Zob nods his head, "Yeah they were extremely disappointing except the sniper rifle despite being overkill could actually serve some practical use, I wish they made something for us heavy gunners... but it is what it is i suppose" Zob took a puff of the angel leaf and made sure to blow the fruity flavored smoke well away from her.

Zob then glanced back over to her, "Right now im just waiting on a com text to confirm the care package i bought earlier arrived for the Civies back on the ship"

It was Nikkis time, as the Proctor suggested.  And she decided to put it though even as worse conditions as Nilsson did.  Especially High bank maneuvers.  "Pin point drills are fine, but this craft needs to learn to take constant and continuous abuse" She got a feel of it quick "One thing is this particular craft is out of balance favoring starboard.  Engines are good but armoring sucks.  Position of forward mounted guns is a bust.  Even with a targeting computer there is no feel, you could wind up shooting short or too low." she made a barrel roll to port side, then starboard.  Port side seemed sluggish going upright. "Capt. Nilsson was right, this design is a bust.  a few good concepts though." Anyone watching, especially Harry or even Justin could see she was pushing this craft.  So much so that upon landing it seemed to literally fall apart around them like it was made for a coyote in an acme plant.  The only thing that held together was Nikki.  "I do like the idea of the small handle between the pilot and co-pilot seats.  I've had people there and offering an hold to me sounds good" remembering Aqra.

 this team of  Troopers    where   Bounced  around, the Bunrrs  had  a hard time securing their  machine, as they thought they were going to go through the process.

  Much Likek  Karl, the   panel lit up with red  and Yellow s lights..she had  to  Land  without  trying..even one..of the trials. Landing , the  Machine  shook and rattled..  two of the   legs  were  bent and the  starboard   wing was  shaking from the stress  fracture.

 Koffel was striding towards   Nikki..what the 9 hells!..are you all enemy agents..

 Stoly  had  a look  of  anger on his face, he had  recuse himself  from  testing them, ebcause of  his Uncle  worked for a rival company.

 STOP...right there... You can't tell me , these  things  had  anything in the way of a shakedown, before you brought them out  to be flown here.

 what the  9 hells do you know!... you'er   just a damn Pilot... these are delivery vehicles..not  damned  fighters..

 ..I  am  LT  Stolyarev...yes.. I am related to that 'Stolyarev'.... there is a good  bet i know more  about shuttles  then you do your  own head!

 Another     Widow  was comign  down. thrailign Vapor..this one managed to Land...  Morris was keeping Shade  next to him, to watch the  Widows int ehre  air...  4 Mantis  had been delivered for testing..6  Widows, and two of them  were  our already... to be fair.. None  of the Mantis  had been flown yet

Garrat watched the side of the craft dent under her foot.  He laughs and coms their position into the Lt   “Well you better get your aditude adjusted before we get you back.  They want you back in a fighter as soon as possible.”  Garrat looks past her at the fighter pod, “hopefully they want to try you out on a better ship.”

 The    woman,  looked up,..they want me to  Bloody  fly...  right  after  a  Bounced  across the   damn ground , Like a bowler  who catch contol his bloody pitch!...

  she went into a series  of    swear word that some  how were fashioned into Nouns, adverbers and verbs.

Nikki made her way out of the now non-functional Wyvern as The man was screaming.  She had a few choice things to say, but was interrupted by Stoly.  She took the time to breath and focus her thoughts.  Then she approached Koffel and Stoly.  She placed a hand on Stolys arm.  She smiled at Koffel "Have you been in an active combat zone?  Any craft there needs to be able to fight, including Shuttlecraft." Her voice was strong, but calm, she continued. "That means avoiding enemy fire and incoming.  You fly a straight line...your superior has to write your mama about your death.  As well you need to often fly low.  Low ceiling means going over terrain, often occupied terrain.  There will be times a gunner might be dead or weapon down.  We need to know how to compensate.  We need to know exactly what the machine can do and handle.  I hate to say this but these do not make the grade.  Maneuverabilty is poor, armor is substandard at best, and weapons are weak.  Any Shuttle pilot going up is onlly going to wind up falling like debris." she stated her assessment. She started to walk away then turned back "Oh..And we are not 'Enemy agents', but whoever thinks that ...that disaster waiting to happen is the best thing since beans in a can.  Like you do.  Probably is." With that she walked off.

