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]

"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."

[childofrebellion]

Cassian says with a smirk as he eats some food, "You've got good cladding and shielding."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Assuming Pan's as good as he says he is," Yamato mutters, picking up his caf and taking a sip. "This is going to be difficult. The cave section alone is like threading a needle, and that's assuming the ship doesn't fall apart on the way down. Or up."

[childofrebellion]

"We can test it out and its new. If anything's wrong, I can figure out how to fix it. I've spent a lot of time working with ships that shouldn't be flying. A new one will be a nice change."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Thanks. There's bound to be something wrong with it, so that'll be useful."

Not that Yamato wouldn't love to get his engineering nerd on and help fix up a ship, but that's valuable hours that could be spent in the sims or researching the route.

Not to mention that he's not exactly confident in his ability to fix technology this much more advanced than 2005 Earth tech.

"And I guess you'll have Pan to help, although I'm not sure how far I trust his judgement."

The man did get himself into some pretty deep gambling debts, after all.

[childofrebellion]

"I'll get the detailed specs from him and then tell him to go spend time on the convention floor. He's too nervous to be helpful."

And Cassian doesn't want Pan to spend too long around them because then other people will notice them.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"He is, at that," Yamato says, ruefully, taking a sip of his caf. "And how nervous are you, exactly? As I recall, I did say I'd be following through on that question after you got a chance to watch me on the sims."

Or, well, technically the question he was following through on was 'Do you not think I can do it, Cassian,' but still, enjoy Yamato's patented I'm-staring-directly-into-your-soul look, Cassian.

[childofrebellion]

Cassian looks right back at that look, its impressive,

"I think you'll be able to do it. It will probably end up closer than either of us will like but we'll make it happen."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

Yamato cracks a grin at that.

"Yeah, no kidding. There's no way we come out of this with an easy victory," he says cheerfully. "Did you make any observations about the craft from the simulation? Knowing a good place to start modding it would be -- well, a good place to start."

[childofrebellion]

"I think I can work on the stabilizers to make the handling easier to control and might be able to get some extra speed from it."

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"We could definitely use all the speed we can get," Yamato says, agreeably. "As far as the handling goes, maybe make it just a little bit more stable. If I'm going to be ducking around obstacles, I need it to still be pretty sensitive."

[childofrebellion]

"I know how to make small adjustments and you can test it out too."

Being a pilot who knows ships is part of what's helped Cassian get out of some tight spots.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"... I can, yeah," Yamato says, a little uncertainly.

He pauses for a moment, drumming his fingers on the table, then takes a slightly nervous sip of coffee.

"Taking this ship out for a test run is going to be the first time I've actually flown. Outside a sim, I mean," he says, a little awkwardly. "I've been using the sims back home and you-know-where for a decade now, so I guess I'm ready, it's just, er. A big step."

[childofrebellion]

"Oh, I didn't know that but you're ready. We can also do the test when the hangar's quieter."

Cassian had thought someone must have taken Yamato up since he started practicing.

[angry_friendship_wolf]

"Well, now you do," Yamato says, just a touch awkwardly. "Back home, I've been eking out whatever time I could get on Yokota Base's sims, but they -- don't usually even let people do that. And they don't let you get into an actual fighter unless you're part of the air force."

That is to say, he could (and did) leverage Grandfather Michel's friendship with the base commander enough to be allowed to use the sims during maintenance hours, but unless and until he actually gets into fighter pilot training, there's no way anyone's letting him in an actual craft. Yamato's fairly sure that'd be illegal.

"Hence, you know." Yamato's already mentioned to Cassian that he applied to enter fast-track fighter pilot training a while back.