I am glad that are eager corporal.” Said Hades
“Regrettably due to the sheer cost of the plane (he purposefully did not mention actual figures) and the fact that you have not yet proved your knowledge of the plane you will not be able or allowed to fly the actual plane right now. No corporal the chance to fly the XSP-1 must be earn you are not ready to handle it yet, you must pass using the as you called it “crappy simulator” first, although I think you will find that this simulator, which I designed precisely for testing the XSP-1 is SLIGHTLY less crappy than the ones you have been in, only marginally so but still. Now please follow me.”

Hades led them to a room where what could only be described as three hollow cubes stood. One metal pole protruded from each corner to the centre of the cube and ended in a cup shape, so each cube had eight “cup sticks”. Sitting on the bottom four was a large sphere into which was set a door and four small fins protruding from it. The three cubes were hooked up to a large NASA style flight control centre. The size and scale of the simulators was awe inspiring. Technicians hurried around the consoles. The group stood on a balcony above the whole room.

After the stunned group had gazed around for a while Hades stepped up and spoke. “The sphere you see is the simulator, inside is an exact replica of the XPS-1’s c0ckpit, once inside you will not notice that it is a sphere. Due to technological advances, it is now possible to use special wave to wirelessly power a device, so the instruments and consoles inside the ball, as we call it needs not cords. Normally there are always a pilot and a copilot to fly an XPS but since the corporal is so eager we shall let him “strut his stuff” as you say in this country.
Corporal, please step this way and James will help you suit up, the suite will aid the simulation of the G forces.”

Corporal Kant was lead to a cubical where a curtain maintained his privacy while still allowing him to hear all that Hades said.

Hades continued “when the good corporal has been strrrrraped into the c0ckpit, and the door sealed, the sphere will be elevated and be suspended in min air by a strong electromagnetic field and by altering the field all the movements of the plane can be simulated, you can literally spin the plane and do a loop the loop at the same time.”

Now when the good corporal returns I shall complete the briefing and we can start the mission. On the screen you will see a view of the c0ckpit and also all other relevant data displayed on the XPS’s heads up display system, we will also be able to observe the corporal’s fine flying methods.”
Hades said this in a totally normal voice though there was no doubt that he was being slightly sarcastic. He did not expect the fiery Corporal to succeed but he would not rule out the possibility.

Slightly less crappy? That either meant it was worse, or it was very good. Kant guessed worse. They were then lead into a new room, and shown the crappy simulator. Man, this was new. There were rather large, and didn't look like anything he had seen before. Technicians, which Kant loathed, were bustling around the simulators like swarms of ants protecting the queen. 'James' was going to help him into his G-force suit. Again, G-forces required for astronauts. Kant was still unhappy about that.

The man continued with his lecture, letting everyone know that Kant would be visible at all times. Yay. And evidently the man did not expect Kant to be overly successful. More yay. Kant stepped out from behind the curtain, in his full G-force-simulator-suit-splendor. "Can we just get on with this? This suit is itchy."

Kimberly followed the others taking in the new surroundings as they lined up. She took in the simulator and admired the amount of people it seemed to take to man it just for one? For them? Odd.

Kent stepped out and she could have let out a laugh at the suit. Then quickly reminded herself that she would probably be asked to wear one as well.

Steven was pretty much thinking the same thing but hey. That was a small price to pay if everything this man was telling them was correct. The lack in fashion sense would be a small price to pay for the up coming privilege.

'The suit, bad fashion sense anyone? But she was gonna have to wear it sooner or later. Maybe she could make up a nicer design if allowed. Wonder what the material is, hmm.' "Commander, if at all possible. May I try out the simulation next?" The number of technicians running around was amazing. 'This is a bigger mission then I thought. Who are these people that really employed me? And how did they actually build these? Thats a lot of money.' Molly's thoughts were reeling but she let nothing show on her face nor in her voice. Whoever these people really were, well it didn't matter. For now. As staggering as this all was, it was a mission and she would see it through.

Hades first turned to the corporal, he nodded. “James! Louis! help the corporal into the cockpit.” He beckoned the remaining pilots to follow him, and he led them down a staircase that brought them level with the simulators and the tech stations. he continued to a rather large looking table/console. He sat down and motioned the others to do the same. “Please take a seat.”

His fingures moved swiftly over what looked to be a hidden keyboard and swiftly the multiple screens in an arc around the group lit up each showing different displays. Leaning into the microphone he started to issue orders.
“All teams we are green to go, all teams status report!”
Immediately the chatter died down and the activity increased, all around them machines hummed smoothly into life, and screens lit up.

As Hades called out the various teams, they all reported back.
“Weather team!”
“Check!”
“Flight team!”
“Check!”
“Event sim team!”
“Check!”
“Maintenance team!”
“Check”
“All right, all teams check. Ground crew (the team securing the corporal into the c0ckpit)”
“Good to go sir, secured.”

"Commander, if at all possible. May I try out the simulation next?"
Hades turned to the girl who spoke, Molly. “Hmm, that will depend on the good corporal’s performance; I would advise you to observe carefully. Unless specially requested I will not run any more simulations until you have all learned the basics of this plane.”

With a hum the metal sphere rose from its supports and hovered perfectly still in mid air.

Hades thumbed the intercom button, so that when he spoke his voice was broad cast not only through the corporal’s head set but also across the simulator control room.

Nearby, a few smaller holographic projectors hummed to life, one showed a view of the plane from outside, another showed a big picture of everything, the simulated environment, the plane, the weather condition, there were also screens showing the same information as was shown on the HUD display in the c0ckpit.

“All systems green, XPS-1 is clear for takeoff.”



In the cockpit the computer synthesized voice intoned: “ pre- flight checks completed, takeoff sequence initated.”


Back in the control room, the hologram of the plane and the sphere (simulator) moved to mimic the motion of the plane.

“Take off sequence iniated.”

“Corporal the plane is now yours.”

Please fly to the objective marked on your radar.”

After observing the plane for a while, Hades remarked “very innovative corporal, using the inbuilt thrusters instead of the flaps to steer the plane.”

The objective is a tanker where you will refuel. While you are refueling I will continue the briefing. Over and out.”