Impulse Burn (Part 3)

Posted on 14 Mar 2014 @ 12:01pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Riley Cameron & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Crewman Ash Rowe & Petty Officer 3rd Class David Emerson & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Olsam Mott & Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Chief Petty Officer Lyras Ueda & Vincent Kramer Ph.D. & Ensign K'os Beaumont

3,481 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Sol System - Luna/Mars
Timeline: MD 57 - 1345 hrs

Previously, on Impulse Burn (Part 2)...

As the countdown approached zero Alfred pressed the acceleration button and held it ready to release it and begin the race when the start signal was recieved. He smiled slightly to himself at the non-standard setting he had modified for the shuttles start, it was a throw back to some darker and more dangerous time. It had proven to give a small but valuable advantage to the Akira class ship he had first served on, he didnt know if it would work the same on this shuttle but he hoped so. As the signal chime came through the shuttles internal speakers and he released the acceleration button and the shuttle began to quickly reach full speed with a familiar jolt.

Alexion clicked his tongue, chuckling softly at the unusual start, adjusting with it as he looked to the view screen for a sense of place for a few moments before back to the controls. He missed the more intuitive flight control of his own people. The mild vibration felt both right and comforting as they pushed forward, making it all seem so easy. "Here we go...."

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

****Luna Checkpoint****

Shuttle Galilei

Through the cockpit of his small and nimble Type-9 shuttle, Lamar watched the ever-glowing gray ball known as Luna steadily increase in size as he and Cameron approached the first race checkpoint. So far they had been maintaining good race position by boosting the impulse engine power output, but the sustained reaction inside the deuterium reactors was beginning to overheat the drive.

"Approaching Luna...engine temperature's a bit high, man. I think we might need to throttle back once we past this first checkpoint, unless you can find another way to cool the reactor down. I was going to put us into a high-angle slingshot around the moon which would give us a chance to power down the engines and coast for a little while with the extra speed. What do you think?" he asked the Scottish engineer sitting next to him.

"Aye take the sharper route. I'll comfigure the bussard collectors to collect some of that hydrogen gas from the upper atmosphere and see if I can't increase our thrust. Transferring engine fuel mix control to manual."

Cameron's hands shot across the panels as he ran half a dozen mix ratio calculations in his head to try and find a way to get a cheeky speed boost using the volatile Jobian atmosphere without frying the impulse assembly. Manual control wasn't recommended but neither was he about to lose thus race.


Shuttle Livia

Allyndra was a bit miffed. She had been hoping for a bit more boost from the asteroid but it had not been as much as she had hoped for. She could see a couple of the other shuttles already making for the orb dotted with lights from the colonies.

"Sorry, not as much boost as I had hoped, but the good news is we are not burning as much fuel and the engines are purring along with a nice nominal."

"This a marathon not a sprint as they say. We'll catch up. Don't worry."

"Alright we should be swinging past check point one very soon and then we can gravity sling toward Mars." She pointed to a couple of the others ahead. "If they are burning hot and fast on this short leg, I can only imagine how long their engines will hold out. We can hope that they will be starting to burn out."

"I've changed the mix a bit on the matter anti-matter, such be able to give us a little bit more umph at the end, but we don't want to push it till then.

Allyndra nodded, but said out loud, "Very good, I will compensate the course for the change try to take optimal course for the boost from moon to Mars."

She re-plotted the course. "This is going to be a hard set of g's, the compensators may not catch everything. Giving burn and correction times now."

"I'm Andorian, I'm tough. I can handle a few g's

Allyndra started taking deep breaths. She looked over at Keval, "Just in case, I have three hearts so might not black out if the compensators can not give up."

"Three hearts? he replied both antennae curling back. You do have an interesting physiology. Just in case I pass out, you know how to fly it?"

"Enough to keep us on course and besides," she smiled coyly, "I am a licensed doctor, I can always give us a little something."

Keval gave her a smirk, well Doctor. I have been feeling a little low on energy. I wouldn't mind a little pick me up."

"One pick me up coming up," Allyndra said.

After she had administrated whatever compound she had concocted he felt little change. "Okay I'am advancing to 114%."

