Molly walked in right behind Kimberely with a grin. They both had their hair in a bun today. It had taken her awhile to figure out which one. She went up to Kim and whispered in her ear, "We match today. I think this will be an interesting session." Molly went quiet as she took her seat, waiting for the Commander to give them orders.

After all the pilots were assembled, Hades then led them once again to the simulator room. Looking at the vast array of machinery sprawled before him Hades could not help but feel a slight sense of pride, his creation.
He turned to the group
“It is time to return to the XPS series, this time we will start from the basics, ground work. Suite up and get into teams, Kant, you and I are a team, Edwards, with Kimberly, Steve, with Molly. The tech team will help you into the simulators.”

In the simulator there is one main pilot seat and a secondary/navigator’s seat, I will leave you to choose who goes in what, Kant your in front.”

After they had all gone through the rigmarole of putting on the pressure suites and contorting themselves into the c0ckpits, put on their head sets, Hades once again addressed them.
“Today we are going to start from the ground up, literally, this is an offensive driving course for the XPS while it is on the ground. This is a situation where any aircraft is most vulnerable, also in missions you may often need to taxi to from one place to another.”

The simulator powered up, the outside world vanished, they were in a “real” c0ckpit. An obstacle strewn runway was before them, they were situated in what appeared to be a bombed out hangar.
(note: to exit the hangar there is only one way, and that is by a gap too narrow to fit the wingspan of the plane through, the ground is rough and filled with potholes, broken and twisted pieces of steel and other sharp and deadly looking debris are liberally scattered over the hangar floor, each plane is in one separate hangar. Also there is insufficient room in each VAST hangar to allow liftoff)

“Your task is to exit the hangar and get to the end of the runway, for propulsion/maneuvering you can use the main engines, the thrusters, the brakes and of course the adaptive skin of the aircraft.”
Hades tapped Kant on the shoulder “Let’s roll.”

In the back seat Hades had a view of the other planes. The pilots were in radio contact. Not long after they had started there came a horrible ear piercing, heart rendering screech of tearing metal. Hades could not repress a shudder.
“Nice work, you tore the wing, guys, start again.”

As they progressed through, over the intercom, Hades began step by step to teach them how to best manover the plane, how to use the thrusters to lift or lower different parts of the plane, how to mate it roll on two or sometimes even one wheel at times in order to tilt/rotate the plane to turn sharp corners.
“… To get the plane to balance on two wheels is hard enough, but one is even harder, it took me many tries before I mastered it, when you have done that, next I will teach you how to use the plane’s skin to it full capacity.”

While he was teaching, he heard some of the tech’s laughing and chatting, commenting on how the pilots were doing. Thumbing the intercom switch he bellowed in

Hades(H): “What do you think you are doing, have you nothing better to do?”

Tech(T): “With all due respect sir, the answer is no.”

(H)“You are the best tech team and all you can do is sit around and twiddle your thumbs? Ok, listen up, after we finish this exercise, I want you to vary each following attempt, but keep the situations real.

(T)Terrain team!”

(T)”Yes sir?”

(H)“Give us all possible terrains on earth, sand, mud, swampy ground, rocky ground, cleared forrest, shallow stream beds, rocky ground, anything and everything you have, and every possible surface and situation that a plane could land and taxi on, no matter how impossible it may seem. Weather team!”

(T)“Sir?”

(H)“Give me realistic weather, work with the terrain team, every mission different, I want every thing from gentle breezes, to unpredictable gusts, to hurricanes, to tornadoes, earthquakes, sand storms, volcanoes, torrential rain, thermal drafts, flash floods, lightening… you get the picture”
(T)“Yes sir.”

(H)“Events team!”

(T)“Sir yes sir!”

(H)“Give me everything from highway police chase, to shelling, to being shot at, to tanks attacks, attempted hijacks, mechanical failure, weapons damage, the works.”

(T)“Sir yes sir.”

(H)“Well pilots after you finish this first course, and after the final tutorial in using the adaptive surface of the plane (next post), you will have a series of very interesting scenarios to thoroughly test and develop your plane handling skills.”

Oh, joy of joys. He was to be with the commander; this was not going to be fun. Kant's immidiate reaction to finding out that they wouldn't even be taking off was indignation, but the memory of his attempted flying killed any retort he may have made. He clambered into the pilot's seat, and the familiar changing of scenary took place. This time he was in a bombed out hanger, so there was definately no taking off to be had.

He saw the only exit, and because he had memorised most of the plane's measurments, he knew there was no way the plane would fit through. Maybe if they went sdieways, but that would need them to take off. He focused on getting to know the plane, and almost ripped the wing off having barely moved a few metres. Great start. The simulation restarted, and this time Kant swerved around the rubble. After a few goes, he felt confident that he knew how to handle the plane on the ground, but then they moved on to moving only only two wheels at a time. Not easy.