With Abby's Pod flying in one direction and the Widow in another before exploding in a spectacular fashion, Harry would add a little black mark next to the Widows name quickly followed by another as a second Widow made an emergency landing "Right, well I think I've see enough" Harry announced in a voice that said she was less than impressed with what she'd just seen before then purposefully striding over to where the Mantis fighters were currently sat  "Which of these are prepped and ready to go?" Harry asked one of the proving ground staff, pointing towards the waiting Mantis fighters. Though seeing as no one was yet to try one out it was probably safe to assume that all of them were ready to go and it was simply down to which one caught her eye first.

After being directed to a fighter she was allowed to fly Harry would waste little time in hopping into the cockpit and starting up the engines. Once airborne she'd waste little time in putting the fighter through it's paces as she threw it through a series of high speed manoeuvres and a simulated ground attack run that threatened to put grass stains on it's undercarriage. With her keeping a careful eye on her control panel for even a hint of a yellow warning light appearing, after all if it could survive the level of abuse she was putting it through then it would survive anything.

Henry nodded.

"Glad that the material we gathered can be put to good use."

Mila, apparently in agreement, wagged her tail furiously.

  The    Foxmoor  People, who looked  , at least  sad, if not  angry that all of the Hopefulls  chose  a Widow to fly..

 Shadow   gathered  all the Hopefulls , who were on the ground  and   eyed them all.......how  Much?  How Much Creds did they pay you to Fly the Widow  first?

 One  of the  Guys in the back was a bit  of snark ,100 Creds  if  we  flew  a Widow  first... we'd get another  100 creds  if  the ESN Bought them..we don't all  get Football  money...

 Shadow  waded through the   group to stand in front of the fellow , who?..to his credit, didn't look  too, afraid...so?.. for 200 Creds.. you'd  risk the lives of a fleet of  Pilots?.. Thousands of them?.... and that would translate into  coasting the libes  of  10s of  1000s  of  ground folks... for  200 Creds?

 A woman   behind him says,begging your pardon, Sir?.. but  don't you get  creds   for  action figures  and  Cartoon and Comics ?

 Shadow  turned on her.. lookign  more like a Drill instructor  with his BAll cap and   Aviator shades.....no one!..not  one  damn person   is goign to die, watching  a  Vid..or reading  a god's  be damned Comic... and   any of you?  all of you.. could   get an action figure..if you live long  enough..!

  He Looked up to see HArry  take Off... he  pushed through the  Crowd  , Got the Mic  from   Captain Morris ( the Proctor  just threw up his hands in surrender.)..

 ..Harry?    Howw ,  Frans and Steele  are comign Up... You and  Steele  vs  Frans  and Howe.. You get TAgged?  You land!

 The other Three  ran  for  the other  three Mantis, and  soon where in the Air.. Steele,  Off to the West, waiting  for  Harry to finish up..   Frans  and Howe  collecting to the east.

 while he waited for them to Fly,  He turned to the Hopefulls,have any of you flown a Mantis?

 3  People put up thier hands... the pilto that just landed  came  walking over  swearing up a storm.

 when all the Hermes people get thier  chance to   fly the Mantis.... he pointed at the Cred  fellow,..Mean  and You  are Going Up in a Widow...if there are any left by them.....If you can tag me once..before I tag you 3  times?.. You'll make the  Herems.. if you don't..well..better luck next time the   replacment  transports  come  around.


 The fellow    just nodded  his  head....aye , Sir...

 Morris looked at Shadow,..I wish i had a cred  for every time i said this to you?.... But  do you think this is wise?

 ...we can Pod out.. at lest we know that works.... Shade is here , he can watch  for Vapors..

 tehre was a Bleep and  a Thumbs  up as he wtached the  4  Mantis in the air.

Throwing the Mantis around like a kid with a toy spaceship, Harry was beginning to enjoy herself. The fact that there were no amber lights on her control panel and she was yet to receive an urgent message telling her to pod out only added to her enjoyment.