"Acknowleged." Allyndra prepared for the high g's.


Team: Ostillo

The first portion of the race had gone as Rhodes had expected. The initial boost by cyclical despoliation sequence of the impulse engines had put them in the lead for most of this first part, but the others had come along side. The engines had been pulled back to 100% to allow them to cool. The other shuttles seemed to have continued to push their impulse drives.

The massive gray moon lay before them. Rowe oriented the ship so that Luna was above them. This was only a matter of preference, but she believed that pulling up was better for them as they passed through its gravity well and the slingshot maneuver past it.

Even in the middle of a race, and the adrenaline flowing from it, she could take a moment to appreciate the view. "Spectacular, spectacular," she whistled.

Theron looked up at the moon, looming closer and closer. He could see lights from many outposts and stations across its surface. He expected her to be meaning the overwhelming presence of the moon looming so close, and the intricate light patters that seem to be taking place. None of which truly impressed him, but he replied, "Yes. Quite amazing." He glanced down at the tracking of their decent, "We are coming up on the point you said we would be accelerating."

"Okay, bring the engines up to 110%, will push her through the turn," the fleeting moment moved on for Ash and she was already looking ahead. This was a different kind of racing than she was used to from her professional racing career. That had been fast and furious, with split second decisions that could change a race. This was slower, with more thinking time. She made sure to stick to her guns and instinct though; sometimes having more thinking time just led to over thinking and over complication.

He nodded his head and made the adjustments. "You do have a strategic mind, I like that Keval said with a grin.


Shuttle Virginia

Dea found an ideal line that would allow them to make a graceful high speed turn around the moon. "Beautiful site. Plot us the quickest flight vector to our next checkpoint from our current location. I'd us to blend the line to avoid bleeding off too much speed."

"You up for a ride Commander? I have an idea on a line that will give us a bit extra speed but it's tricky to pull off."

Dea turned her head just slightly in Emerson's direction, "What's on your mind?" From that point forward she didn't say anything more so he could present his idea.

"Basically a slingshot but really tight. Mountains on the moon in our flight path are at most 2km high. I could take us in about 5km above the surface of the moon at closest approach. We'll probably pull some G's on this one but it'll dump us out on a straight line for Mars and may buy us some extra speed and distance."

Nodding in agreement, "Go for it. I'll be the first to say G's are not a problem for me. If we're out to win we're going to go all out on this one."

Emerson nodded. "Altering course. 45seconds to G load."

"Roger that," Dea replied keeping a close eye on the shuttles HUD.

The shuttle began it's acceleration as the moon grew closer. Emerson diverted power to the inertial dampeners as the speed picked up. Even with them running at full power Emerson could feel the G load. He rolled the shuttle inverted as they began the final descent.

As G load exceeded 5G's, Emerson felt his vision begin to fade, a normal consequence of the stresses involved. Leaving the driving to the computer, he was now just a passenger on a five ton lump of duranium screaming across the lunar surface.

Learning to tolerate high G's for a longer period of time had been part of Dea's training to fly fighters earlier in her career. Using with she learned to push out the grey out for as long as she possibly could. Not something that could be done forever especially since they weren't in G suits but it would give her more of an opportunity to take over manually if needed. However just like Emerson, she found herself more of a passenger for the moment allowing the flight computer to do its job.

David grunted against the force as he fought blacking out. He'd done this before in simulators, old earth fighters were known for pulling upwards of 8 G's. He'd forgotten tho that the flight suits of the era had G suits, a big difference in the fight to stay conscious. His last thought before blacking out was he hoped that the computer's trajectory was correct otherwise he was going to become an extremely large smear on the moon below.


USS Padua

Olsam leaned over to the diminutive pilot, practically breathing on his neck, to observe the controls. After several long moments, he finally spoke, "Do you think I could drive now? I know I'm supposed to be the doctor, but maybe you could be the doctor and let me drive. You're going too slow, and I'm pretty sure the other shuttles are going to beat us. In fact, I'm not even sure you're trying to race. I don't like to lose, and I kept crashing the shuttle in the simulator back in my Academy days because I was going too fast so it just seemed like maybe this would be a good point for me to help speed things up. Since there's no landing, just the speeding up."

