Edwards had his turn to test his landing skills, and he took to the wheel once more in the hopes of doing himself proud. It wasn't easy flying the new craft, especially since it had technology he'd didn't even like to think about; however, that technology could and would be utilised until he was pro at it.
He didn't do too bad at the first landing, though he was over careful and lost control of the altitude slighly, but he mastered it soon enough and went in for the next kill.
He tried to think outside the box, and use the damaged landscape against itself, but it proved harder than the initial theory sounded. He recalled everything Commander Hades had said and all he'd learned over the last few weeks, but it didn't stop him crashing and burning. He felt a little shamed at this - he was the professional elder here, after all. Still, he swallowed his pride and just kept going. After all, they were all learning... regardless of his experience, he was as green with this craft as the rest of them.
Dissapointed with his second performance, he managed to scratch through it and proceed to the next one, which he did with all his concentration and somewhat redeemed himself; still, he was put out over his meagre performance with the second landing. It seemed, to him, to be the most life/death relevant one.... but things changed when in the air, he knew that all too well.

As all the pilots finished the training missions, and exited the simulators Hades turned and addressed them
“Congratulations pilots, you have completed the training the landing and takeoff, as for normal flying I am sure you are more that capable of that, to say otherwise would be disrespectful to your talents and skills. As for the out of atmosphere flying you will be taking a course on that next week. Then there remain only a few things to do before we can go for test flights in the actual planes. I have read your reports on the G force training that you have received. It is now the weekend, by the way you are authorized to take some of the non classified aircraft for a spin. I shall see you next week.”

(OCC “next week there will be a chance to take all three planes out for a spin)

Molly grinned looking forward to the weekend. She planned to work on landing, see if she could play with the simulators a bit. She was sure it wouldn't be a problem. She headed back to the bunker and slept till sunrise. She didn't even need an alarm to get up. She scooted out of bed, then showered and grabbed a quick breakfast at the mess hall. She headed back to the simulator room and sopke quietly with one of the simulator specalists there. They nodded and got her dressed and stuck her in the simulator. For the next two days she worked almost non stop at getting her landing technic in order. She only stopped to sleep, eat and make a rest stop here and there.

Monday came around and she fell in line with the rest of the team. Molly was proud of herself, now she wouldn't hold anyone back with her crappy landings. Now they were something to be proud of, no messing up for her now. *OOC: Yes, Molly is getting a little full of herself which is why she'll be knocked down and humbled greatly when she screws up big time in the (very) near future.*

OOC: I back, had great fun in cornwall (which lies!) and will now reply (see below)

IC:
Kant nnodded at Hades praise. It was only fitting; they were the best pilots in the US air force. And they had him pulling the average up. He spent the Saturday in a simple fighter, glad to be out flying again, and the sunday going through the manual for the space plane. He had started mermorising large parts of it, but knew that it wasn't the same as learning to fly the real thing. He would learn eventually, once they were out and flying for real.

On the Monday, he fell in line with the rest in the morning and awaited Commander Hades.

Steve and Kimberly had their own ways of resting yet preparing for what was to come next. They had both nodded and smiled at the praise Hades had given them. When dismissed, Kimberly had gone straight for the books. Spending a good part of the night propped up on her elbows with the text spread open under her nose. She let herself sleep in a good two hours past normal, letting the information lull about in her mind during her rest. Then it was off to the CMVs Saturday. She spent the day working hers till she could get the precision and elegance of a dancer in flight. Sunday was spent in a simulator next to Molly’s.

Steve had gone strait to sleep. He’d already made it through the manual once, now that he’d actually flown the simulator his mind kept racing back to things that now made sense in the book. Things that he hadn’t been able to fully grasp now were made very clear. Saturday was spent mostly in his room, drawing his own diagrams from memory of what was in the manual, checking them, then making subtle notes from his memory about what worked. Sunday he checked his notes, and made more additions to how the controls worked best and why depending on air lift, altitude, and precise angles of wind.