Hearing Shadow's voice coming through her comms telling her that Frans, Howe and Steele would be joining her for a little war game a broad grin would spread across her face as she thumbed the switch that would turn the light for her Tag cannon from red to green "Roger that LC, one dog fight coming right up!" she said arcing her fighter round to link up with Steele "Ok boys and girls lets put on a show the rooks won't forget in awhile" she said over open comms before opening the engagement with a Shadow screw, let's see how much attention they've been paying to ESN tactics.

Unsurprisingly the Shadow screw didn't go quite as planned, with both her targets simply rolling to one side and then climbing to avoid Steele who had been coming in close behind them, with only a hasty barrel roll preventing Harry from becoming the first casualty, with her fancying that she could see the dart fired from Frans' cannon passing over her canopy.

Dodging and weaving around one another the four Mantis would struggle to gain the upper hand as the manoeuvres and tactics being employed on both sides were expertly countered with the comms filled with the sound laughter, curses and smack talk between the four Aces. In the end it was Howe who was the first to "go down" with Harry laughing gleefully as her tag hit him after a high speed pursuit across the deck that had resulted in Howe having to hastily pull up in order to miss a clump of trees with the manoeuvre bringing him nicely in line with Harry's guns.

Not long after that Steele would follow Howe when Frans unexpectedly killed her engines so that Steele; who had been in hot pursuit overshot his target and was promptly taken out with what would have been a well aimed shot to his engines had they been using live rounds.

With their wingmen gone Harry and Frans would slowly circle one another like a pair of tigers, waiting for the other to make their move so that they could strike.

In reply to garrat (msg # 938):
  Garrat laughs “well gosh, it’s not like you will be  podding out over enemy terrain and heading through enemy forces to the most likely pick up point 8 miles away if you get the job.  I picked up Shadow on the banana moon after that and in the process made and ally and found a gray outpost.  You will have to take a shuttle from our clearing to get there.  It Will probably be piloted by the sister of a pilot Who lost his life  in that mission.”

   “We’re a tight bunch on the Hermès.  You have the piss and vinager to make the grade.  Show it but know, Hack was a pilot himself.  Your working with a team from top to bottom.  You will be expected to be a team player but hardest of all, you’ll be expected to be yourself.”

    Garrat heard the APC coming through the trail they blazed in the woods “You up for the task?”

  The   Animal  folks   4th and  Final trial was one  that was a  wee bit  more dramatic. A  fellow , whose  figure  and  complexation  . might mark him as an Oil Lord..., but still had the  aspect of   Angels  'canted '  eyes.

  Behind him  two cages  opened  , and two  , very LArge Worts, stepped out.. They  snarled and   pawed the  ground, around thier Necks  where  collars that ha d  blinking red Lights on.

 The Man  would  say something in  some odd language    and the  creatures   would charged  forth..then  stop..then  turn and pad  back to him.

  Dr Vollen  came up to   Henry..she  had a look of  displeasure.H..He.... is   Dr ... Achen-En... his  mother was a captured  Angel fighter pilot, she was raped   repeated by the OIl Lords..By the Time the Angels decide it was  time to step on them.. she had Birched  Achen… he was taken to  The  High Lord's palace to learn the ways of   the OIl Lords...Until his  Mother's sister... sent a strike  group in to   bring him  back... His mother  died when they first  tried to recue her.

 ..he  has  deep  grievances with  both the Angels  and the Oil Lords... but he is more Oil Lord  then  Angel....Masude..is his chief  assisstant ..well..was..until the Put him under me...

 ..he seeks the Most dangerous  animals to  tri to  subvert.... HIs Worts have been  sold through out  The Black.. with varied  degrees  of success...Achen, has  lose  12    of his Lab people to  ...failed tests..

    Abby    carrier her   helmet as she   stopped towards  Garrat,..I guess i gotta  bloody  go back up....

  the    sky  was  cracking  now  as    4 Mantis, flew   around   diving and  fighting...   trees  loosing  libs  and  dust  whipping  up .....so Much for the 600 foot HArd Deck... Get me over there..then...

………………………………………………

  Frans Twisted thhe Mantis  around in the  air... some  times  sideslipping that gave the   folks on the ground, the illusion of it   stopping in midair .

 ..Ok   Fish and Chips..we  got    fledgings  down there   taking it all in.. we  got Vets  , just  watching..and  everyone else is  just looking  For  a  show....