The doctor eased his hand carefully toward the thruster control. "You just gotta increase the power...."

Normally, Asahi would be all for letting someone else pilot the shuttle. He was not the possessive type unless he had just repaired the vehicle in question. However, as soon as he heard the doctor's suggestions, the engineer's cheeks reddened. "Doctor, it might be best to stick to the doctor-ing. I'm not entirely sure anyone else on the shuttle can be nearly as proficient a doctor as you can."

"And I mean no offense when I say this, but I'm going to heavily suggest you not do what you're about to do. We're the pace shuttle for a reason."

"I just thought we could race, too," Olsam said, almost sounding a little huffy as he settled back into the co-pilot's chair. He continued to eye the thruster control, obviously thinking about it. "I pronounce this shuttle's chances of winning dead as of 1354 hours. Doctoring is boring when nobody's hurt."

"We're not here to race." Asahi could hear the Bolian's disagreement with his decision, but he had to stick to his guns. It didn't help that he felt sort of like a chiding mother. He wondered if this was how his high school instructors felt. "Stop being silly."

Olsam wrinkled up his nose and folded his arms, muttering quietly and belligerently to himself. "You stop being silly."

Kramer began to chuckle as he sipped his martini. The bantering among the pace shuttle crew was hilarious. He thought, Maybe they should have tried to pilot one of their on for the competition? he knew better than to ask that aloud. Rudeness was not his forte.

Olsam shuffled in his seat, growing as impatient as a child on an interstellar long-haul. "Do you think we could shoot at them? That'll make it more exciting. We have a phaser array, right? Everyone likes surprises. I bet they'd be surprised by that." Without waiting for a response, he turned around in his seat to look back into the cabin at the rest of the spectators. "We're taking a vote to see if we should fire the phaser array at them. All those in favor say 'aye.'"

Lyras merely raised a brow at the pair. He knew Bolians to be quite peculiar, but perhaps not... this peculiar.

Asahi, on the other hand, nearly had a heart attack at the suggestion. "Are you mad?! Doctor, there is absolutely no way we are firing anything at anyone, unless someone decides to crash the race and shoot all the shuttles down." He shot the Bolian a frantic, fearful look, though anyone with any knowledge in body language or empathy could sense the apology in the engineer's expression. "As much as I appreciate the flair for mischief and excitement, and I do share it with you, I don't want it to happen here. Maybe we can go shoot some things later?"

"Oh, fine," Olsam said with a sigh, finally resigned to let the pace shuttle be the pace shuttle, the pilot be the pilot, and the doctor be the doctor.

K'os had missed most of the interaction between Dr. Olsam and Lieutenant Kita. He had been drawing his attention between intently watching the technical readouts on his device and the holoprojection of the shuttles jockeying for position. When the doctor had turned and offered his suggestion of phaser fire he had nearly dropped his device in surprise. He was about to say something when he saw the Ostillo positioning themselves differently while they approached the moon and his attention returned to the race.


Team: Ostillo

The black shuttle seemed to race across the surface of the moon. Actually they were many dozen kilometers above the moon, but at their current speed and the closeness of the large body in space looming above them, it did seem to Theron that they were just a bit too close than desired.

Seeing the look on his face, Ash couldn't help but laugh, well and truly high from the close run thrill of the ride. "Oh don't worry, sweetheart, you ain't seen nothing yet!" she grinned, the tone suggesting that this was just the start of the close shaves he could expect.

Looking hesitantly at his pilot, "I will keep that in mind." Theron calmly replied as he looked up at the coming of the dark side of the moon. Once in the shadow of the moon, visually, everything became very different. The many settlements in this area seemed to be brighter as did the stars to the side out his view port. But he knew, it was just his eyes adjusting to the darkness. Another thing Theron noticed at this point is that the gravity of the Moon was affecting the ship, but the centrifugal force was counteracting that. It was just a good thing to be strapped it at this point. No doubt about that.

