Skyting
Skyting is a coming-of-age ritual performed in a space pirate Svarmande. The pirate fleets gather the soon-to-be adults once there are enough of them to operate as a small to midsize crew of a ship. They gather the teenagers on a frigate equipped for combat and take them to the nearest asteroid belt to be tested.
Though the children made up the entirety of crew during the test, there were a few adults with them. The adults were there to track behavior and score their performance during the test. There were also two or three adult pilots. The pilots were often the highest skilled in flying frigates and fighters. Piloting for Skyting was not only a great honor, it was the most fun a pilot could have between raids.
Once at an asteroid belt, the Skyters took command of an “out-of-control ship” with no access to the flight deck. The pilots would fly in a very dangerous and out-of-control style that forced the trainees to come up with ideas and solve problems in this adrenaline-inducing, unsafe environment. The primary focus of the test, however, was manual gunning.
Manually gunning asteroids out of the ship’s flight path was the largest portion of the test. Skyters would take turns operating the manually controlled turrets and be graded on their ability to allow the pilots to continue a straight course through a constant barrage of the space rocks flying at them in every size and shape.
The scores determined apprenticeship. Within a pirate Svarmande, one could apprentice as a pilot, engineer, maintenance, raider, and on rare occasions, direct shadowing with command. Generally, one earned a command posting through time and excelling in your line of duty, but it was possible to show signs of strong leadership over anything else. Even more rare was a complete failure.
When someone failed their Skyting, they had one more chance. Between tests, they still had to work even though they did not officially apprentice under any skill, and it was a long period of shame until the next Skyting test took place. They would be graded much more harshly because of their age and previous experience. If they failed again, they did not remain amongst the ships of the Svarmande.
Though the children made up the entirety of crew during the test, there were a few adults with them. The adults were there to track behavior and score their performance during the test. There were also two or three adult pilots. The pilots were often the highest skilled in flying frigates and fighters. Piloting for Skyting was not only a great honor, it was the most fun a pilot could have between raids.
Once at an asteroid belt, the Skyters took command of an “out-of-control ship” with no access to the flight deck. The pilots would fly in a very dangerous and out-of-control style that forced the trainees to come up with ideas and solve problems in this adrenaline-inducing, unsafe environment. The primary focus of the test, however, was manual gunning.
Manually gunning asteroids out of the ship’s flight path was the largest portion of the test. Skyters would take turns operating the manually controlled turrets and be graded on their ability to allow the pilots to continue a straight course through a constant barrage of the space rocks flying at them in every size and shape.
The scores determined apprenticeship. Within a pirate Svarmande, one could apprentice as a pilot, engineer, maintenance, raider, and on rare occasions, direct shadowing with command. Generally, one earned a command posting through time and excelling in your line of duty, but it was possible to show signs of strong leadership over anything else. Even more rare was a complete failure.
When someone failed their Skyting, they had one more chance. Between tests, they still had to work even though they did not officially apprentice under any skill, and it was a long period of shame until the next Skyting test took place. They would be graded much more harshly because of their age and previous experience. If they failed again, they did not remain amongst the ships of the Svarmande.
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