Project Ares Gold Edition

Chapter 30 - Conspiracy

Starfighter development bay - Kuat Drive Yards

Despite their overwhelmingly successful mission in taking out Grevious's fleet, Blue Team had 3 team mates down and temporarily out f the fight. That being Gears, Romeo, and Shrapnel, meaning that until they were back in the fight, Blue Team were being tasked with a relatively easy assignment of transporting a new starfighter that was in the running for a major Republic military contract. The contract was that the selected fighter would be produced in the tens of thousands and shipped to regional planetary defence forces. The idea was that if PDF's could defend themselves from minor threats like pirates and smugglers, then the Republic could focus it's clone forces to combating the Separatist.

Called the Twin Ion Engine starfighter, or TIE fighter, it was a very minimalist fighter, coming in with a central pod that carried one pilot. The fighter had twin laser cannons located just below the main window. But the most prominent feature of the ship were the two large hexagonal wings mounted on either side of the cockpit. Both Blitz and Streak thought the ship was an absolute joke given its missing features like shields, hyperdrive and its very limited range.

"This thing won't even make it off the flight deck, what chance is it gonna have against a droid Tri-fighter or even a standard Vulture droid." Streak commented after being told that he would be flying the prototype to Coruscant. Safe to say he was reluctant at best, at worst; insubordinate. After arguing with the KDY technicians for the better part of 15 minutes, the group finally agreed to break apart the fighter into the pod and two wings before loading it on the Spirit of Fire.

But before they could depart, a message came in from Captain Rex, he needed Fives back with the 501st for the moment. Apparently there was a massive siege on Ringo Vinda and Rex needed another squad leader that he could depend on. Unfortunately, Blue Team were under strict orders to deliver the prototype starfighter to Coruscant. Against his better judgement, Chief ordered Fives to go assist Rex on Ringo Vinda but to keep him in the loop. If anything started going south, Blue Team would be there to finish the fight like always.

"Thanks Chief, I'll stay in touch." Fives replied before throwing up his arm in a salute. Returning the salute, Chief watched as his 2nd-in-command departed for his assignment.

Republic Military Complex - Coruscant

After delivering the TIE fighter and receiving comments from other clone pilots that were similar to Streak's, the KDY technicians that came along had enough. Throwing a massive fit and saying that the TIE fighter wasn't meant to be the best but it was affordable and good at it's job. "Yeah crashing!"

"Who said that?!" One of the technicians called out, unfortunately for him, the clone that yelled out was the best pilot in the entire 104th Battalion; Warthog. "I said it, and I'm not changing my statement! I could even beat that thing in an old V-19 Torrent starfighter, and that's a mediocre dogfighter at best."

"Well then, how about a challenge then, you fly your V-19 and we'll put a pilot in the TIE, training parameters. Loser has to admit that their fighter is the worse one."

"Deal." Warthog accepted, meanwhile Chief and Blue Team were watching intently, this was all very entertaining. After gearing up and igniting their thrusters, the two fighters were off and it didn't take long for Oddball to wipe the floor with the TIE fighter. Turns out that despite its manoeuvrability, the TIE fighter was much slower than the V-19 and lacked any missiles or countermeasures, something Warthog capitalised on. All he would do is get out of the TIE fighter's targeting range and then lock onto it with missiles, securing the victory.

But before Chief could congratulate the ace pilot, an urgent transmission came through from Fives. He was caught up in some conspiracy and was being transported to Coruscant for a 'medical psychological assessment'. The details didn't matter to Chief, his brother was in trouble and he would be damned if he wasn't there for him. Saving the new comm number to his suit's database, Chief took a transport over to the medical centre and demanded to be allowed to see Fives. The head nurse told him that only authorized personnel were allowed in to that section.