Then one wheel. This just keeps getting better and better. Then he realised how they were going to get through the doors; sideways. The fact that the plane could change shape helped as well. Kant was finding it very tricky, but he persevered, determined to do well. He Managed to get through the door, though with a horrible screech. He had managed to rip the wing off; again. he tried again, and this time got through.

Hades then had a none-too-pleasent sounding conversation with the techies, which ended with what sounded like a very interesting set of tasks for them next. The volcanoes bit sounded particularly interesting; he couldn't remember ever learning how to handle them in his original pilots' training.

(Hades and Kitra, if you want things changed in this thread at all, PM me and I’ll change them.)

At Molly’s voice Kimberly turned around suddenly caught in a deer in head lights expression. Greeat they matched. Not exactly her plan, and too late to run to her room and braid her hair. It wasn’t a bad thing that they matched just felt odd to Kimberly.

Next they were given their instructions, and were dressed. Kimberly had been partnered with Edwards. Taking the initiative, she took the front seat. “Is this alright?” She asked him. Pausing to give him a chance to be in front.

The exercise started and almost right away Kimberly heard a really bad sound. The metal being ripped apart sound coming from one of the simulators. Was that her? She swirved around to see her right wing was ok. Then her left. Then breathed a sigh of relief just as she drove over some jagged thing on the ground. That caused another mealic scratching sound… loooovely The Exercise started over and Kimberly settled herself back in her seat. This time taking in the terrain and working to analyze the different shapes on the ground where her air craft could go. Kind of like a game of tetras only, Thank the lord, there were no giant blocks falling from the sky that she had to fit in the grooves as well.

The practice with the two wheels on the ground came a lot faster then one wheel. She practiced turning with the one wheel on the ground making the circle as close as she could and using inercia to make the angle of the wings as vertical as possible. Then used that strategy to go out the door and join the others.

Steve tilted his head slightly as they were placed into teams. He quietly noted to himself that each person they were working with had been in a different group then the exorcise with the CMVs. Obviously splitting them up. Not a bad plan really, he thought to himself.

Now dressed in his flight suit, he gave Molly a gentlemanly boy. “Ladies first?” He said with his lopsided smile, giving her a chance to be the driver.

(OOC - listen up, troops, as of now I'm taking command of Colonel Edwards on request of Hades. Hehe... seriously though, if I get anything wrong, just let me know).

Edwards stepped up smartly into the c0ckpit and nodded to Kimberly, letting her know that it was okay to take the front seat. He strapped in and did the necessary procedures, then settled back to watch as the plane started to shift forward.
He watched as Kimberly manouvered past the debris. His heart jumped and he leant forward to warn her of the approaching danger - too late. A deathly cry was wrent from the speakers and his head snapped to check the wings. After the failure, he leant forward to speak to the woman.

"I'm sorry," he said curtly, then steeled himself. "It's alright, Kimberly. Just take a breath and we'll start again," he finished encouragingly.

He watched as she composed herself and handled the plane like a pro, learning its pros and cons. After a little while of testing the water, they were finally moving again and heading for the door, his eyes alert and using all his professional experience to make her job a little easier.

OOC: Please feel free to godmodd Molly, at the moment I'm having issues typing up decent posts for her. In the future, if I don't post in a day, please feel free to godmodd or skip me. Sorry everyone.

(explanation: when I say that the shape of the wings/the surface of the plane can change shape what I mean is that the profile (take a plane shine a light from on top, trace the shadow, remove plane and light and voila you get the profile) CANNOT CHANGE!!! What I mean is that say from side on the wing had a fat head and tapers of to a thin tail; it can now change to have a thin head and a fat tail, or thing head fat middle and thin tail. The surface of the plane can be rougher (increasing drag) or smooth and different parts of the plane can have different roughness)

“Ok, I see all of you have come this far, now for the next stage, take off, On your screen you should see the basic points of using the Mission Adaptive Technology Skin, or the MATskin. And with that the following simulations will take place as you use those tips when taking off in different environments. All you you will go through the following tasks, with the pilots and co pilots taking turns in each scenario, except of course myself, so Kant you get the special treatment, you gat all the more training.

The scenarios will involve the following types
a) Adverse weather (mild all the way to extreme)
b) Under enemy attack (from infantry to heavy artillery to being strafed by enemy aircraft (so you will need to time your emergence from the hangar))
c) Variable length runway, say the runway is partially destroyed
d) Finally a combined test scenario

all right pilots, lets move it!”

OOC: OH! I may have misunderstood... heh. And I assume we get to make up our own scenarios and run with it, yeah?

