It's been a month since the meeting with the council and I'm enjoying the air on one of the open roofs of the academy. Doing nothing more than looking out over the city the tranquility is broken as I hear a cane tapping against the floor. Glancing back I see Yoda as he approaches.
"Atreus. Good Morning."
I gave him a small nod in reply. "Good Morning, Khan."
He smiled as he stepped up next to where I was curled. "Your Basic, better it is."
I snorted "Better yes, but I have been told my accent is quite bad at times."
He hmmmed "Still, understandable you are. And your reading?"
I gave a quick nod. "Improving. I need to do it slowly, but I can do it." The reason why Basic became a galaxy-spanning language; is because it's extremely easy to learn not to mention most species are capable of vocalizing it. Barring Wookiees of course. The literacy side of things, however, is like any other kind of reading that involves learning a new alphabet.
Not easy.
"Perhaps, ready for your first flying lesson, you are?" Yoda asked with a smile.
I glanced down at him. "I looked in the hangar, I will not fit in one of the tiny ships you use to train Jedi in piloting." They use small double seat fighters for it. Not the model from the movies, it is introduced later, but an older version.
Yoda chuckled. "First big being the Jedi need to teach to fly, you think you are? Different craft for such a occasion, we got. Only minor modification we need to do."
I just blinked down at him. "I... didn't think of that, khan." He hmmmed before nodding.
"Hangar 11, lower levels. Know where it is you do?" He asked and I nodded in confirmation before he continued. "Meet me there you will. Open, the doors will be." He promptly turned to walk away.
I stared after him for a moment before my head feathers raised themselves, displaying my happiness for all to see. Other than a quick test glide I had been grounded.
Morrigi, even males, can't fly under our own power but we glide pretty damn well. Catch a good thermal and I could stay up for hours.
The reason I was grounded is simple, and called bird strike... or shall we say morrigi strike. Too much air traffic in this damn place.
I climbed onto the edge of the flat roof and then simply threw myself off. The wind whistled across my face, ruffling my feathers as I let out a happy cry before I spread my wings, catching the air and pulling out of the dive.
Wheeling to the right I avoided one of the towers before slowly swooping lower in lazy S turns. I stayed relatively close to the outer wall of the temple, but not close enough that the crosswind might throw me up against the side.
I was almost down in-between the temple and the building next to it when I spotted the number 11 written, in Basic, above an open hangar. I shifted my weight and feathers slightly and slowly turned into it before going in for a landing.
Spreading my wings wide and cupping the air I breaked as hard as I could, pulling up with all my might. My claws scratched softly against the metal floor and then I folded up my wings, landing with only a couple of extra steps.
Then, I looked at the craft sitting in the middle of the hangar and my eyes widened. It was most certainly not a specially modified fighter or even a light freighter like I had expected.
What's sitting in the hangar was an old, but very much functional, Jedi-modified Consular-class cruiser. The Jedi 'modifications' were removed weapons... well, at least the visible ones. The craft is still painted red from her service as a diplomatic ship, signaling her diplomatic immunity for all to see.
I had just started to wonder if I had read the number incorrectly and I was in the wrong hangar when the elevator doors opened and Yoda entered.
"Found the right hangar, you did. Good, good. Your teacher, arrive soon he will."
I moved over to him. "Khan, is it really safe to learn in such a big craft?" He chuckled.
"Fit in another ship, you do not. Redesigned for training years ago, she was. Worries not, simulator first, orbital maneuvers second. Landing and taking off from closed hangar, far in future hmmm?"
I slowly nodded in agreement before eying the cruiser again. The elevator chimed, turning my attention to it as it opened to reveal someone that looked like they might be Mace Windu's great-great-grandfather. He did, however, not wear the robes of a Jedi but a similar style I had seen outside the temple of mostly white with some red added in... and his beard was truly epic. It reached all the way to his belt!
"I am Kelron Menton, Republic Navy Flight instructor, currently assigned to the Jedi temple. You are Atreus, correct?" He asked while looking up at me and I nodded.
"Correct."
He simply nodded. "Very well. If you would follow me, we will be going to one of the upper chambers to proceed with assessing your theoretical knowledge in order to see what holes in it we need to fill. If we are lucky, we might start running simulations in two to three months."
That's something I didn't consider...something I should have. I knew better, in both sets of knowledge. You don't simply walk into a cockpit. Oh well, at the very least I already knew how the morrigi did things...hopefully that would speed things up.
I nodded in acquiescence, "Yes, teacher." before looking down at Yoda. "With your permission, khan."
He nodded and gave a few parting words.
"Have fun."
Right as I turned to follow the human towards the...
Oh damn.