A Grand Aviary

Posted on Thu Oct 3rd, 2019 @ 10:43am by

1,522 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: S1.5:1:A Time To Heal
Location: Holodeck 1
Timeline: MD13

The other members of the flight control team closed there eyes, as again the holo bridge spun around them. Already one of the flyer's had had to run from the room, as a wave of nausea had overtaken them. Holographic horizon markers spun around the recreation of the bridge, as the ship's improved RCS thrusters reacted with such power and force even the barest touch on the controls sent them windmilling about.

"I think...I think I might join Carl," said Hawkins, looking a little green about the gills.

Jolani was in her element. Flying was in her blood. The only thing that made it better was when she was Fell. However, even on its own, she had reached some tall peaks. Traveller crew members knew it was probably the only time that she did not have a flat or brooding personality. She looked at Hawkins and Carl and asked, "What's wrong? Going to puke? Can't handle a little space between you and the controls?"

Carl still looked a little green. Hawkins opened his mouth as though to speak and then held up a hand as he took ina breath. He seemed ready to start again, and then turned on his heel and raced out of the holodeck arch. The other's laughed, even Carl, as another crew member stepped through the archway. He was not dressed in the white uniform and red shoulder boards of Starship Flight Controls, his uniform a more slate grey with navy blue boards.

Starfighter Corp.

He walked in, whistling low as he admired the training simulator of the holoBridge. It was resetting itself, the stars returning it a more normal pitch. To one side the blue and green sphere of Earth, and to the right far and distant the grey orb of Luna.

"I had heard the Traveller was getting the glass elevator treatment," the newcomer said with a sound of awe to his voice. Short blonde hair, blue eyes, and the slightest hint of a Germanic accent. "It is one thing to say, another to see a ship driver running from the controls because they had a good breakfast. I am looking for a fraulein Kohnar?"

Jolani tilted her head slightly, looking at the Starfighter corpsman. Was she to train him too? Mentally, she shrugged. One thing was certain, though, she was going to have to figure out what to do about Carl. If he could not fly like this, he may as well be a civilian. Perhaps she could speak to the doctor about giving him some anti-nausea medication before flight. She worried that might dull his senses though. A problem for later.

Right now, there was a Starfighter corpsman who called her "fraulein," as if she was something out of that odd old Terran musical, "Sound of Music." The ending made little sense. From what she understood of the German geography, if the Von Trapps were fleeing into the mountains, they were going further into Nazi territory. Clearly, Terrans did not know how to properly tell a story.

"You have found her," she responded simply.

"Flight Lieutenant Deitrick von Kenner," he said giving his boot heels a little click as he went to attention, and then extended his hand to her. "Squadron Leader for the 82nd Advanced Deployment Wing, Wyvern Squadron. We are to be embarking with you and your ship for your coming diplomatic mission, and I thought it best that we should meet informally. Alas, I have only been successful in interrupting your training session."

"That is correct, Flight Lieutenant," she replied as she shook his hand. "You have interrupted my training session," she told him in her routine flat voice. "You are welcome to stay, if you think you can handle the training. Otherwise, feel free to meet with me after this session."

"I think I would choose to stay," Kenner said thoughtfully, eyeing the pilot's control couch. "Though I would make a singular suggestion. The pilot's couch has inbuilt inertial compensators, much like the jump seat in a Gryphon. If you dial down the responsiveness on the couch, your pilots will be able to 'feel' the ship moving under them, instead of their eyes just seeing the view cartwheeling before them and sending their inner ear into confusion. I see this quite often, and at least you have the option of running for the restroom instead of trying to keep your wurst down inside a vac suit."

Jolani grumbled, more for the reason that she had not considered it than the fact that Kenner had suggested it. Though, who was he to upstage her, anyways? Only one person was allowed to do that and he was.... No! You will not go down that though pattern. Not now.

She cleared her throat and dialed up the compensators before looking at her class. "Now that the compensators are set, I would encourage anyone to set them to their preference so we do not have a repeat of Hawkins. I'm the Chief Flight Officer, not a maid. You feel like you need to puke, make sure you run at least as fast as Hawkins did." She gave a small chuckle at that. "Functionally, there is no difference between flying Traveller than there was before. The difference is that you will be able to "see" everything, so you can respond and react quicker. In time, you should be able to feel your controls without looking at them to make precision maneuvers."

"In the hands of a fully trained and acquainted flight control officer, I have seen the prototypes for this design architecture make starships perform manoeuvres I would not have thought possible," Kenner said. "And coming from a pilot of a starfighter, that is the very deepest compliment I and my fellows can bestow."

Experimentally the smallest of the six-person flight control team, the diminutive joined Trill Ensign Desson Pax, adjusted the settings on the flight couch and set up the simulator run again. It was a simple nonsense space obstacle course, a series of holographic hoops through which a pilot would navigate. The controls fluttered up under her hands, forming into the twin control columns that seemed the prefered user interface. Throttle and attitude control on the uprights, trim control in the middle. Just flight, nothing else.

With just a little bit of 'feel' in the turns and loops, the simulator run was quicker. Even flying on thrusters the new layout of making the job og piloting so much easier, making turns intuitive, rolling through a hairpin instead of turning into it. The fact that the young Pax was grinning ear to ear as the holographic Traveller crossed the finish line was a point in its favour.

"Good," Jolani told Pax. "I want each of you to run this course at least five times today. By the end of the week, I expect you to be 25% faster and more efficient," she told them. "That's 5% a day, in case your math skills are failing you. Then, there will be a test. Don't memorize the patterns here. It will not be anything you've seen before. Pass, or you will be in here until further notice."

She then marched up to Kenner. There was something about this man that irritated her. Was he pompous? Boisterous? No.... There was something else. She could not place her finger on it. However, the fact that she was irritated, alone, was irritating. Feelings were not something that she regularly experienced any longer. "So, why were you seeking me?" she asked without preamble.

"I am seeking you as a courtesy," Kenner said after a moment of confusion played over his eyebrows. "Flight Control and Starfighter Command have very similar roles, it makes sense that our two department's share a more than cordial relationship than other's on this starship. I also took the liberty to glance at your service jacket, and noticed that you transferred to Flight Control from Starfighter Command."

"Yes," Jolani replied, wondering what this German's point was.

"Well," Kenner said, clearly off-put by the monosyllabic response. "The Wyverns will be arriving over the next week as we transfer from Station Op's to the Traveller. We were going to be running drills in Carpathia near space, and I thought perhaps you might wish to attend. It will be a chance to see the Gryphons in their natural habitat, as well as witness something new from the R&D labs of Mars. I thought as a former starfighter pilot, you might want that? I mean if I am wrong, please take my apology."

If there was anything that could tempt Jolani, it was a new ship. "New, you say?" her interest perking up. "Are you going to let me in on this little secret or are you going to keep me in suspense?"

"It is something new," Kenner said with a grin. "And something I think better witnessed first hand than told. Besides, it will get you off of the starship and away from teaching your crew a new way to fly. The old way is much better, I assure you."

 

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