"As the Clone Wars progressed, more and more ground-based legions found themselves pressed into space combat, including the fighting forces of the 501st. For months, every hour of our downtime was spent in the simulator, preparing for the time we would face our enemies from the cockpit of a 170. Finally the day came to earn our wings. The CIS had staged a daring kidnapping of Chancellor Palpatine, and was being escorted from Coruscant by a fleet of Separatist ships. With only a few veteran pilots on-planet, many of the 501st were pressed into service to drive off the Seps, and buy time for a pair of Jedi Knights to rescue the Chancellor."