Monday they both fell into line and awaited ferther instruction.

Hades walked in, through the training he had gotten to know the pilots better, and would sometimes joke with them, but where there was business to be discussed he was all business.
“Right pilots, we have gotten to the stage where the only remaining task is to actually test fly an X-SP, however that will be tricky. Due to advancement in technology, if we were to test-fly an X-SP, as soon as it breached atmosphere it would set off alarms in almost all the superpowers and most of the EU countries, and if it was perceived as a threat they would fire at us. I know that you have been given the impression that the SP’s are hard to kill, and that they are, but they are not invulnerable, they are especially against one thing, Extreme High Power Directed Laser. If you are hit while you are halfway or all the way through the atmosphere by spinning the plane you can dissipate most of the heat from the laser, but if you are inside the atmosphere you will die a very quick death.”

Hades paused for a breath
“In short we need to wait for an opportunity to test fly the SP’s.”
Just then a voice came over the intercom “Urgent call for Commander Hades!”

“Excuse me”
Hades left the room.

A good ten to fifteen minutes later Hades returned, and there was a glint of excitement in his eyes.

“Soldiers listen up! America has been maintaining a secret space station in orbit, code named Deep Strike. Yesterday they were hit by a meteor shower and sustained heavy damage. They need a large amount of supplies to be delivered quickly. Gather your things and meet me in the main hangar in ten minutes.”

OOC: I won't be able to post much for a week or so. I hope no one mind's me posting now XD.

IC:

Molly grinned and zoomed back to her room and grabbed her duffel bag. It was already packed with bare essentials. She quickly added her neccessitites and headed to the main hanger. She was the first one back. Molly set her bag on the ground next to her and tried not to fidget. She was horribly excited, they were going into space! 'Heh, time to test her training. This will be great, not so great for the station. But at least we can help them out. Perhaps we'll be asked to help with repairs as well.'

Kimberly only had a few things left to throw in before taking off. Steve was much faster, only pausing to tie his shoes. The two came down the hall, Steve lining up second, Kimberly lining up third. Both ready to depart. It was about time.

Kant nodded as Hades told them to get moving. He went back to his room and gathered his meager possessions, and went straight to the hanger. He was glad to be finally getting a chance to fly one of the real things, and they'd be heading out into space as well. He started bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet as he waited, and then stopped himself. He was no child who bounced in excitment. Perish the thought.

It was not until they were en route and in the air that Hades revealed to them the location of the launch, an airstrip in Antarctica.
“Ok pilots listen up, for this mission, me and Kan take lean Drake Leader, Molly and Edwards Drake 1, Kimberly and Steve Drake 2. The Space Planes are property of a development company in cooperation with Ocrus Tech, these planes are not the property of the US government. Thus watch yourself, once you re-enter the atmosphere you will be directed to land at separate airfields under cover. So once you get back as fast as you can go to a designated “drop zone” and then drop below radar asap and do quick landing. Then get yourself back to Wolf Airstrip for your final mission.

“Suit up I’ll brief you as we go.”
They walked into the main hangar, and got their first glimpse of the Space Planes. They were sleek black affairs, radiating purpose, power. Sleek, black, it was almost as if they cried out “take me for a run.” Or, “once I’m in the air, catch me if you can!”. The surface of the planes seemed almost fluid, as if they were liquid frozen in time.

“all your coordinates and logs have been updated, pre-flight checks have been completed. Load up and let’s go. We will fly in formation, and even though you have been through the flight sequence over a million times, I’ll take you through it real-time. After this mission you will be on your own. Kant! Take the main pilots seat, I’ll be your navigator. Lets go.”

For now until further notice consider ths thread frozen due to lack of response, if anyone posts here ill reactivate this thread, but this just lets ppl get one free thread space till the main madness is over, so please Pm me if you want to finish this thread