"Speed and trajectory are sweet as pie," Ash assured with a confident smile.

Just then, the shuttle began to vibrate. Theron thought that it could be just the stress on the shuttle in the turn at this velocity. "We may need to back off the engines."

"Nuh uh," Ash shook her head firmly, her fingers moving quickly to make a minor adjustment to try and keep steady. "Not until we're gliding back out on course away from Luna," she said, a hint of stubbornness in her voice, refusing to let a technical hitch defeat her.

Rhodes tried to determine were the vibration was coming from. He went through several displays on his console and checked all diagnostic data on the engines and supporting components. After almost a minute he found that one of the cooling intake injection valve was clogged. He brought the back up on line and the shaking subsided.

Ash chuckled softly, shaking her head as she glanced across to him briefly. "Looks like I can rely on you for a smooth ride, huh?"

"I think so, for now at least." Rhodes replied just a touch uncertain.

Ash smiled again as she looked back to her controls. They were now pulling away from the moon. Tensions were a little less now and she asked, "Where are we standing now?"

Theron was confused for a second about the word standing, but then realized that Rowe was referring to their progress in the race. He glanced down at the sensors and reported, "There is one shuttle ahead of us and three trailing, but not by much."

Ash tsked, shaking her head with a grin, her eyes shining with the energy of the race. "We can soon fix that; let's punch it..."


Shuttle Galilei

As he and Cameron approached their slingshot's projected entry vector, Lamar diligently kept his eyes glued to the navigational console in front of him while trying to not get distracted by the beautiful sight of the moon's maria and highlands. Out of the corner of his eye he could spot Tycho City, and he briefly wondered what some of the inhabitants might think if they looked up and saw a collection of shuttles zooming through the sky at incredible velocity.

"We've entered our optimal approach vector, angle of attack is 42 degrees...buckle your harness, this is going to get a bit heavy," he called out to Cameron in preparation for upwards of 10 G's of thrust as the moon's gravity pulled their course from a straight line into a bent curve. "Here we go!"

"Awwwww shite!" Was all that Riley could manage as he watched and felt the inertial dampeners attempt in vain to adapt to the stresses of gravity, his body increasing in weight every second.

Lamar could feel the weight of his body steadily increasing, and took long and deep breaths as he had been trained in order to keep the oxygen flowing through his head. "...we're at 5 G's...45 seconds left in the turn," he called out.

"5G?? No shite! Mah guts feel like haggis! Increasing power to structural integrity!"

Every second that Cameron reached for a button on the console he felt like he was moving solid Latinum, the effort causing him to break out in a sweat. Around him alarm after alarm started blaring in protestation for the way the shuttle was being treated.

"...9 G's!" Lamar yelled, feeling the shuttle beginning to shake violently under the increased gravitational stress. "...increase...intertial dampers....!" Blackness began to creep around the edges of his vision as his body attempted to prevent itself from blacking out too soon.

"I cannae do it! There's no power left anywhere in this bucket of bolts! Jesus don't let me puke over the damn console, Chief Quinn will have mah nuts!"

"11.5 G's! We're maxed out!" came the frantic call from the former marine. The weight of his body now felt like it was crushing his chest, and he was barely able to breathe and concentrate. "...10 seconds....." His vision was now fully blurred, and he took his hands off the controls to let Isaac Newton control the rest of the maneuver.

The Scot couldn't manage a single word, instead just a garbled sequence of grunts and retching came from his mouth as he prayed to any deity in particular who might have been able to intervene on his behalf.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

MWO Lamar Darius
Chief Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Saalm]

WO Riley Cameron
Engineer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Holliday]

CN Ash Rowe
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC Blake]

WO Alexion Wylde
Doctor
USS Galileo
[PNPC Blake]

Lt. Theron Rhodes
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Asahi Kita
Asst. Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

PO3 K'os Beaumont
Matter/Energy specialist
USS Galileo

PO Lyras Ueda
Diplomatic Officer
USSGalileo
[PNPC Kita]

CPO Keval Grayson
Operations
USSGalileo
{PNPC} Nicholas

LT Olsam Mott, M.D.
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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