IC:
Take off. No problem. Then Mister Boss Man through in some added difficulties; from random weather, to broken runways, to enemy attacks. Oh, this is going to be easy. But at least it turns out there's some good in being with the Boss; he gets twice as many goes as everyone else. With this sort of advantage, I'll be the best at flying this thing out of all of them.

First of all, he started in a hanger, this time on his own, and this time it wasn't rubble-strewn. It bright, but there was a gale of great magnitude blowing. He made sure the plane had minimal drag, using everything at his disposal. He smoothed over the entire plane, and pulled the landing gear up a bit to bring the plane closer to the ground. He wheeled toward the exit, and rolled out onto the runway. Immediately, the plane was pulled sideways, and he had to struggle to pull it back straight. He had to have the plane almost sideways to combat the gale. He picked up speed, which helped, and was soon in the air. but then he lost control, and the plane was thrown sideways, slamming into the ground. "Damnit!"

The program restarted, and Kant moved the plane toward the edge of the hanger. He picked up speed before reaching the doors, so that he was already moving at a decent speed, and moved down the runway. He pulled up into the air, and was able to hold it. The program restarted again, this time it was night, and the runway was strewn with rubble. It took him several attempts to be able to move through fast enough to be able to lift off, but still not hitting anything. He moved through several simulations, with varying degrees of success, and surprised himself with his attempt at the bombing scenario.

The hanger was being bombarded, and he had to get the timing just right to pull out between bombing runs. But he managed it first time, with rock steady hands lifting off into the sky. Unfortunately, he didn't do so well under attack by infantry. It took him quite a few goes to be able to lift off fast enough to not get shot down before even leaving the ground. Then he started getting mixtures, being under attack in a storm, or facing a bombed out runway at night. He was now getting rather apt, and managed most of these after a couple of goes. hen he started getting confident, and taking off faster, but when he messed up it went much worse, sometimes ending up with the plane exploding. He winced every time he messed up, and returned with a little more care and a lot more focus.

Kimberly was having the same issues as Kant. Even with Edwards reminding her to take a breath back in the first sinario, she was still frustrated with herself. The first part had been cake compared to what she was attempting to do now. Her first take off scenario, she was fighting a harsh wind coming down and from the right. Shoving one wing down while it seemed to pull the other up. Kant wasn’t the only one to have to start over several times.

Then once she got the hang of adgusting for such harsh wind, there was the dodging techniques… needless to say she had plenty of practice avoiding hits, and varying success in her fight to avoid more damage. Even if she were frustrated, she was getting more creative in her techniques.

Soon, she was up n the air for five minutes straight, Then seven. Then who knew how long and it was Edward’s turn.

At first Steve sat back enjoying the ride with Molly. Taking notes on different things she had gone through then taking his turn and trying to use what he had learned from her turn to help his own. However it is one thing to watch and another thing to actually accomplish the flight.

(No worries Kit, I'll leave what happens with Steve and Molly kind of open but try to keep them moving along with everyone else.)

Edwards waited patiently, watching her as she learned the temperament of the flier and adjusted her technique accordingly. The more mistakes she made, the more he watched - there was no point in wasting the opportunity they presented, so he took full advantage to prepare for the time when he would be flying the plane himself.

Sure enough, the time came and they switched seats. He smiled at Kimberly and congratulated her before sliding into the seat himself and taking a deep breath.

No matter how much he'd watched her, he still made his own mistakes. It was like no other aiborn vehicle he'd flown before, that much was sure. He took longer than Kimberly on the navigation area, which rankled him - but he consoled himself in that everyone had different strengths and weaknesses, and being on the ground was one of his. He was a flier!
Finally he escaped the hanger and went through similar scenarios, managing to avoid any serious mishaps. He put that down to either sheer luck or subconscious experience - his heart was still thudding from the narrowly avoided fighter jet which had been following him, and made worse by the fact that the weather was against him and he was being tracked to boot.
After a while, though the different simulations, he bagan to feel comfortable with the plane and began to show off a little, smiling back at Kimberly when he had the chance. Getting a little too cocky, he tried to do a spin midair and he lost control, blowing the two of them sky high - or, more aptly, sending them straight into the side of a canyon, from which they were subsequently blown sky high.
Unfazed, he tried again. Then again. He finally managed to make the plane spin, laughing into his headset at the other pilots as he mastered it.
Nevertheless, the plane was certainly difficult - it would take a while to fully grasp it's capabilities. Today, he was just going to get a feel for it. So far, he couldn't say that he didn't feel powerful whilst in control of such a perfect contraption. It was like The Pilots' Dream, this plane!