    Frans   started   towards   Harry     from far to the west.. 3  Air  Doughnuts    opened  as the   Crack   cracked  with  sonic boom after  sonic  Bow, as  Frans    Pushed the   Fighter to the Red Line..

…...……….........…..

 On the Ground   Foxmoor  was  Jumping up and down like  a Kid..... That's It  By  Jove !! ..Make My Ladies  work!!!

 to the Contrast.. Koffel was looking over the  4 Widows he had left like some grandmother  with her  China collection.

  Morris  Looked at  Shadow,..Do not think we need much  more,  'eh  LC?... all you have to do  is look at those birds  'daddies"... Foxmoor  looks like a proud  PArent...

 ..yeah?.. but  we got alot of Pilots  here  and  we  need to test these   Hopefulls..so?  we'll keep thje airshow  going..least ways?  Until   the  next batch of  Pilots come...

 ..captain?.. I would  suggest  you do not send up anymore  Wyverns  or  Widows    after  we leave...

 The Proctor, who long  since  gave way to   Morris, Shadow and ShadeAye to that CAptain... Wyverns are done  anyway.. they are both broken..  we won't send  any more  widows  Up, except   for the LC  here  and his new  friend

Garrat Looks to the sky and smiles. “That’s shadow right there, he loves playing in the dirt. That’s another thing you need to get used to, you’ll shoot that ground targets  just like you’ll shoot that sky targets and he’ll expect his crew to do the same.  If you want to get there faster I can take you faster in this Mech, But it’s a tight fit in a cock pit.”  The mech crouches down.

Abby  nods,..let's  bloody go before i get  cut off the lIst for   wreckign the  Bloody goony bird, that Koffel bastard builds.

    “I’ll put in a good word for you.”  Garrett helps her into a cock pit.  There is some room behind the seat where the Largan  tail would have gone  but it is tight .
    “Remaining Scrapper next grab that pod and bring it to the clearing, come back next watch their back’s.  Return with all haste. Orders about natives stand, if you see them cease all activity and com me.  I’m taking the pilot to the clearing.  Missy, could you warm up your shuttle?  We have orders to get the pilot back ASAP.”

Karl found his way over to Nikki with a glass of some kind of fruit juice and a bowl of something akin to stew.  "I see you didn't waste any time breaking his toy," he chuckled.  "The only thing that design had going for it was speed...but if you can't maneuver while you're going fast, you're still dead.  And I hate those landing struts...you lose one and you can't set down, plus you can't do any of the nifty tricks we've seen done with landing skids.  The bottom hatch is a trade-off...your burner teams are safer going to work, but if there's anyone inside the compartment they cut into, the whole damned shuttle's at risk from a single grenade.  That turret right behind the pilot is a nuisance, at best, and you lose the firepower of the nose cannons in the Deuces...the wings--if they'd been engineered properly--would improve stability in atmo, but they also increase the target profile and they're highly vulnerable."

The look of distaste on his face grew stronger as he spoke, until he stopped and shook his head.  "Those things were never designed to be in a combat zone...it's like someone took a cheap civilian transport and stuck some weapons turrets on it and called it good."

In reply to Zobaich (msg # 934):

Melia sat back against the tree, watching the air show with Zob. "That's great that you're doing something for the civies," She says as the other three Mantis fighters race to position themselves for the dog fight. She watches the lethal aerial ballet unfold, truth be told there was a reason fighter pilots were romanticized more than the ground troops. There was a deadly beauty to the maneuvers being pulled, the best troopers managed was narrowly avoiding getting blown up like some sort of action film. "At this point I'm just here for the show, and to relax before we have to get to work again." she pauses as the crack and roar of the sonic boom washes over their position. "Looks like that second set of fighters is fairing much better than the first set that went up." She comments as the first two 'casualties' of the dogfight touch down.

In reply to Melia Kristensen (msg # 951):

  “I’m on it, some of the kids and I want To go in and look at the toys anyway”

   Missy fires up the Albatross and takes the pilot in when the time comes
This message was last edited by the player at 20:26, Sun 14 Apr 2019.

 Noting the widows poor performances followed by Shadows directions to test out both fighter types. Justin strolled off to explore the other displays and occasionally check back at the ROM'S booth fo a brief on any interests.

