Convention with Yamato II

[childofrebellion]

A nice benefit of this hotel is they will bring caf up to their room in the morning along with breakfast to give them some privacy in the mornings.

Cassian has pulled up the itinerary of the day, "Part of our entry allows access to the hangar with the ships and that's up for today. So you can properly look into the engines."

Comments

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato's accustomed to the course by now, enough that he's deft enough at darting around the other pilots, or tricking them with clever manoeuvres.

He is, however, hamstrung a little by his unwillingness to actually take out any other pilots with more brutal tactics -- these ones may just be AIs, but since he'd be unwilling to use those kinds of tactics on living pilots, using them here would be pointless.

He manages to keep pace with the pilots at the very front, but every time he looks like he's about to overtake, someone gets in his way and forces him to cleverly dance around them to avoid being smashed into a wall.

There's three laps in the race, and as he rounds the second lap into the third, he's fifth out of twenty racers, but struggling to get any further ahead than that.

[childofrebellion]

Cassian frowns as he can see that Yamato isn't being as ruthless as he could be. One of the other pilots bumps Yamato's tail trying to get him off balance.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato darts away from that bump, arcing about to evade that other pilot, but it costs him another opportunity to get into fourth place. By the time he's halfway through the third lap, he's still in fifth place, with the more aggressive pilots consistently making sure he never gets out of that spot.

Just before the race ends, he manages to just about overtake the pilot ahead of him, and as he passes the finish line he's just about in fourth place.

As the sim goes back to the menu, he gives a frustrated growl, leaning back against the seat.

[childofrebellion]

"That was a tough race. I think you need to push back more."

Cassian looks around the hangar to see who might be listening and to see if Pan's come back.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"If I push back more, I'll push someone straight into a canyon wall, or the side of a cave, or just send their shitty go-fast-who-needs-control ship into a tailspin," Yamato says, testily. "There's barely any room for error here, and we both know the actual race will be even more dangerous."

[childofrebellion]

"I know."

And Cassian doesn't have a good solution yet because at this point, there are too many factors that he can't control.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato gives a frustrated noise, rubbing his hands through his hair.

"Right, so I can't be as aggressive as them," he says. "So I'll just have to be more skilled. Skilled enough to make up the difference."

[childofrebellion]

"And we might be able to make some modifications on the ships to provide some assistance too."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"We could probably boost the speed, but that'll make it more difficult to control. It's already a finicky little thing," Yamato says. "I think I can keep up with it, though, if we do that."

[childofrebellion]

"I might have some ideas on how to improve that but we'll need to into the ship itself. And do a few runs there for the best adjustments."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato makes a thoughtful noise in the back of his throat.

"It's a trade-off, right? We can mess around with the delicacy of the controls, make them more stable, but we're going to lose some responsiveness if we do."

Leaving things as they are makes it difficult to control, changing things means it might not be able to make quicker, smaller movements.

[childofrebellion]

"Yes, there are always trade offs but the fact that your reaction time is so good will help."

Pan reenters the hangar, looking tired but satisfied as he walks towards them and the sim.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Now you're just trying to flatter me into letting you make the ship safer," Yamato notes wryly.

He gives Pan a quick nod of acknowledgement, turning towards him.

[childofrebellion]

"I wouldn't do that. I'd make it do what we needed it to." Cassian never makes his own ship safer, just mods it sometimes even taking things like hyperdrive limiters off.

Pan smiles and says, "You're in."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"That's one problem dealt with, at least," Yamato says, in response to Pan's announcement. "That just leaves us with -- ah, however many we have left."

[childofrebellion]

"Many, let's take a quick break to eat and then look over the ship. Do you have the route?" Cassian asks Pan who nods.

"Yes, I have it."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Part of Yamato wants to protest, and say that they can eat, he'll keep practising. He also knows that, given the opportunity, he'll practice non-stop until the race without eating at all, so he reluctantly relents.

"All right," he says, a little grudgingly. "We can look over the route as we eat."

[childofrebellion]

Cassian nods and then turns to Pan, "We'll be back but arrange a time when we can get out and fly in the ship."

Pan says quickly, "I will."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato might be tensing up a little nervously, just for a second. Obviously, taking the ship out on a practice run is better than having his first time in an actual aircraft (instead of just a sim) be the race itself, that goes without saying, but that doesn't mean he isn't nervous about it.

"Let's make this quick," he says, a touch gruffly. "I'd rather get back to work as soon as possible."

[childofrebellion]

Cassian gets the route from Pan who goes to wait by the ship and Cassian adjusts back more into his Willix cover.

This time he heads to a small cafe near the hangar, the kind of place frequented by pilots with good but simple food. Also where there's noisy screens and people to afford some privacy. He gets them a table in a corner.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato adjusts back into his own cover as well, and nabs the datapad from Cassian as they go, quickly uploading the route into his wrist computer before handing it back.

The moment he's sat down, he's engrossing himself in looking over the route, making mental notes about what's in it.

[childofrebellion]

Cassian orders them both mixed grills and cafs then looks over the route himself. The food arrives quickly and he eats as he looks.

He wants Yamato to be safe during this mission but he knows how dangerous racing can get. This is all going to be tricky.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"All right, it looks like it's three laps around the course," Yamato says, peering intently at the route. "And five sections on the course: Starts with a stretch with no obstacles; then moves into this more industrial area with more obstacles and what seem to be moving lasers; then the route leads up into the upper atmosphere; and then down into these crowded underground tunnels. Once I get out of that, the last section is just another stretch without any obstacles."

[childofrebellion]

"The most unpredictable part will be the atmosphere but the crowding around the obstacles is going to be where the other pilots will be aggressive."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Yeah, plenty of room to knock people straight into a wall in those places," Yamato agrees. "And a lot of time can be gained or lost depending on how long it takes to get up to the upper atmosphere, and then down again to the caves. To say nothing of burning up on re-entry."