OOC: I thought we had a posting order. I don't know what it is, I just remember that I'm after Hades, then the other pilots go, then it's hades, me, everyone else etc. Maybe fever confused it lol

Hades once again keyed in his intercom.
“well done so far, now for landing exercises, you will be approaching landing strips from 2000 feet, and according to the parameters displayed on your screen you must try your best to land. Do be aware of the status of your plane as it may change according to the situation. Some may require you to glide land, others on a very damaged runway, the final one is to land on a very very short runway, that will test your grasp of the shape changing ability of the surface of the aircraft, at the very end of the training you should be able to glide low almost at stalling speed, and flare out and lightly drop onto the runway and not need to taxi very far. Go”

Well, this shouldn't be too hard. Landing was easier than taking off; but you were more likely to die if it went wrong. But this was a simulation; no silly things like fear of death holding you back. The first scenario was easy; a long runway, good weather. Probably just giving me a chance to try landing this thing. He angled downward, swinging down and pulling up level with the runway. He lowered towards it, and decided to try something new. He shifted the wings' texture, so that it was much rougher and providing more drag. The speed disappeared, and Kant was just about able to land it without just dropping straight down.

He then had a new scenario; landing in the rain. On a shorter runway. No problem; hopefully. He had trouble making out the runway, but as he got nearer he was able to see it and make out where the end was. He tried to roughing up the wings trick again, and it worked, slowing the plane down. The wind suddenly picked up, and because of the texture of the wings the plane was thrown off course. He was forced to smooth the wings over again, and his deceleration dropped. He shut off the engines completely, and calmly lowered onto the runway. He just about stopped before the end, though the nose hung over the edge of the runway.

The next one, this time with enemy planes flying past. he dropped right down long before he reached the runway, and sped along about a hundred metres above the ground. As he came closer, he lowered further, and came close to touching down at the very beginning of the runway. Blam! The plane shook, and he realised he had been hit. One wing was badly damaged, and he was forced to make the other one completely roughed over, and change it's shape so that it was now providing lift downwards. The plane hit the runway, and spun. He just about kept it from going off, and brought it to a stop.

There were several other scenarios, ranging from landing on a bombed out runway to having his engines blown off. He just about managed them, and was getting better all the time. Then the last one; the really short runway. It was the sort of length used when there was a line for the craft to catch to slow it down, but there was no line. He flew down, just above the ground, and then immediately shifted the wings to roughed over and giving downwards lift. The plane lost speed immediately, and hit the runway. And bounced. It cleared the runway completely, and Kant had to start again. This time, he didn't give downwards lift, just removed the upwards lift. Now when he dropped, it wasn't as fast, and he was able to land on the runway. he brought the plane to a stop, and grinned. This isn't so hard.

Molly grimaced, landing wasn't her best ability, she always did better in the air. She sighed inwardly, 'well here we go.' She angled the plane down, basically going into a nose dive from an extreme altitude. She pulled up bringing the nose parallel with the ground. She lowered her landing equipment, landing roughly on the runway. She stopped a few feet from the end of the runway. 'That was a horrible landing.' The simulation started up again, this time it was very windy and shook the plane, not allowing her to keep it on a steady course. She gritted her teeth and turned off the engines. She let the plane be buffeting around, using the extreme amount of wind to glide towards the runway. She missed the runway and had to turn the plane around. She glided down to the runway rather jerkly. She skidded as she landed but still made the landing.

Each simulation was different but the results were the same. A rather poor landing for each one, still a landing yet not good enough. She wasn't used to the model of the plane, nor was she good at landing. She looked over at Steve and smiled slightly. "Why don't you give it a go and then I'll try again. I'm not the best at landing."

Kimberly started her simulation with some confidence. She felt she was pretty sure about the first landing. Just a normal run way with normal weather. The second one through her for a look. Literally, The wind caught her right wing raising it and twisting her in the simulator around and Kimberly just managed to straighten the plane around… only to see her screens blow up surrounding her by a fiery inferno before the simulation reloaded

Time after time she was put in different situations and slowly she gained more control learning the subtle differences the shift of the outer skin could do and the drastic ones soon she even completed the short run way. After the others, that one was made much easier.

Watching Molley, Steve was mentally taking notes. There were a few things he was able to pick up on, but like his Play Station and N64 had taught him years ago, no matter what how you think something in your head works, it’s different doing it yourself. And screaming for the person playing the game to push different buttons repeatedly doesn’t tend to make things any better.

"Why don't you give it a go and then I'll try again. I'm not the best at landing."

“alrighty then.” Steve said, taking the controls. “And no worries, that is what these things are for,” He tapped the consol of the simulator with his hand. “Sometimes you need to take a break from things.”

With that he took off, Running through the exorcises in mostly the same order that everyone else was. Though some of the programs were random compared to the others. There was one that seemed to be the last each time. The one with the short run way. It took him three times, but he mastered it with the use of the way the skin texture of the craft changed.