[From Fuji Condos]

Teela had been walking around looking at the various displays and watching the flights from her perspective on the ground when she decided it was time to give the Mantis a go. The Widows...she walked over to the area where the Mantis were waiting for pilots and reported in. "Ensign An'Teela reporting and anxious to try one of these fighters out."

  As  soon as the odd  lookign craft  Touched  down, Abby  came running over  to the  area where  Shadow  was  Standing.

  The Proctor  Looked at her, do you need  Med Tech?

 Abby shook her  head,..No Sir..I'm Fine...

 Shadow looked over  the  group  trying to Find Hermes  folks,  ..Flores?   You and   St Clair-Carmicheal  take Up    those  two   Mantis  that Just  landed...

 The Said   pointed to  the Hopefull,..Lets  Go Creds... me  and You in those  machines that were gonna  make you rich..

 Flores  Nodded to Abby  and they  ran towards  Steele  and Howe  as they landed.

 Shadow    grabbed a Helmet from the racks    striding towards   the  4  Widows  sitting , relatively ignored now. He stopped at the  first one   they came to , and looked at the Hoefull,..you get in this  Machine... and You push it   , for  all it is worth.. a fighter  has  27 indicator lights on its  panel... if you get more then 10 that are Yellow.. you POD the   hell out..do you understand me...

 Aye , sir... POD if  more the 10...

 ..those  shuttles, looked like they wanted to shed thier  wings... Don't be an Idiot.. if you see  you might lose  one..either put  down..anywhere out there.. or POD out

 aye Sir....

 ..good, get up in the  air, as soon   as I  lift off.. I'm coming for you..remember.. I need to tag you 3  times.. you only gotta get me once.


 Shadow walked over to the Next  Widow, the   grounds  crew  was  wiping off the Metaglass...  LC?  Take this one..it has  only been up once... Koffel  said  as he  pointed to the LAst Widow in line.

  As he moved to that fighter  Shadow says,..I gotta   say, Herr Koffel... you machines looked pretty.. but you may have to start doign some   hard core testing on them, if you don't  want your machines to kill the  wrong people..

Abby and    Flores   went  up to  Dog  Fight... Frans  and    Harry were near the end of theirs... ..The Credit  Pilto  was    Moving off to the   west, climbign  for all he was worth, and Shadow  rose to  take off...Once his     Airdraft Leveled off, He punched  the thrusters... and Like   Frans... started  a series off   cracks  as he passed MAch after Mach.

………………………….

 For Teela.  Fitz and a few other Pilots  where waiting for the  4 Mantis to  come back..

 Fitz   and He-La  said,..Do not  take a Widow, Unless you just want a short  ride..two of the  Hopefulls had  issues..one crashed  she is now in a Mantis.. goign to dance  with Flores...the other landed... The LC  and   some   rookie  are goign up to Dogfight in a Widow... I do not know why the LC  would take  such a risk.

 Fits  added,...Harry and   Frans  should be down soon...

"I watched the two Widows. Pretty bird but piece of garbage. The Mantis looks like it performs well. I look forward to putting it through its paces," the Angel said.

  Justin  heard  the  mantis takign off  as well as  two Widows...

 Looking at the Retrieval  rockets the Techs  were sitting around   having a cold  drink,..Oh , Hey LT.. a few of the Big Wheels  were here.. 3  Adjutants from Dealt ships... They seems to like them..To morrow , one of the  Home defesne ships are  going to show how they  work  in the Black..they saw thwe Vids  and  such..but   the   real thing is always  better.

…………………………………….

  the weapons  people  seemed   pleased.. they didn't  make as much fuss  as the  aircraft..but that's the way it went... they were logging in heavy orders  for   splash Grenades.

In reply to Melia Kristensen (msg # 951):

Zob didn't seem very phased by the sonic boom over head due to the dog fight it was more to do with the fact that he was use to it more then anything, "I'm not sure how much longer im gonna stick around here though not much else to do" by this point Zob had finished off the angel leaf and he promptly discarded it correctly.

Zob was only known decently known due to the fact he was the only demon trooper in the fleet and played football for the Hermes, "The new ones seem much better but I'm not a expert in that field, im just a trooper that carries a very big gun" he chuckles although having a little popularity would be nice.